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.
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
- Right click in an empty area of the Desktop and select New - Shortcut.
- Type the following in the shortcut target:
PowerShell.exe Start-Process PowerShell -Verb RunAs Start-MpWDOScan
- Name this shortcut as "Windows Defender offline scan" and finish the wizard.
- 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"
Once you click the shortcut, your operating system will be restarted automatically:
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:
Once finished, it will start Windows 10 again.
That's it.
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Start-MpWDOScan is already available in 10586.
Using ondemand image instead of offline image.
good
Don’t try this! it took me to “Preparing Automatic Repair” after Windows Defender offline scan!
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.