Windows Defender Threat Service Has Stopped, Fixed (Updated)

 Windows Defender Threat Service Has Stopped, Restart It Now 

“Windows Defender Security Center”, the “Virus & threat protection” component has the message: “Threat service has been stopped. Restart it now“. If I try to restart Microsoft Defender using the appropriate button an unknown error appears: “Unexpected error. Sorry, we ran into a problem. Please try again”

 How do I fix Windows Defender Antivirus?

Microsoft Defender does not work due to Third-Party Antivirus

Check if you have a third-party antivirus installed on your computer that it prevents Microsoft Defender to work. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is automatically disabled if a third-party antivirus application is installed on your computer.

Please, decide which antivirus you want to use: Third-Party Antivirus or Microsoft Defender. If you do not need a third-party antivirus, disable or uninstall It

Enable Microsoft Defender Using Registry on Windows 10

In versions of Windows 10 Before Building 2004, it was possible to disable Windows Defender through the registry. This could be done using the spyware disable registration parameter.

This option was generally used by OEMs or system administrators when intended that a third-party antivirus application was designed on the device.

Run the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to the registry key

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender

If the DisableAntiVirus and DisableAntiSpyware DWORD parameters are present in the right pane (at least one), remove them or change the value  1 to 0.

Windows Defender Anti spyware Registry Missing or Not Found

Check That the Microsoft Defender in Enabled in Group Policy

Open the local group policy editor (GDEDIT.MSC) and verify that Microsoft Defender is not disabled through the group policy. 

To do this, go to the Computer Settings section ->

  Administrator Templates -> Windows Defender Components -> Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Verify that the Microsoft Defender Antivirus shutdown policy is not configured or disabled.

Re-Register Microsoft Defender DLLs

Try to re-register the Windows Defender libraries. To do this, open a command prompt as administrator and run the following commands:

regsvr32 atl.dll

regsvr32 wuapi.dll

regsvr32 softpub.dll

regsvr32 mssip32.dll

 

Check and Install Windows Updates

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I hope this brief guide will help you solve the problem if you unable to start (stop) the threat service on Windows 10.