Windows 10: Windows Defender Scan gets "stuck" but not frozen..?

tried googling this a bunch, but nothing i've found has resolved the issue and i'm not sure what to do. hopefully its one of those things that someone here will just go "oh that, here do xyz" and it is sorted, but i don't know.





so basically a quick or full scan always gets around to this point. nothing changes from here. i've left it for hours before just to make sure and it still doesn't change. it isn't unresponsive or anything, i can click cancel and it cancels just fine. but obviously it doesn't report that a scan has been completed and i get the angry ! on in the systray constantly telling me i need to scan.

this started when i did a completely fresh install on a brand new nvme drive in december, i did a "upgrade in place" thing about two or three weeks ago to fix a windows update issue (also found on this forum somewhere), which did fix my windows update issue (thanks!) but the windows defender scan issue remains..

the only other difference between my old windows 10 install and this one is i have enabled bitlocker on my drives, but surely windows defender is clever enough to know whats up with that and that shouldn't be the issue?

so that's it i guess. any clues? any more info needed?

Windows 10 Pro Version 1909 OS Build 18363.778 - all legit and activated.

:)

 

defender scans

Hi Ian,

Thanks for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

This issue might occur if you have set any task scheduler for Windows Defender.

I suggest you to delete the task for Windows defender and check if it helps.

Follow the below steps:

• 
  Search and open Schedule tasks.
  
• 
  In the left-hand menu, open the Task Scheduler Library, then select
  Microsoft >Windows >Windows Defender.
  
• 
  Double-click Windows Defender Scheduled Scan.
  
• 
  Select the Triggers panel, then select Delete.
  

Hope it helps, reply to us with the status of your issue. We will be happy to assist you.

 

Windows defender custom scan does not scan external drives

Hi Joe,

to scan external drives using Windows Defender, follow the steps provided below.

• Open Windows Defender.
• Go to Settings tab.
• Select the Advanced option.
• tick the checkbox for Scan removable drives.

Regards.

 

right click scan in windows defender?


thanks for that.. i didn't notice the tutorial section :x

I did the suggested registry change and it's now listed on the desktop context menu.. but all this does is ask if I want to open it, update, or start a scan... I was hoping for the option where you right click a specific file and it will have listed 'scan with windows defender' like other antivirus programs have.. MSE had it. I'll keep looking around to see if I can find it in the meantime..