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Create shortcut to Windows Defender offline scan in Windows 10

The recently added Windows Defender offline scan feature is very useful for those who use Windows Defender as their primary security software. For such users, it's useful to have a shortcut to start the scan with one click. In this article, we will see how to create this shortcut and launch Windows Defender offline scan with one click.

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As described in this article, it is possible to launch Windows Defender offline scan after a reboot.

Note: You need to have the Windows 10 Redstone update installed, which is represented by Windows 10 build 14271 as of this writing. This feature is not available in previous releases of Windows 10. It will be included in the stable version of the Windows 10 Redstone update which will be released this June.

When started in this mode, the application will automatically scan and remove malware and then reboot into Windows 10. The operation is completely automated and does not require any user interaction.

To launch Windows Defender offline scan directly, you can use the following command:

PowerShell.exe Start-Process PowerShell -Verb RunAs Start-MpWDOScan

This will launch PowerShell elevated and start the Start-MpWDOScan cmdlet which initiates the offline scan with Windows Defender. You can create the shortcut as follows.

How to create shortcut to Windows Defender offline scan in Windows 10

  1. Right click in an empty area of the Desktop and select New - Shortcut.Windows 10 new shortcut
  2. Type the following in the shortcut target:
    PowerShell.exe Start-Process PowerShell -Verb RunAs Start-MpWDOScan

    Windows 10 shortcut target

  3. Name this shortcut as "Windows Defender offline scan" and finish the wizard.create shortcut to Windows Defender offline scan in Windows 10
  4. Set the desired icon for the shortcut you just created if you are not happy with the defaut one. The appropriate icon can be found in the following file:
    "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe"

    Windows Defender offline scan shorcut iconClick OK again to close the Properties.

Once you click the shortcut, your operating system will be restarted automatically:Windows_Defender offline scan warning

Before Windows 10 boots, Windows Defender will be started in a special boot environment and will scan your device for threats. This is how it will look:Windows Defender offline scan is startingWindows Defender offline scan in progress

Once finished, it will start Windows 10 again.
That's it.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

4 thoughts on “Create shortcut to Windows Defender offline scan in Windows 10”

    1. Keep in mind that 14271 is pre-release version of Windows 10.
      Report your issue via Windows Insiders feedback – this is expected from you and this is the main reason to roll out the feature to insiders.
      Once it will be tested in all possible scenarios, it will be included in the stable branch of Windows 10.

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