Troubleshoot Microsoft Defender for Endpoint onboarding issues

You might need to troubleshoot the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint onboarding process if you encounter issues. This page provides detailed steps to troubleshoot onboarding issues that might occur when deploying with one of the deployment tools and common errors that might occur on the devices.

Troubleshoot issues with onboarding tools

If you have completed the onboarding process and don’t see devices in the Devices list after an hour, it might indicate an onboarding or connectivity problem.

Troubleshoot onboarding when deploying with Group Policy

Deployment with Group Policy is done by running the onboarding script on the devices. The Group Policy console does not indicate if the deployment has succeeded or not.

If you have completed the onboarding process and don’t see devices in the Devices list after an hour, you can check the output of the script on the devices. For more information, see Troubleshoot onboarding when deploying with a script.

If the script completes successfully, see Troubleshoot onboarding issues on the devices for additional errors that might occur.

Troubleshoot onboarding issues when deploying with Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager

When onboarding devices using the following versions of Configuration Manager:

• Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager
• System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
• System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

Deployment with the above-mentioned versions of Configuration Manager is done by running the onboarding script on the devices. You can track the deployment in the Configuration Manager Console.

If the deployment fails, you can check the output of the script on the devices.

If the onboarding completed successfully but the devices are not showing up in the Devices list after an hour, see Troubleshoot onboarding issues on the device for additional errors that might occur.

Troubleshoot onboarding when deploying with a script

Check the result of the script on the device:

1. Click Start, type Event Viewer, and press Enter.
2. Go to Windows Logs > Application.
3. Look for an event from WDATPOnboarding event source.

If the script fails and the event is an error, you can check the event ID in the following table to help you troubleshoot the issue.

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Troubleshoot onboarding issues using Microsoft Intune

You can use Microsoft Intune to check error codes and attempt to troubleshoot the cause of the issue.

If you have configured policies in Intune and they are not propagated on devices, you might need to configure automatic MDM enrollment.

Use the following tables to understand the possible causes of issues while onboarding:

• Microsoft Intune error codes and OMA-URIs table
• Known issues with non-compliance table
• Mobile Device Management (MDM) event logs table

If none of the event logs and troubleshooting steps work, download the Local script from the Device management section of the portal, and run it in an elevated command prompt.

Microsoft Intune error codes and OMA-URIs

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Known issues with non-compliance

The following table provides information on issues with non-compliance and how you can address the issues.

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Mobile Device Management (MDM) event logs

View the MDM event logs to troubleshoot issues that might arise during onboarding:

Log name: Microsoft\Windows\DeviceManagement-EnterpriseDiagnostics-Provider

Channel name: Admin

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Troubleshoot onboarding issues on the device

If the deployment tools used does not indicate an error in the onboarding process, but devices are still not appearing in the devices list in an hour, go through the following verification topics to check if an error occurred with the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent.

• View agent onboarding errors in the device event log
• Ensure the diagnostic data service is enabled
• Ensure the service is set to start
• Ensure the device has an Internet connection
• Ensure that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is not disabled by a policy

View agent onboarding errors in the device event log

1. Click Start, type Event Viewer, and press Enter.
2. In the Event Viewer (Local) pane, expand Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > SENSE.

    Note

   SENSE is the internal name used to refer to the behavioral sensor that powers Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

3. Select Operational to load the log.
4. In the Action pane, click Filter Current log.
5. On the Filter tab, under Event level: select Critical, Warning, and Error, and click OK.

   

6. Events which can indicate issues will appear in the Operational pane. You can attempt to troubleshoot them based on the solutions in the following table:

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There are additional components on the device that the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent depends on to function properly. If there are no onboarding related errors in the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent event log, proceed with the following steps to ensure that the additional components are configured correctly.

Ensure the diagnostic data service is enabled

If the devices aren’t reporting correctly, you might need to check that the Windows diagnostic data service is set to automatically start and is running on the device. The service might have been disabled by other programs or user configuration changes.

First, you should check that the service is set to start automatically when Windows starts, then you should check that the service is currently running (and start it if it isn’t).

Ensure the service is set to start

Use the command line to check the Windows diagnostic data service startup type:

1. Open an elevated command-line prompt on the device:

   a. Click Start, type cmd, and press Enter.

   b. Right-click Command prompt and select Run as administrator.

2. Enter the following command, and press Enter:
   ConsoleCopy

   sc qc diagtrack
   

   If the service is enabled, then the result should look like the following screenshot:

   

   If the START_TYPE is not set to AUTO_START, then you’ll need to set the service to automatically start.

Use the command line to set the Windows diagnostic data service to automatically start:

1. Open an elevated command-line prompt on the device:

   a. Click Start, type cmd, and press Enter.

   b. Right-click Command prompt and select Run as administrator.

