Defeat Windows Defender On Win11pro 23h2

I am at my wit's end. I have tried everything I can find online. Nothing will get Windows Defender to go away. I remember when buying a computer meant you owned it, and could decide what did or did not run on it. Those days are so incredibly frustratingly over and I can't stand it. Tried making group policy edits, tried stopping services and ending tasks, tried disabling real time protection, tried registry edits. Nothing works. Nothing. I hate this operating system so much I could scream.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

If you are removing Windows Defender, what are you replacing it by? Some suggestsions are listed here under Anti-Virus protection here: MajorGeeks Top Freeware Picks - MajorGeeks

Here are some MG resources that may help you:
1. How to Turn Microsoft Defender Firewall on or Off in Windows 10 & 11 - MajorGeeks
2. 4 Ways to Turn On or Off Windows Defender Real-time Protection - MajorGeeks
3. Disable Windows Defender Temporarily on Windows 10 - MajorGeeks

Here are some external resources that provide step-by-step instructions on disabling Windows Defender on Windows 11 Pro (23H2):
1. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 11: A Step-by-Step Guide - Solve Your Tech
2. How to Permanently Disable Microsoft Defender on Windows 11

Additionally, here are some YouTube videos that may help:
1. Windows 11 disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus permanently - YouTube
2. How to Disable or Enable Windows Defender on Windows 11 - YouTube
3. Turn Off or Disable Windows Defender in Windows 11/10 (2023) - YouTube

 

Thanks for your prompt reply. I should have mentioned that I have already attempted registry edits, group policy edits, disabling real time protection, the reassigning of ownership on relevant folders, and at least one or two other methods, and none of them have worked. MsMpEng.exe continues to automatically run upon startup, and my sort of McGyvered "Administrator" account lacks the requisite permissions even just to kill the process, much less prevent it from running at all. When I enter:

"Get-MpComputerStatus | select AMRunningMode"

into PowerShell (run in Administrator mode), it always comes back "Normal."

At this point I am completely out of ideas, and am contemplating reformatting with Win10 LTSC 21H2, at the expense of multiple drivers, which require Win11 in order to function.

Note: disregard the specs listed in my signature. those refer to my Win10 machine, which is not the subject of this thread.

 

First, I disable Tamper Protection.
You can do that through the Windows Defender settings.
I use this .REG file.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Features]
"TamperProtection"=dword:00000000

I then use the program, Optimizer (https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/optimizer.html).

https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer#--how-to-disable-defender-in-windows-10-1903-and-later

I'm not sure that it works for everyone, but it has for me.

 

Are you planning on replacing Defender with something else, or are you going to go without an AV/security program?

If you are replacing it with something, reading this article (that @Maxwell provided) will show you that Defender will disable itself when you install a recognized third-party program.

https://www.howtogeek.com/permanently-disable-microsoft-defender-on-windows-11/

 

Have you tried these utilities:
Download ToggleDefender - MajorGeeks
Download Defender Control - MajorGeeks 1.5 Authored by: qtkite
Download Defender Control - MajorGeeks 2.1 Authored by: Sordum