- You have Windows Home
- You want to prevent Windows Update automatically installing updates
- You set the network to “metered”
All is well, but there may be a hidden issue.
Windows Defender is not updating and not telling you.
This happens because Defender uses Windows Update to download definition updates as well as engine updates, but WU is on hold because of the “metered” connection.
Luckily, we can tell Defender to update manually and this bypasses WU.
The easiest way to do this is to create a daily Scheduled Task to run the update, but setting all the options is a little time consuming, so I have written this PowerShell to do the work for you.
- Open a PowerShell window by pressing the Windows key and typing “powershell”.
- Run the commands below to add the task.
- Check the task by running Task Scheduler if you feel the need.
The command required to update the definitions is: MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate
cheers, Paul
PowerShell code
$DefenderTaskAction = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute '%comspec%' -Argument '/c start "" /min "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate' $DefenderTaskTrigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 05:00 $DefenderTaskSettings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries -StartWhenAvailable Register-ScheduledTask -Action $DefenderTaskAction -Trigger $DefenderTaskTrigger -Settings $DefenderTaskSettings -TaskName “Defender Update” -Description “Update Defender definitions if you have a metered connection”
