Windows Defender won't start
I recently recovered from yet another malware attack, this one called itself "windows security center". It was a real pain to isolate it and remove it. It had even planted itself in Safe Boot! Im pretty confident it is gone, however, I cant get Defender to start. When I open the Defender program, it tells me a problem has caused it to shut down. When I try to start it , I get " Specified service does not exist as an intalled service. error code 0x080070424. I have tried using the Run Cmd to get it to start, as well as using the Fix-it tool. I tried to uninstall it so I could reinstall it, but its not listed as a program to remove, and when I try to reinstall it, I am notified that it is already current and doent need to be installed. I even tried the c:\fix_defender solution. I am running Windows 7 SP1, but was having the problem before I installed SP1. My gut is telling me its a registry error, but I dont mess around with regedit enough to feel comfortable just playing with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
April 8th, 2011 11:32pm

On Sat, 9 Apr 2011 03:32:33 +0000, jakelong2112 wrote: however, I cant get Defender to start. Are you running Microsoft Security Essentials, AVG, Norton, or McAfee? If you are running one of those, it has turned off Defender. That's good, not bad. Not only is there potential conflict, but there's no reason to have both; they all essentially have something very similar to Defender built into them, and running both at once will hurt your performance and create the risk of problems as they conflict with each other. Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP
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April 9th, 2011 11:52am

Hi, You may refer to the following links if there is the McAfee program or Microsoft Security Essentials installed: Windows Defender and McAfee Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials If not, this issue can be caused by one of the following factors: 1. Windows Defender service has been stopped or is missing from the Services list. 2. The following registry key or its sub key is missing or corrupt: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend Step 1: Verify the Windows Defender service ---------------------------------------------------- 1. Click "Start", in the "Start Search" bar, type: "services.msc" (without quotes) and press Enter. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. 2. Double click the service "Windows Defender". 3. Click on the "General" tab; make sure the "Startup Type" is "Automatic" or "Manual". Then please click the "Start" button under "Service Status" to start the service. Note: If the Windows Defender service has already started, please temporarily stop the service, restart the computer. If the service is missing or cannot be stopped or restarted, please move on to the following steps to troubleshoot this issue. Step 2: Restore the Windows Defender Registry Key --------------------------------------------------------------- Before we go any further, please refer to the following links to backup the registry key: Back up the registry Then please move on to the steps below to remedy the key. 1. Click "Start", type: "notepad D:\fix.reg" (without the quotes) in the Start Search Bar and press Enter. Choose "Yes" when you are prompted. 2. Copy the following commands between the two ---------- lines (without the lines) and then paste them into the opened Notepad window. ------------------------------------------------- Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend] "DisplayName"="@%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\MsMpRes.dll,-103" "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001 "Group"="COM Infrastructure" "ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\ 00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,\ 6b,00,20,00,73,00,65,00,63,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,73,00,00,00 "Start"=dword:00000002 "Type"=dword:00000020 "Description"="@%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\MsMpRes.dll,-3068" "DependOnService"=hex(7):52,00,70,00,63,00,53,00,73,00,00,00,00,00 "ObjectName"="LocalSystem" "ServiceSidType"=dword:00000001 "RequiredPrivileges"=hex(7):53,00,65,00,49,00,6d,00,70,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,6f,\ 00,6e,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,\ 65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,42,00,61,00,63,00,6b,00,75,00,70,00,50,00,72,00,69,\ 00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,\ 74,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,\ 00,00,00,53,00,65,00,44,00,65,00,62,00,75,00,67,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,\ 69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,43,00,68,00,61,00,6e,00,67,\ 00,65,00,4e,00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,66,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,\ 6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,53,00,65,00,63,00,75,00,72,00,69,\ 00,74,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,\ 00,00 "FailureActions"=hex:80,51,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\ 00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,01,00,00,00,60,ea,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend\Parameters] "ServiceDllUnloadOnStop"=dword:00000001 "ServiceDll"=hex(2):25,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,00,69,\ 00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,25,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,\ 20,00,44,00,65,00,66,00,65,00,6e,00,64,00,65,00,72,00,5c,00,6d,00,70,00,73,\ 00,76,00,63,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend\Security] "Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,04,01,00,00,10,01,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\ 00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\ 00,00,02,00,d4,00,07,00,00,00,00,00,28,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,06,00,00,00,00,00,\ 05,50,00,00,00,b5,89,fb,38,19,84,c2,cb,5c,6c,23,6d,57,00,77,6e,c0,02,64,87,\ 00,0b,28,00,00,00,00,10,01,06,00,00,00,00,00,05,50,00,00,00,b5,89,fb,38,19,\ 84,c2,cb,5c,6c,23,6d,57,00,77,6e,c0,02,64,87,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,\ 00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,\ 05,20,00,00,00,20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,9d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,\ 04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,06,00,00,00,00,\ 00,28,00,15,00,00,00,01,06,00,00,00,00,00,05,50,00,00,00,49,59,9d,77,91,56,\ e5,55,dc,f4,e2,0e,a7,8b,eb,ca,7b,42,13,56,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,\ 00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend\Enum] "0"="Root\\LEGACY_WINDEFEND\\0000" "Count"=dword:00000001 "NextInstance"=dword:00000001 ----------------------------------------------------- 3. After pasting the above commands, please close the Notepad window. Choose "Yes" when you are prompted to save the file. Choose D:\fix.reg as its name. 4. Click "Start", type: "D:\fix.reg" (without the quotes) in the Start Search Bar and press Enter to run the commands we have pasted. 5. A dialog box will pop-up saying "Are you sure you want to add the information in C:\fix.reg to the registry?". Click "Yes" on this dialog box 6. Reboot the machine. 7. After the machine reboots, please test the issue. Regards, Sabrina This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights. |Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
April 11th, 2011 5:09am

Hi there thanks for this info as it fixed my problem in windows 7 pro
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April 14th, 2011 7:48pm

There is no "WinDefend" in my regedit when looking in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
September 26th, 2011 12:38pm

There is no "WinDefend" in my regedit when looking in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ I think Sabrina's method might be what you're looking for otherwise look at the last page on this forum link: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/161188-windows-defender-0x80070424-error-3.html I don't agree with Blake's assessment of the problem as I have another computer running Win 7, McAfee, AND Defender just fine. Plus, I can see McAfee (or one of the other programs) disabling Defender but not deleting it from the list of services.
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December 16th, 2011 10:38am

i am messed around with this "problem" for days. this is the only thing i have found that makes sense.
January 5th, 2012 4:54pm

Thank you Sabrina you fix worked for me and I am running Vista. I backed up the registry and applied the fix, rebooted and the Windows Defender service started after the reboot. I have tried many different fixes on many different machines and this saved me from reloading a customers machine. thanks again. Richard
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March 15th, 2012 3:04pm

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