2. Enter the following command, and press Enter:
   ConsoleCopy

   sc config diagtrack start=auto
   

3. A success message is displayed. Verify the change by entering the following command, and press Enter:
   ConsoleCopy

   sc qc diagtrack
   

4. Start the service. In the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter:
   ConsoleCopy

   sc start diagtrack
   

Ensure the device has an Internet connection

The Microsoft Defender for Endpoint sensor requires Microsoft Windows HTTP (WinHTTP) to report sensor data and communicate with the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint service.

WinHTTP is independent of the Internet browsing proxy settings and other user context applications and must be able to detect the proxy servers that are available in your particular environment.

To ensure that sensor has service connectivity, follow the steps described in the Verify client connectivity to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint service URLs topic.

If the verification fails and your environment is using a proxy to connect to the Internet, then follow the steps described in Configure proxy and Internet connectivity settings topic.

Ensure that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is not disabled by a policy

Problem: The Microsoft Defender for Endpoint service does not start after onboarding.

Symptom: Onboarding successfully completes, but you see error 577 or error 1058 when trying to start the service.

Solution: If your devices are running a third-party antimalware client, the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent needs the Early Launch Antimalware (ELAM) driver to be enabled. You must ensure that it’s not turned off by a system policy.

• Depending on the tool that you use to implement policies, you’ll need to verify that the following Windows Defender policies are cleared:
  • DisableAntiSpyware
  • DisableAntiVirus

  For example, in Group Policy there should be no entries such as the following values:

  • <Key Path="SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender"><KeyValue Value="0" ValueKind="DWord" Name="DisableAntiSpyware"/></Key>
  • <Key Path="SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender"><KeyValue Value="0" ValueKind="DWord" Name="DisableAntiVirus"/></Key>

• After clearing the policy, run the onboarding steps again.
• You can also check the previous registry key values to verify that the policy is disabled, by opening the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender.

  

   Note

  All Windows Defender services (wdboot, wdfilter, wdnisdrv, wdnissvc, and windefend) should be in their default state. Changing the startup of these services is unsupported and may force you to reimage your system.

  Example default configurations for WdBoot and WdFilter:

  • <Key Path="SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdBoot"><KeyValue Value="0" ValueKind="DWord" Name="Start"/></Key>
  • <Key Path="SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WdFilter"><KeyValue Value="0" ValueKind="DWord" Name="Start"/></Key>

Troubleshoot onboarding issues

If you encounter issues while onboarding a server, go through the following verification steps to address possible issues.

• Ensure Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA) is installed and configured to report sensor data to the service
• Ensure that the server proxy and Internet connectivity settings are configured properly

You might also need to check the following:

• Check that there is a Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Service running in the Processes tab in Task Manager. For example:

  

• Check Event Viewer > Applications and Services Logs > Operation Manager to see if there are any errors.
• In Services, check if the Microsoft Monitoring Agent is running on the server. For example,

  

• In Microsoft Monitoring Agent > Azure Log Analytics (OMS), check the Workspaces and verify that the status is running.

  

• Check to see that devices are reflected in the Devices list in the portal.

Confirming onboarding of newly built devices

There may be instances when onboarding is deployed on a newly built device but not completed.

The steps below provide guidance for the following scenario:

• Onboarding package is deployed to newly built devices
• Sensor does not start because the Out-of-box experience (OOBE) or first user logon has not been completed
• Device is turned off or restarted before the end user performs a first logon
• In this scenario, the SENSE service will not start automatically even though onboarding package was deployed

1. Create an application in Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager.

   

2. Select Manually specify the application information.

   

3. Specify information about the application, then select Next.

   

4. Specify information about the software center, then select Next.

   

5. In Deployment types select Add.

   

6. Select Manually specify the deployment type information, then select Next.

   

7. Specify information about the deployment type, then select Next.

   

8. In Content > Installation program specify the command: net start sense.

   

9. In Detection method, select Configure rules to detect the presence of this deployment type, then select Add Clause.

   

10. Specify the following detection rule details, then select OK:

    

11. In Detection method select Next.

    

12. In User Experience, specify the following information, then select Next:

    

13. In Requirements, select Next.

    

14. In Dependencies, select Next.

    

15. In Summary, select Next.

    

16. In Completion, select Close.

    

17. In Deployment types, select Next.

    

18. In Summary, select Next.

    

    The status is then displayed: 

19. In Completion, select Close.

    

20. You can now deploy the application by right-clicking the app and selecting Deploy.

    

21. In General select Automatically distribute content for dependencies and Browse.

    

22. In Content select Next.

    

23. In Deployment settings, select Next.

    

24. In Scheduling select As soon as possible after the available time, then select Next.

    

25. In User experience, select Commit changes at deadline or during a maintenance window (requires restarts), then select Next.

    

26. In Alerts select Next.

    

27. In Summary, select Next.

    

    The status is then displayed 

28. In Completion, select Close.

    

Related topics

Source : Official Microsoft Brand
Editor by : BEST Antivirus KBS Team