{"id":4124,"date":"2026-06-08T18:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/?post_type=support_article&#038;p=4124"},"modified":"2026-06-08T18:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:01:27","slug":"should-i-disable-or-uninstall-windows-defender-on-windows-server-2016-2019-2022-after-installing-server-security-or-email-and-server-security-or-elements-endpoint-protection-for-servers","status":"publish","type":"support_article","link":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/support-articles\/should-i-disable-or-uninstall-windows-defender-on-windows-server-2016-2019-2022-after-installing-server-security-or-email-and-server-security-or-elements-endpoint-protection-for-servers\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I disable or uninstall Windows Defender on Windows Server 2016\/2019\/2022 after installing Server Security or Email and Server Security or Elements Endpoint Protection for Servers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Issue:<\/h3>\n<p>I&#39;ve installed\u00a0\u00a0Server Security or Email and Server Security or Elements Endpoint Protection on a Windows Server 2016\/2019\/2022 server, but Windows Defender real-time protection is still on. Should I deactivate it when I&#39;m using the WithSecure product?<\/p>\n<h3>Resolution:<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, Windows Defender should be deactivated when using Email and Server Security or Elements Endpoint Protection. Multiple Anti-Virus products running at the same time may cause conflicts.<\/p>\n<p>On Windows Server 2016\/2019\/2022, Windows Defender will not enter passive or disabled mode automatically if you install a third-party antivirus.<br \/>If you&#39;re using a non-Microsoft antivirus product as your primary antivirus solution on Windows Server, you must set Microsoft Defender Antivirus to passive mode or disabled mode manually. Please find more details here.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-365\/security\/defender-endpoint\/microsoft-defender-antivirus-on-windows-server?view=o365-worldwide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows Server<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft&#39;s general recommendation is to uninstall the Defender on the server installations.<\/p>\n<p>Passive mode is something controlled by Windows, so it could be changed by Windows and we don&#39;t control it.<\/p>\n<p>After installing a third-party antivirus you should <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/threat-protection\/windows-defender-antivirus\/windows-defender-antivirus-on-windows-server-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">uninstall Windows Defender AV on Windows Server 2016<\/a> to prevent problems caused by having multiple antivirus products installed on a machine.<\/p>\n<p>If you are using Windows Server, version 1803 and Windows 2019, you can enable passive mode by setting this registry key:<\/p>\n<p>Path: HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows Advanced Threat Protection<br \/>Name: ForceDefenderPassiveMode<br \/>Value: 1<\/p>\n<p>In case of uninstalling Windows Defender, you can use this Powershell command:<\/p>\n<p>Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Windows-Defender<\/p>\n<p>It will require a restart and after that, Windows Security will not be visible with Antivirus at all but WithSecure still functions.<\/p>\n<p>MsMpEng.exe will also not be running anymore<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Should I disable or uninstall Windows Defender on Windows Server 2016\/2019\/2022 after installing Server Security or Email and Server Security or Elements Endpoint Protection for Servers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","support_article_product":[106],"class_list":["post-4124","support_article","type-support_article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"source_foreign_id":"000012546","source_version":3,"source_system":"salesforce","source_date_updated":"2026-06-08 15:01:27","import_hash":"14caf4f8459bcf7c52ac6782e37d84c553900559","vanilla_article_id":29366,"vanilla_url":"https:\/\/community.withsecure.com\/en\/kb\/articles\/29366-should-i-disable-or-uninstall-windows-defender-on-windows-server-2016-2019-2022-after-installing-server-security-or-email-and-server-security-or-elements-endpoint-protection-for-servers","vanilla_kb_id":30,"vanilla_category_id":103,"machine_translated":false,"reactions_helpful_yes":1,"reactions_helpful_no":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/support_article\/4124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/support_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/support_article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"support_article_product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/support_article_product?post=4124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}