Turn on definition retirement
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Network Inspection System Description
This policy setting allows you to configure definition retirement for network protection against exploits of known vulnerabilities. Definition retirement checks to see if a computer has the required security updates necessary to protect it against a particular vulnerability. If the system is not vulnerable to the exploit detected by a definition, then that definition is "retired". If all security intelligence for a given protocal are retired then that protocol is no longer parsed. Enabling this feature helps to improve performance. On a computer that is up-to-date with all the latest security updates, network protection will have no impact on network performance. If you enable or do not configure this setting, definition retirement will be enabled. If you disable this setting, definition retirement will be disabled.
Registry
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS Value name: DisableSignatureRetirement
Enabled: DisableSignatureRetirement = 0
Disabled: DisableSignatureRetirement = 1
MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_MicrosoftDefenderAntivirus/Nis_Consumers_IPS_DisableSignatureRetirement Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Turn on definition retirement
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS]
"DisableSignatureRetirement"=dword:00000000More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn on definition retirement
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisableSignatureRetirement' -Value 0 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_MicrosoftDefenderAntivirus/Nis_Consumers_IPS_DisableSignatureRetirement
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn on definition retirement
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS' -Name 'DisableSignatureRetirement' -Expected 0 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn on definition retirement
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisableSignatureRetirement' -Value 0 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn on definition retirement
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn on definition retirement
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS' -Name 'DisableSignatureRetirement' -Expected 0 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn on definition retirement
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 or Windows RT
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\NIS\Consumers\IPS'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisableSignatureRetirement' -Value 0 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.