Windows 10: Microsoft/Windows Defender Antivirus Service stuck on disabled and wont restart

I've tried re-enabling Windows Defender, however i cannot manage to enable it or restart the service. I've pretty much done all troubleshooting with little to no luck. The versions of Windows Defender are showing as 0.0.0.0 and the Antivirus service is disabled and greyed out, but no policies are causing it.


I've attached some images below to show you what problems I'm having.







Any ideas on a solution to this?

:)

 

Defender AntiVirus

There are 4 options under Defender. Two refer to AntiVirus; AntiVirus Network Inspection Service & AntiVirus Services. Under Startup Type these two are listed as manual and the Status column said Inspection Service is running. When I clicked on the Start
button in Properties, I got an immediate message: "Win.. Def.. Anti.. Serv.. on local comp.. started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs."

 

Windows Defender disables itself

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

I understand that you are facing the issue on Windows defender.

I will certainly help you with this.

I would like to inform you that if you have other antivirus on your computer, so Windows defender automatically

disable itself.

If you don’t have any other antivirus on computer then I would suggest you to check the services for Windows defender:

Steps:

• 
  Close all application and program and reboot the computer.
  
• 
  Press Windows key+R.
  
• 
  Type services.msc and press enter.
  
• 
  From the list, you will see two services for Windows defender.
  
• 
  Right click on both the services one at a time.
  
• 
  Click on properties.
  
• 
  Under general tab, select automatic from startup type.
  
• 
  Click on start and then click on apply and then ok.
  
• 
  Reboot the computer and check if it helps.
  

I hope this helps. Please post back with the status of the issue and we will be glad to assist you further.

 

Defender AntiVirus

Hello,

Thank you for sharing this to Microsoft Community. Let's try to start Windows Defender services and see if it helps. Follow these steps:

• Press Windows + R key and type
  
  Services.msc and press Enter.
• Search for the service "Windows Defender".
• Right click on "Windows Defender" and click Properties.
• Click Start button.
• Click Apply and Ok to save changes.
• Restart the computer and check.

Let us know how it goes.