Windows Security says ESET Security is switched off

[AGH1965 12]

Every now and then I get messages from Windows Security telling me that there is something wrong. Windows Security > Settings > Manage Providers > Antivirus then shows that Windows Defender Antivirus is switched on and ESET Security is switched off, but Windows Security > Settings > Manage Providers > Firewall shows that ESET Firewall is switched on and Windows Firewall is switched off. The Start screen of ESET Internet Security says that I'm protected though, and I tend to believe that. It seems to me ESET Internet Security isn't telling Windows that it's antivirus part is active. Is this a common issue?

Temporarily switching off and back on of ESET's protection cures the problem, but only for once.

I tried to fix things more permanently by running the following commands that I found on the internet:

• dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
• sfc /scannow

This seemed to improve things for a while, but after some time the problem popped up again.

 

P.S. I'm using Windows 10 Home version 2004 and ESET Internet Security version 14.0.22.0.

[Marcos 5,074]

Please carry on as follows:
- enable advanced logging under Help and support -> Details for tech support
- reboot the machine
- disable logging
- collect logs with ESET Log Collector and upload the generated archive here.

[AGH1965 12]

@Marcos I did what you asked. (See attachment.) However, after rebooting I waited a few minutes before disabling the logging, because if the problem occurs, then Windows complains not earlier than a few minutes after booting, but this time everything went well.

eis_logs.zip

Edited December 8, 2020 by AGH1965

[Marcos 5,074]

Unfortunately if the issue didn't occur then the logs will not be any helpful. Does it occur only without advanced logging enabled?

[AGH1965 12]

As I mentioned, the problem occurs (fortunately) only every now and then. I can't predict if it will happen after the next reboot or not.

The logging may not be useless though, since even when the problem doesn't occur, Windows ALWAYS needs several minutes to detect the presence of ESET Internet Security. (Going to Windows Security > Settings > Manage Providers during these minutes even results in an error/warning message.) That was the reason why I didn't stop the logging immediately after the reboot. I thought it would give you a chance to find out why Windows needs that long for detecting ESET Internet Security.

[Enrico 3]

The same was happening on my Dell laptop and the two workstations upgraded to 20H2.  I was unable to collect logs on the workstations since I immediately rolled back to 1909 (mainly for performance reasons) and permanently disabled win updates.

I will do some more testing on the laptop next weekend.

[Marcos 5,074]

We wait for the Windows Security Service to start which may take long sometimes and only then register to the WSC.

[JozefG 9]

Yesterday new Security Center integration module: 1029 was released to pre-release channel.

Can you try this module and see if it fixes your issue? There were some timing related issues combined with possible long initialization inside WSC fixed.

There might be slight chance of Defender starting even with all these fixes caused by long initialization in WSC itself.

[AGH1965 12]

@JozefG I don't have any experience with the pre-release channel, but I will give it a try.

Edited December 9, 2020 by AGH1965

[Purpleroses 21]

I think I"m having the same problem.  I just rebooted my computer and windows security popped up saying that Windows defender and Eset where both on.  I don't know how to fix this.  But then I rebooted again and the problem went away.  So I don't know if I will happen again.

[itman 1,659]

21 minutes ago, Purpleroses said:

I think I"m having the same problem.  I just rebooted my computer and windows security popped up saying that Windows defender and Eset where both on.  I don't know how to fix this.  But then I rebooted again and the problem went away.  So I don't know if I will happen again.

My experience to date when this occurs in most cases, Windows Security Center will straighten things out on its own and turn off Windows Defender.

Edited December 9, 2020 by itman

[Purpleroses 21]

Thank you itman

[CDANS 0]

I am having this same issue. uninstalled and resintalled ESET to see if it will happen again.

[Purpleroses 21]

I am having this same issue with it saying eset is turned off.  But this only happens sometimes not all the time.

[Marcos 5,074]

Please check if you have Security center integration module 1029 installed. If you still have v1028, you can switch to the pre-release update channel in the advanced update setup to get it immediately. Does the new module make a difference?

[Purpleroses 21]

I have version 1026.1 I will try the pre release later on today

[AGH1965 12]

I had version 1026.1 as well.

Before I activated the pre-release updates, I discovered that I may have had the problem more often than I thought. Although Windows Security hadn't shown any messages, I looked at Windows Security > Settings > Manage Providers > Antivirus and it showed that ESET Security was switched off and that Windows Defender Antivirus was switched on.

When will the Security Center integration module 1029 become part of the regular updates?

