Windows Defender or Microsoft Defender or Windows Security gets its regular updates through Windows Updates. However if for some reason, the definition update is not able to proceed as expected, then you can try a couple of methods to resolve it. Follow these when you either receive the message that you don’t have the latest definition or updates that cannot be checked, downloaded, or installed.
Windows Defender not updating automatically in Windows 11/10
If Microsoft Defender (Windows Security) in Windows 11/10 does not update automatically, you can ou can troubleshoot definition update issues, by following these suggestions:
- Manually check for updates in Windows Defender
- Run Windows Update Troubleshooter
- Trigger Microsoft Defender updates using the command line
You will need admin privileges for some of them so make sure your account has sufficient privileges.
1] Manually check for updates in Windows Defender
Sometimes it is a temporary issue, and all you need to do is restart your PC. Once you do that follow the steps as below:
- Open Windows Security
- Click on Virus and threat protection
- Then click on Check for updates and then again click on Check for update
- It will start looking for new definition updates.
Read: How to update Windows Defender manually.
2] Run Windows Update Troubleshooter
Virtus definition updates are rolled out through Windows Updates. If the update service has issues, then it will cause the problem. Thankfully Windows comes with built-in Windows Update Troubleshooter that can resolve most of the issues which takes a lot of manual effort.
- Open Windows 10 Settings ( Win + I)
- Navigate to Update and Security > Troubleshoot
- Click on Windows Update, and then click on Run the troubleshooter button.
Once the wizard completes the process, check for the definition update using Windows Update.
3] Trigger Microsoft Defender updates using command line
You can manually trigger the update to devices. The command will clear the current cache and trigger an update. You can directly run this on an elevated command prompt or create a batch script that runs the following commands as an administrator:
cd %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender
MpCmdRun.exe -removedefinitions -dynamicsignatures
MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate
Read: How to update Windows Defender definitions using Windows PowerShell.
The last section is also applicable for the Enterprise computers and can be used by administrators or IT admins.
I hope the post helped you to figure out how you can resolve the Microsoft Security or Windows Defender update.
In case none of these works, you can always connect to the Microsoft Support team, and take their help to resolve the problem.
Similar post that may help you:
- Error 8024402f, Protection definition update failed on Windows 11
- Windows Defender Protection definition update failed with error codes 0x8024402c, 0x80240022, 0X80004002, 0x80070422, 0x80072efd, 0x80070005, 0x80072f78, 0x80072ee2, 0x8007001B.
