# Elastic Defend not recognized from Windows Server operating system

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995>\
**Category:** Endpoint Security\
**Created:** [August 13, 2025, 9:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995 "2025-08-13T09:58:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![francesco.amato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@francesco.amato](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/francesco.amato)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 9:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995/1 "2025-08-13T09:58:00Z")

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Hello,  
we have encountered this problem  
On all Windows Server machines where we have installed the Elastic Agent with their Elastic Defend policy, Defend isn’t recognzed as antivirus software  
I searched on internet and it seems that the problem is that Windows Server don’t have Windows Security Center component like desktop version  
Is there any solution even a manual one, to register Elastic Defend as antivirus software?

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**Author:** ![gabriel.landau](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/gabriel.landau/32/73401_2.png) [@gabriel.landau](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/gabriel.landau)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995/2 "2025-08-13T14:56:45Z")

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> Is there any solution even a manual one, to register Elastic Defend as antivirus software?

Unfortunately, the APIs to register as the system antivirus do not exist on Windows Server operating systems. If your intention is to disable Windows Defender so it doesn’t run alongside Elastic Defend, you can use [group policy](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-endpoint/use-group-policy-microsoft-defender-antivirus).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![francesco.amato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@francesco.amato](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/francesco.amato)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995/3 "2025-08-13T15:14:16Z")

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Thank you for your answer  
Is there a plan to mitigate this problem in future releases?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriel.landau](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/gabriel.landau/32/73401_2.png) [@gabriel.landau](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/gabriel.landau)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995/4 "2025-08-13T15:46:57Z")

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We can’t. Because of how Microsoft designed Windows Server, there is no concept of registering as AV, so we can’t register as AV. We referenced this in our [docs](https://www.elastic.co/docs/solutions/security/configure-elastic-defend/configure-an-integration-policy-for-elastic-defend#register-as-antivirus):

> Windows Server versions are not supported. Antivirus registration requires Windows Security Center, which is not included in Windows Server operating systems.

What is the underlying problem you are trying to solve?

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-defend-not-recognized-from-windows-server-operating-system/380995/5 "2025-09-10T15:47:37Z")

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