[Marcos 5,074]

4 hours ago, AGH1965 said:

When will the Security Center integration module 1029 become part of the regular updates?

The module is being gradually released for all users.

[SeriousHoax 83]

Well tonight I had a problem. Suddenly I saw WD is also running on the system along with ESET. Windows Security was showing WD as the AV as if I don't have ESET installed. Restarted the system but same. Tried to switch to pre-release channel and the updating windows was showing updating product with the usual animation but the download process never began. Restarted the system but same problem. Tried to download the ESET log application but that wasn't downloading either. No idea why! There were some internet connectivity issue due to WD vs ESET scenario maybe? So couldn't collect log and had to uninstall ESET.

While both was active before my first restart, I saw ESET service was constantly using 50-60 kbps of my bandwidth. It wasn't downloading any update so also not sure what was it doing.

I should also add when I installed ESET a few days ago, after installing it was not starting the initial module downloading update. It was stuck with the animation and I had to restart the system before it was able to download modules. I never faced any of these problems before.

[itman 1,659]

5 hours ago, SeriousHoax said:

Suddenly I saw WD is also running on the system along with ESET. Windows Security was showing WD as the AV as if I don't have ESET installed.

I can duplicate this every time anymore.

If I make changes to my network adapter settings in Eset Network Protection such as adding a new trusted IP address and then reboot, WSC goes bonkers. I get the Win 10 notification and the result after things settle down is Windows Defender is running and so is Eset. However, WSC will show that Eset real-time is turned off when in reality it is not.

For me, a subsequent reboot will restore correct WSC settings but it takes a while to do so. If you check WSC immediately after rebooting, it will show the same as above. Once WCS resets itself to show Eset real-time as on and WD as off, it stays that way thereafter.

Either the problem here is Eset ver. 14.0.22 or Microsoft has changed things in Win 10 20H2 to be "sensitive" to network changes resulting for third party firewall changes.

[SeriousHoax 83]

On 12/15/2020 at 6:05 AM, itman said:

I can duplicate this every time anymore.

If I make changes to my network adapter settings in Eset Network Protection such as adding a new trusted IP address and then reboot, WSC goes bonkers. I get the Win 10 notification and the result after things settle down is Windows Defender is running and so is Eset. However, WSC will show that Eset real-time is turned off when in reality it is not.

For me, a subsequent reboot will restore correct WSC settings but it takes a while to do so. If you check WSC immediately after rebooting, it will show the same as above. Once WCS resets itself to show Eset real-time as on and WD as off, it stays that way thereafter.

Either the problem here is Eset ver. 14.0.22 or Microsoft has changed things in Win 10 20H2 to be "sensitive" to network changes resulting for third party firewall changes.

ESET need to get their act together with the WSC integration. I haven't seen other products who still have this problem but ESET is having issues quite regularly randomly for some users. Every few months we see there's a new WSC integration module update for ESET. Hopefully they finally fix everything.

Edited December 16, 2020 by SeriousHoax

[JozefG 9]

@SeriousHoax @itman are you having these issues with Security Center integration module 1029?

If so please provide logs.

[SeriousHoax 83]

3 hours ago, JozefG said:

@SeriousHoax @itman are you having these issues with Security Center integration module 1029?

If so please provide logs.

Hi, sorry I don't have ESET installed at the moment because I was having trouble connecting to internet because of it. As I said, I tried to switch to pre-release channel but the download never started even after restarting the system and triggering a manual update. Maybe @itmancan help.

[itman 1,659]

5 hours ago, JozefG said:

@itman are you having these issues with Security Center integration module 1029?

Actually my EIS 14.0.22 ver. just updated to 1093 today. So I assume I was on 1029 two days ago when I duplicated the issue.

Personally, this is not an issue for me since I know how to fix the problem as posted previously.

Again and for me, what triggers the issue is modification of network adapter for network connection assigned to current firewall profile. Specifically the changing of previously defined IP addresses in the  additional trusted addresses section.

[SeriousHoax 83]

28 minutes ago, itman said:

Actually my EIS 14.0.22 ver. just updated to 1093 today. So I assume I was on 1029 two days ago when I duplicated the issue.

Personally, this is not an issue for me since I know how to fix the problem as posted previously.

Again and for me, what triggers the issue is modification of network adapter for network connection assigned to current firewall profile. Specifically the changing of previously defined IP addresses in the  additional trusted addresses section.

Though feeling a bit hesitant but maybe I should reinstall ESET now.