Onboard Windows devices using Group Policy

Applies to:

• Group Policy
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 and Plan 2
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for servers
• Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 1 or Plan 2

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Check out Identify Defender for Endpoint architecture and deployment method to see the various paths in deploying Defender for Endpoint.

1. Open the GP configuration package file (WindowsDefenderATPOnboardingPackage.zip) that you downloaded from the service onboarding wizard. You can also get the package from the Microsoft Defender portal:

   1. In the navigation pane, select Settings > Endpoints > Device management > Onboarding.

   2. Select the operating system.

   3. In the Deployment method field, select Group policy.

   4. Click Download package and save the .zip file.

2. Extract the contents of the .zip file to a shared, read-only location that can be accessed by the device. You should have a folder called OptionalParamsPolicy and the file WindowsDefenderATPOnboardingScript.cmd.

3. To create a new GPO, open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), right-click Group Policy Objects you want to configure and click New. Enter the name of the new GPO in the dialogue box that is displayed and click OK.

4. Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), right-click the Group Policy Object (GPO) you want to configure and click Edit.

5. In the Group Policy Management Editor, go to Computer configuration, then Preferences, and then Control panel settings.

6. Right-click Scheduled tasks, point to New, and then click Immediate Task (At least Windows 7).

7. In the Task window that opens, go to the General tab. Under Security options click Change User or Group and type SYSTEM and then click Check Names then OK. NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM appears as the user account the task will run as.

8. Select Run whether user is logged on or not and check the Run with highest privileges check box.

9. In the Name field, type an appropriate name for the scheduled task (for example, Defender for Endpoint Deployment).

10. Go to the Actions tab and select New... Ensure that Start a program is selected in the Action field. Enter the UNC path, using the file server's fully qualified domain name (FQDN), of the shared WindowsDefenderATPOnboardingScript.cmd file.

11. Select OK and close any open GPMC windows.

12. To link the GPO to an Organization Unit (OU), right-click and select Link an existing GPO. In the dialogue box that is displayed, select the Group Policy Object that you wish to link. Click OK.

For each device, you can state whether samples can be collected from the device when a request is made through Microsoft Defender XDR to submit a file for deep analysis.

You can use Group Policy (GP) to configure settings, such as settings for the sample sharing used in the deep analysis feature.

1. On your GP management device, copy the following files from the configuration package:

   • Copy AtpConfiguration.admx into C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions.

   • Copy AtpConfiguration.adml into C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US.

   If you're using a Central Store for Group Policy Administrative Templates, copy the following files from the configuration package:

   • Copy AtpConfiguration.admx into \\<forest.root>\SysVol\<forest.root>\Policies\PolicyDefinitions.

   • Copy AtpConfiguration.adml into \\<forest.root>\SysVol\<forest.root>\Policies\PolicyDefinitions\en-US.

2. Open the Group Policy Management Console, right-click the GPO you want to configure and click Edit.

3. In the Group Policy Management Editor, go to Computer configuration.

4. Click Policies, then Administrative templates.

5. Click Windows components and then Windows Defender ATP.

6. Choose to enable or disable sample sharing from your devices.

After configuring the onboarding script, continue editing the same group policy to add endpoint protection configurations. Perform group policy edits from a system running Windows 10, Windows 11, or Windows Server 2019 and later to ensure you have all of the required Microsoft Defender Antivirus capabilities. You may need to close and reopen the group policy object to register the Defender ATP configuration settings.

All policies are located under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates.

Policy location: \Windows Components\Windows Defender ATP

Policy location: \Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Policy location: \Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\MAPS

Policy location: \Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Real-time Protection

Policy location: \Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Scan

These settings configure periodic scans of the endpoint. We recommend performing a weekly quick scan, performance permitting.

Policy location: \Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard\Attack Surface Reduction

Get the current list of attack surface reduction rules GUIDs from Attack surface reduction rules deployment Step 3: Implement ASR rules. For additional, per rules details, see Attack surface reduction rules reference

1. Open the Configure Attack Surface Reduction policy.

2. Select Enabled.

3. Select the Show button.

4. Add each GUID in the Value Name field with a value of 2. This will set each up for audit only.

   

After onboarding the device, you can choose to run a detection test to verify that a device is properly onboarded to the service. For more information, see Run a detection test on a newly onboarded Microsoft Defender for Endpoint device.

For security reasons, the package used to Offboard devices will expire 7 days after the date it was downloaded. Expired offboarding packages sent to a device will be rejected. When downloading an offboarding package you'll be notified of the packages expiry date and it will also be included in the package name.

1. Get the offboarding package from the Microsoft Defender portal:

   1. In the navigation pane, select Settings > Endpoints > Device management > Offboarding.

   2. Select the operating system.

   3. In the Deployment method field, select Group policy.

   4. Click Download package and save the .zip file.

2. Extract the contents of the .zip file to a shared, read-only location that can be accessed by the device. You should have a file named WindowsDefenderATPOffboardingScript_valid_until_YYYY-MM-DD.cmd.

3. Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), right-click the Group Policy Object (GPO) you want to configure and click Edit.

4. In the Group Policy Management Editor, go to Computer configuration, then Preferences, and then Control panel settings.

5. Right-click Scheduled tasks, point to New, and then click Immediate task.

6. In the Task window that opens, go to the General tab under Security options and select Change User or Group, enter SYSTEM, then select Check Names and then OK. NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM appears as the user account that the task will run as.

7. Select Run whether user is logged on or not and check the Run with highest privileges check-box.

8. In the Name field, type an appropriate name for the scheduled task (for example, Defender for Endpoint Deployment).

9. Go to the Actions tab and select New.... Ensure that Start a program is selected in the Action field. Enter the UNC path, using the file server's fully qualified domain name (FQDN), of the shared WindowsDefenderATPOffboardingScript_valid_until_YYYY-MM-DD.cmd file.

10. Select OK and close any open GPMC windows.

With Group Policy there isn't an option to monitor deployment of policies on the devices. Monitoring can be done directly on the portal, or by using the different deployment tools.

1. Go to the Microsoft Defender portal.

2. Select Devices inventory.

3. Verify that devices are appearing.

Create a new Group Policy or group these settings in with the other policies. This is dependent upon the customer's environment and how they would like to roll out the service by targeting different organizational units (OUs).

1. After you choose the GP, or create a new one, edit the GP.

2. Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > Real-time Protection.

   

3. In the Quarantine folder, configure removal of items from Quarantine folder.

   

   

4. In the Scan folder, configure the scan settings.

   

Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > Real-time Protection.

1. Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender SmartScreen > Explorer.

   

2. Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender SmartScreen > Microsoft Edge.

   

Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus.

Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > MAPS.

For more information, see Turn on cloud protection in Microsoft Defender Antivirus, and Cloud protection and sample submission in Microsoft Defender Antivirus.

Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > Security Intelligence Updates.

Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > MpEngine.

When you configure cloud protection level policy to Default Microsoft Defender Antivirus blocking policy this will disable the policy. This is what is required to set the protection level to the windows default.

• Onboard Windows devices using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager
• Onboard Windows devices using Mobile Device Management tools
• Onboard Windows devices using a local script
• Onboard non-persistent virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) devices
• Run a detection test on a newly onboarded Microsoft Defender for Endpoint devices
• Troubleshoot Microsoft Defender for Endpoint onboarding issues