Solved Windows 11 - Windows Defender missing

Hi, Yesterday I opt-ed in Windows 11 Beta and received the latest beta, upgrade went smooth but Windows Defender is missing somehow, whenever I open settings and then head to security and click on Windows Security and click on any settings I receive this pop-up

I tried resting the package


nothing shows up

can someone help? or guide me on what to do ?

I had an issue like that when I did an upgrade from 10 to 11. Then.. I did a clean instillation of 11 and it went away. Defender turned itself on with each and every boot after the clean instillation. I'm not sure why but that's an option. Clean install 11.

BunnyJ said:

I had an issue like that when I did an upgrade from 10 to 11. Then.. I did a clean instillation of 11 and it went away. Defender turned itself on with each and every boot after the clean instillation. I'm not sure why but that's an option. Clean install 11.

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Doing a clean install is a hustle for me at the current time and won't be a great option

But, you could do an in=place upgrade, giving you the best of both worlds.

MetalSaint said:

Doing a clean install is a hustle for me at the current time and won't be a great option

Click to expand...

I just pointed out that's what I did and the fact it fixed the issue with defender starting. My goal was to try out my 10 key with win 11 and that worked. The side benefit was it fixed the issue with defender.

You can manually start defender each time you boot your PC, that works too.

Bunny, he can't open Defender at all. This isn't the "Windows Defender is disabled on boot" thing, although his screenshot does show that - but when you clicked on the icon it would open Defender and allow you to turn on sample submission? He can't even do that.

MetalSaint - the in-place upgrade does not erase anything, it's basically the same thing as the upgrade through Windows Update, but you have to get the .ISO yourself. It is all explained in there, but if you want to save yourself some time, I have already built a full .ISO from UUPDUMP, so PM me if you want to avoid building it.

I recommend, though, that you build it yourself - the UUPDUMP site and its tools are super powerful, and you're really better off learning it.

I think the clean instillation is the best thing to do to make sure defender works.

Only way to know is to do one and if it doesn't work then do the other. But an in-place upgrade keeps his files and software intact, which is where he is at right now.

True,, he can try to upgrade again from an ISO and if that doesn't cut it then there's the clean install option.

BunnyJ said:

True,, he can try to upgrade again from an ISO and if that doesn't cut it then there's the clean install option.

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Lol. Uh, yeah. I said that.

johnlgalt said:

But, you could do an in=place upgrade, giving you the best of both worlds.

Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything. If you need to repair or create a new recovery partition or having problems with the Windows 11 operating system on your PC, and the usual solutions will not fix it...

www.elevenforum.com

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Way back up there....

Just agreeing with you.

MetalSaint said:

Doing a clean install is a hustle for me at the current time and won't be a great option

Click to expand...

Just do a "Reset this PC" from within Win 11. This will download and install a clean copy of W11...no boot keys...no UUDump...no ISO. About as simple as you can get. For good measure, make an image of your existing installation just in case you want to go back and try to triage what its problem was.

galileo said:

Just do a "Reset this PC" from within Win 11. This will download and install a clean copy of W11...no boot keys...no UUDump...no ISO. About as simple as you can get. For good measure, make an image of your existing installation just in case you want to go back and try to triage what its problem was.

Click to expand...

Actually, no, that is more destructive.

We have a tutorial on it as well.


It amounts to a clean install but keeping your files, but not retaining any manually installed apps.

Im download the uudumps but it takes as i have very slow internet, but guys windows defender is working and catches viruses its just I can’t change or open any of its settings or the program itself

johnlgalt said:

Actually, no, that is more destructive.

We have a tutorial on it as well.

Reset Windows 11 PC Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to reset Windows 11 and Remove everything or Keep my files. You can reset Windows 11 when your PC isn’t working well and it’s been a while since you installed an app, driver, or update. Resetting reinstalls Windows 11, but lets you choose whether to keep your...

www.elevenforum.com

It amounts to a clean install but keeping your files, but not retaining any manually installed apps.

Click to expand...

Actually, yes, it does exactly produce a clean bare metal install. Given that the OP is having issues with something very fundamental within the Windows plumbing after upgrading a presumably functioning W10 environment, a rational path is to perform a clean install to verify that he can successfully install a correctly working OS environment on his hardware. Thus, avoiding wasting time on trying a repair install on a system that may have deeper hardware or past installation issues. Once a successful working install can be verified, he can rollback to his image with the knowledge that his hardware can or does in fact support a functional installation. Then a repair install in theory could solve his issues.

