Did Microsoft mess up my Security? Strange story!

You may be missing a file in the Secuity Health folder for Windows Security. My folder was empty after the WIN11 update. I ran this reinstall and can access Device Security options. However, my Smart App Control was set to Evaluation, then was OFF after a couple of days on ON option greyed out. I checked today and it was back to Evaluation. I was able to switch it to ON. The Security Health folder is empty again, but all is well. I did do a reinstall of WIN11 yesterday, so I assume there was an update to fix the issue?

You can try reinstalling Windows Security Platform with the new update. Download from this link the folder that contains the application:

1.0.2207.20002-0.zip | Powered by Box

Now follow these steps:

1. Create a restore point first

2. Unzip the downloaded ZIP file on the Desktop

3. Navigate to the location C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth to take ownership of that folder:

Properties > Security > Advanced Options > Change > Administrators

Check the "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" box and click Apply.

In the "SecurityHealth Permissions" window select Administrators > Full Control. Apply.

4. Copy the "1.0.2207.20002-0" folder on the Desktop to the SecurityHealth folder

5. Open the folder and run the application "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" as administrator to update.

6. Restart the computer.

CharmaineK said:

You may be missing a file in the Secuity Health folder for Windows Security. My folder was empty after the WIN11 update. I ran this reinstall and can access Device Security options. However, my Smart App Control was set to Evaluation, then was OFF after a couple of days on ON option greyed out. I checked today and it was back to Evaluation. I was able to switch it to ON. The Security Health folder is empty again, but all is well. I did do a reinstall of WIN11 yesterday, so I assume there was an update to fix the issue?

You can try reinstalling Windows Security Platform with the new update. Download from this link the folder that contains the application:

1.0.2207.20002-0.zip | Powered by Box

Now follow these steps:

1. Create a restore point first

2. Unzip the downloaded ZIP file on the Desktop

3. Navigate to the location C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth to take ownership of that folder:

Properties > Security > Advanced Options > Change > Administrators

Check the "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" box and click Apply.

In the "SecurityHealth Permissions" window select Administrators > Full Control. Apply.

4. Copy the "1.0.2207.20002-0" folder on the Desktop to the SecurityHealth folder

5. Open the folder and run the application "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" as administrator to update.

6. Restart the computer.

View attachment 45497

Click to expand...

I just wanted to pop in here and say that this helped me to restore the standard hardware security not found error after I had reinstalled Windows. My SecurityHeath folder was also blank as in this example, so thank you for making this application that fixed it!

CharmaineK said:

You may be missing a file in the Secuity Health folder for Windows Security. My folder was empty after the WIN11 update. I ran this reinstall and can access Device Security options. However, my Smart App Control was set to Evaluation, then was OFF after a couple of days on ON option greyed out. I checked today and it was back to Evaluation. I was able to switch it to ON. The Security Health folder is empty again, but all is well. I did do a reinstall of WIN11 yesterday, so I assume there was an update to fix the issue?

You can try reinstalling Windows Security Platform with the new update. Download from this link the folder that contains the application:

1.0.2207.20002-0.zip | Powered by Box

Now follow these steps:

1. Create a restore point first

2. Unzip the downloaded ZIP file on the Desktop

3. Navigate to the location C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth to take ownership of that folder:

Properties > Security > Advanced Options > Change > Administrators

Check the "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" box and click Apply.

In the "SecurityHealth Permissions" window select Administrators > Full Control. Apply.

4. Copy the "1.0.2207.20002-0" folder on the Desktop to the SecurityHealth folder

5. Open the folder and run the application "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" as administrator to update.

6. Restart the computer.

View attachment 45497

Click to expand...

It worked on a test env in VBox, with a small variation: instead of taking ownership etc. (didn't want to risk leaving wrong privileges on system files) I used PowerRun (Sordum) to rename/delete/copy files to/from C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth\ with TrustedInstaller rights the easy way.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I've had the 'Hardware not Supported' issue (with an empty SecurityHealth folder) since doing a Reset of my Win22H2 device, and am hoping this process will finally put it to bed.

Do you know what SecurityHealthSetup.exe does when executed? How is this different than running "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" to update the package as suggested by @CharmaineK?

@hexaae
PowerRun looks like a great tool. I like that permission changes are automatically wiped when the app is closed. I downloaded V 1.6, and have a couple of usage questions. I looked here, but am still a bit confused. Any guidance you can provide will be appreciated.

1. It looks like I need to launch Cmd or PowerShell from PowerRun in order to copy the new folder into "C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth\". Yes?
2. Currently, "System" is the owner of the SecurityHealth folder. Does it matter if PowerRun is set to use System vs TrustedInstaller permissions?
3. To update the appx package, would I just drag it into PowerRun and set the working directory as (in my case) "C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth\1.0.2302.21002-0\" ?

Thanks again in advance for your help.

safron said:

@hexaae
PowerRun looks like a great tool. I like that permission changes are automatically wiped when the app is closed. I downloaded V 1.6, and have a couple of usage questions. I looked here, but am still a bit confused. Any guidance you can provide will be appreciated.

1. It looks like I need to launch Cmd or PowerShell from PowerRun in order to copy the new folder into "C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth\". Yes?
2. Currently, "System" is the owner of the SecurityHealth folder. Does it matter if PowerRun is set to use System vs TrustedInstaller permissions?
3. To update the appx package, would I just drag it into PowerRun and set the working directory as (in my case) "C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth\1.0.2302.21002-0\" ?

Thanks again in advance for your help.

Click to expand...

1. yes, you click on the small icon in the bar with Cmd inside the gear
2. well, TrustedInstaller is actually running under System user... I copied/renamed/deleted etc. using TrustedInstaller (I used XCopy from TrustedInstaller prompt to copy whole dir and subdirs...) and final permissions/owner were exactly as those in the original state, I double-checked that
3. I just double clicked on the "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" from Explorer in my account (not as TrustedInstaller) and it worked opening a small panel where I was asked to reinstall the app (then you need to reboot to see SecHealthUI actually changed)

.... but the problem is that it didn't work well on my real machine: TPM wasn't recognized correctly... so I finally rolled back to a Restore Point to be safe. Was 100% successful from VBox environment only (without a real TPM).

Thank you @hexaae. I performed a cloud-based reset, so a Restore Point isn't an option. Hopefully copying the ...\1.0.2302.21002-0\ folder into SecurityHealth and re-running the appx file will do the trick. If not, my next attempt will be to download an ISO and try an in-place upgrade, which a couple of people said worked for them. If that doesn't work, I may just have to live without DeviceSecurity - at least until Win23. Sigh.

I
> used PowerRun (as suggested by @hexaae in post #43) to copy the missing folder (in my case 1.0.2302.21002-0\) - from a working device to C:\Windows\System32\SecurityHealth. This worked perfectly - thank you.

> then ran the application "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" from the copied folder as suggested by @CharmaineK
> then rebooted

Unfortunately this did not resolve the issue. Unless anyone has any other ideas, my next attempt will be to perform an in-place upgrade from a downloaded ISO file.

it work!!!!! thanks you
i have try every method over youtube and reset my windows to orgine with no luck

i find your solution and it work ...

Man thank you for the tutorial i really appreciate it, i was looking on YT and other including search bar and then found this, you saved my life.

Thank you so much <3