Will Windows Defender Automatically Scan USD Drives?

Microsoft Defender is well known for its excellence in computer protection and virus/malware scanning. However, some PC users wonder does it function automatically when you insert the USB flash drive into a PC. Feeling at ease, bring your questions and read this post to get a clear answer.

This article also offers you details on how to enable Windows Defender to scan USB drives automatically, and moreover, how to recover lost data with a professional fix is also covered if you encounter any data loss.

Table of Contents:

• 1. Does Windows Defender automatically scan USB drives?
• 2. Why do you need Microsoft Defender's automatic scanning?
• 3. How to enable Windows Defender to scan USB drives automatically?
• 4. How to fix data loss caused by Microsoft Defender's scanning?
• 5. FAQ about does Windows Defender automatically scan USB drives

Does Windows Defender automatically scan USB drives?

When asked whether Microsoft Defender automatically scans USB drives, the final answer can be Yes or No. The answer is yes because Microsoft Defender automatically scans USB drives in previous versions of Windows, while the answer is no because this feature has been removed from the Defender functions on recent Windows OS.

Windows made no clear statement about the removal. But I guess it happens due to two reasons. Firstly, Microsoft Defender would disconnect your drive and then performs a full scan which might cause data loss. Secondly, this scan takes several minutes and some people have no patience to wait. Therefore, Windows puts choices in the hands of users. 

However, Windows users are allowed to enable Microsoft Defender to scan USB drives automatically as long as they make some tweaks on their computers.

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Why do you need Microsoft Defender's automatic scanning?

Microsoft Defender is a wonderful security utility that protects computers against viruses, malware, malicious software, and more. It makes your computer less vulnerable to malware that hides on external hard drives and keeps your files and folders on the computer safer and more secure. 

It is not false news that some malware hides on USB devices in order to infect Windows hosts. Furthermore, malware disguises itself as normal software in some cases and if you run it without realizing it, your computer is infected. Therefore, enabling Microsoft Defender to automatically scan USB drives is crucial.

Read on to know how to enable Microsoft Defender to scan removal drives automatically and do not share this article to make more people know the importance of enabling Microsoft Defender's automatic scanning.

How to enable Windows Defender to scan USB drives automatically?

With a basic understanding of Microsoft Defender, now let's concentrate on how to make Microsoft Defender scan your USB drives by default. This post walks you through 2 ways in detail and you can try each of them as you like.

Method 1: Enable automatic USB drive scanning via Windows Registry

Registry Editor contains so many significant system files and data of your computer and it even functions when you encounter This Device Cannot Start Code 10 status of your drive. Note that any slight error in the Registry Editor can cause serious problems so you'd better make a full Registry backup before you carry out this method and bring your concentration to perform this work.

Here Microsoft Defender is enabled successfully and it will scan your inserted USB drives as long as you take it as your default antivirus protection. If you're applying third-party antivirus software, head to check if it offers automatic scanning also.

Method 2: Make a Group Policy to scan USB drives using Microsoft Defender

You can have a look at these steps real quick and then get down to make a Group Policy to scan USB drives by using Microsoft Defender.

At present, Microsoft Defender will protect your computer from any USB drives and quarantine any viruses and malware. If you don't need the automatic scanning anymore, head to click Disabled.

How to fix data loss caused by Microsoft Defender's scanning?

As mentioned, Microsoft Defender removes your USB devices before performing the full drive scanning. Then it informs you that the USB devices are virus-free so that you can work with them on your computer. However, it's possible that data loss happens sometimes when Microsoft Defender removes your storage device.

Hence, performing the data recovery work is indispensable. iBoysoft Data Recovery Software is highly suggested because it is designed with advanced disk scanning skills and data recovery algorithms. You can apply it to recover deleted, missing, disappearing, and lost files from unreadable, corrupted, formatted, and failing drives with ease.

It's simple to recover deleted or lost files on your computer thanks to an intuitive and user-friendly interface. Here I am gonna show you how to recover missing files on your USB devices on a PC:

iBoysoft Data Recovery Software will never keep any recording or notes of your files and data, you can rest assured to use it on your computer.

Final words

If you feel unsafe using the removal devices on your computer, then you can give Microsoft Defender a chance to protect your device from a malicious USB device with automatic scanning.

Note that Microsoft Defender's automatic scanning might cause your USB device data loss sometimes. Yet worry is needless, this article offers you professional data recovery software to bring your files back.

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FAQ about does Windows Defender automatically scan USB drives