Solved How to remove a file from quarantine?

Windows has quarantined a file it doesn't like, but I do. No actions are available from the protection history tab.
I'm not conversant in Power Shell, but that seems to be the only alternative avenue. Is there a tutorial that I missed?

Hmmmm...I've always been able to go to History and Restore those that mistakenly get quarantined. If you click the down arrow under Filters you might be able to see something. Oddly though in my case under Protection history mine are only showing 2022 dates yet I know I have tweaked some in 2023. Perhaps an Update from MS has changed things?

It would be helpful to know the file name and what created it. As a general answer,the only thing I would to know to try is:
If no items are available to restore from protection history and WD shows the item removed, I would think the only way to restore it would be disable WD, uninstall the app that created the file, restart, then reinstall the app that created the file. Add the file to WD exclusions. Enable WD.

On your Windows device, open Windows Security. Select Virus & threat protection and then, under Current threats, select Protection history. If you have a list of items, you can filter on Quarantined Items. Select an item you want to keep, and choose an action, such as Restore.
You should also add the exception to the file you want to run, or it will get quarantined again.

Thanks all for giving this consideration.

The file is an .exe
No actions are available - that is, the drop down actions menu is not present at all.

kiwiaz said:

Thanks all for giving this consideration.

The file is an .exe
No actions are available - that is, the drop down actions menu is not present at all.

Click to expand...

What AV software you're running? One might assume Windows Defender, but you know what they say about assumptions.

LesFerch said:

What AV software you're running? One might assume Windows Defender, but you know what they say about assumptions.

Click to expand...

Yes, just WD.
Malwarebytes scans OK (with an exception for the exe file).

Can you post a screenshot? Here's an example of what you should see:

Mine is just like that - except under Learn more, there is no Actions drop down. It isn't greyed out, it isn't there at all.

Assuming your account is an Administrator, I can't think of a reason for the option to not be there. I found this article:


But it looks like mostly a list of the usual "fixes". Couldn't hurt to take a look though.

@LesFerch Thanks for that link. Everything in the Group Policies checks out. The DisableAntiSpyware key was already deleted from the registry. I will look into SFC and DISM.

Although WD can be managed from PowerShell and files can be restored via the command prompt, in my case it was easier to add an exception and reinstall the program. There are no other threats quarantined, so I can't tell if the Actions box is permanently MIA, or just in this instance.
Thanks to all who investigated.