Upgrading an existing system that has been through many program installations and past OS updates and upgrades is frequently the root of many installation issues that many times cannot be addressed through the repair install due to OS interaction issues with other installed programs.

No doubt that a repair install that actually works would be the optimal route in that his existing application environment would or could be preserved - which admittedly is important. But, something as fundamental as Windows Defender failing to function seems to signal a significant installation issue when upgrading from a presumably functioning W10 system.

anyway...just my thoughts

edit: the reset option does offer to keep one's files but not the installed programs or apps.

Yes. I'm not saying no to a clean install / reset. I'm saying the repair install, based upon the user's own needs, is the logical first step.

MetalSaint said:

Im download the uudumps but it takes as i have very slow internet, but guys windows defender is working and catches viruses its just I can’t change or open any of its settings or the program itself

Click to expand...

OK, so it's just the interface that will not load. All the more reason to try the in-place upgrade as a repair function. It does take a while to DL the components unless you have a fast broadband connection, and then will take longer to build the .ISO, but once you have it it should be fine. Post back if you have any issues before going through the tutorial for the in-place upgrade.

I only upgraded my Win 10 to Win 11 Beta and have the second Beta release and checked this and my Defender is popping up fine. Maybe provide it to MS as Feedback so they can check it and see if others have the same or a similar issue.

johnlgalt said:

Yes. I'm not saying no to a clean install / reset. I'm saying the repair install, based upon the user's own needs, is the logical first step.

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I generally agree with you.

FWIW, my past support experience with many systems over three decades has unfortunately resulted in frequent time consuming failures with attempting to repair existing installations. And, even if the system appears repaired, one always wonders whether the problem will manifest itself in another fashion in the future. Keeping a working installation functional is actually a significant effort. The gold standard for the OS environment is always imaging before any update or, especially, upgrade. Thus, always having a recovery path for that system.

An in place upgrade to a new OS is fraught with issues - both hardware and software. It can be a black hole with respect to support time. And, frequently, from my experience, the best solution is just to bite off the fresh install route and be done with it. Then one knows whether or not the new OS would actually work on the hardware and that one has an installation unburdened with any leftover detritus from the old environment. If during installing applications/programs, one breaks the system, then you pretty much know what you cannot install or run in the new OS.

Doing a repair install in this instance of essentially beta testing a new OS is most likely valuable in any case since one is furthering data gathering for the beta testing phase. And, if a repair install that keeps apps and data does solve the problems, then without a doubt that was the quickest path to the finish line.

...good talk...:)

Wholeheartedly agree.

It's the main reason why I started using dual physical drives for installations, moving the entire \Users tree to a separate physical drive. It makes for much, much easier clean installs. I know that the program installs don't take a lot of time - it's the setting up of the programs to my liking that makes it a PITA to cleanly install. But with everything in the \Users tree on a separate drive, I can restore individual app settings and full app profiles with a simple copy, and I'm right back where I was before the clean install wrt to using that app (absolutely crucial for me with browser profiles alone).

In fact, I started with Kari's tutorial on Sevenforums, then followed it again on tenforums, using it religiously for all my Win10 installs, and finally and upgraded that same (split) install system directly to Windows 11 without a hitch.

But, I also know that a lot of people don't take these advanced steps, and don't have backups that they can easily use to restore individual things, and / or simply only have a single drive in their system, and play pretty loosely with their own data.

However, TBH, I've seen a lot of success with Brink's writeup for in-place upgrades, particularly on Windows 10, and I'm more than confident that it should be given a first shot, given that it also helps the end user by forcing them to make a .ISO of the build they want to install, so that if the in-place upgrade still does not fix the issue, they can then start making preparations to cleanly install - and they already have the .ISO made. Barring any side issues, they can then move forward at their own pace, using other, also excellently written tutorials here to fix their issue.

Besides, and especially amongst the Windows 10 Insiders group at 10F, it was a time tested true litany that, when a WU upgrade to a new IP build failed, run to the in-place upgrade. It really worked that well. Of course, in every single situation, YMMV - what worked for 99 different users with different builds but a similar issue may not work that 100th time. But, as soon as the OP said they did not want to cleanly install, this is the alternative that best fits the bill.

And, as the OP stated - Defender, in and of itself, is functioning fine - only the UI for it is not working. That is another reason to opt for the in-place upgrade versus the clean install.

@johnlgalt - Couldn't agree more. Recovery philosophies may differ for users and systems but, having a protocol that works and that is maintained is the fundamental strategy.