How to schedule a FULL Scan with Windows 10 Defender

Regarding Windows 10 Windows

I've read about 12 articles / inputs and still can not get a task set up for my PC to run a FULL Scan (all locations, all drives, NOT a Quick Scan) using Windows 10 Defender.

I have set up two quick scans tasks with defender (not sure I'd remember what I did) and also had to re-create the scan when idle (it is very easy to over-right the scan when idle when adding scans), but there appears to be no option to do a full scan (except manually).

I suspect that most people that have tried to schedule scans have messed up Defender. 

1.  Can someone (preferable a Microsoft employee) post here (without siting one of those terrible confusing articles) the exact steps to perform a weekly full scan, without overwriting the default idle quick scans or the other quick scans people may have created, and add steps to ensure the idle scan is still present?

2.  Is there anyway to create a pre-scan task to update Defender virus definitions before the scan?  Currently defender does NOT check for latest updates.  If windows update happens to come before a defender scan it will have new updates, but I can not figure how to ensure updates prior to scanning. 

Below is what I have currently done, works great for having frequent quick scans, but it provides zero full scans, there appears to be no way to schedule a full scan.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/schedule-a-scan-in-windows-defender
Windows 10 Windows Defender Schedule a scans in Windows Defender

Windows Defender regularly scans your PC to help keep it safe. To choose when and how often you want to scan your PC, use the Task Scheduler.

  1. Search for and open Schedule tasks.
  2. In the left-hand menu, open the Task Scheduler Library, then select Microsoft > Windows > Windows Defender.
  3. Double-click Windows Defender Scheduled Scan.
  4. Select the Triggers panel and then select New.
  5. Now choose when you want to scan and how frequently.
  6. “Begin the task” (daily, weekly, on idle, et)
  7. I Set up two Dailey’s one at 2:30AM, one at 10:AM
  8. Select OK to add each trigger.
I got most of this from:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/schedule-a-scan-in-windows-defender

Hello,

Thank you for visiting Microsoft Community.

As per the description, I understand that you would like to know about performing a full scan using Windows Defender. I will certainly help you with the issue.

I would suggest you to refer to the link mentioned below and check if that helps:

Using Windows Defender

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender#1TC=windows-8

*Applies to Windows 10 as well

You may also refer to Windows Defender FAQ:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/windows-defender-offline-faq


Hope this information helps.

Reply us with the status of the issue.

Sincerely,

Ankit Rajput

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Thanks, but neither link appears to address setting up a full scan with Windows 10 Defender, I hit helpful, but it might be better to remove the reply as it does not address the main question.         

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I am also trying to figure out how to do this.  I don't understand why MS has built an antivirus program that is so difficult to schedule!?  This shouldn't be this hard!

Why hasn't anyone from Microsoft answered this question (with the correct answer)!

Is this not do-able?!

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Hello,

 

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your time.

Please refer to the suggestion by CJ. Eichholz (MSFT) replied on August 6, 2015 from the link mentioned below:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_defender-protect_scanning/scan-schedule-for-windows-10/c53a0110-04eb-431e-9bc5-9d6db0ffcff7

 

 

Sincerely,

Ankit Rajput

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Hi all,

I'm a little late to the party (being May when the question was posted in Jan) but here's how I schedule a full system scan to occur when I want it to.

The Scheduled task you reference just calls MpCmdRun.exe with some parameters. So I took a chance and ran "MpCmdRun.exe /?" and got the rest of the parameters. One of them is the type of scan (Full scan). Here's the list (from the parameters):

-Scan [-ScanType value]
        0  Default, according to your configuration
        1  Quick scan
        2  Full system scan
        3  File and directory custom scan

So I modified the task to have two actions:

1) update signatures from MMPC

2) run a full scan

The command for #1 is:

"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate -MMPC

The command for #2 is:

"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -Scan -ScanType 2

You can adjust your task to run as needed.

Hope this helps,

Ted

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Last updated April 25, 2024 Views 37,556 Applies to: