Several users are seen reporting issues of breaking Windows Defender features after installing the latest Windows 11 update in the Beta channel.

While the issue was yet to be known, it shows users a pop-up asking them to install an additional app from Microsoft Store when they tried accessing a few features within. A temporary workaround is available until the official patch.

Windows 11 New Update Issues

As seen in Microsoft Feedback Hub and other forums, several Windows 11 beta users complain about an issue after installing the latest Windows 11 update.

Build no. 22000.160 is faulty, as it’s breaking down access to some features in Windows Security app, which has the Windows Defender and other security features. As a result, users are blocked from accessing account protection, firewall & network protection, apps & browser control, etc., sections, while the antivirus, firewall, and protection status are working fine.

Tapping on the unreachable features shows an error popup saying, “You’ll need a new app to this windowsdefender link.” A reason for this issue isn’t known yet, nor acknowledged by Microsoft. Thus, here’s a temporary workaround until then;

  1. Open Windows PowerShell from the Search or Start Menu with administrator privilege.
  2. Copy and paste this command “Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.SecHealthUI -AllUsers | Reset-AppxPackage”.
  3. Now close the PowerShell window.

That’s it. This reset command should bring the Windows Security app back to its original form and work. If not, you can try rolling back this update to the previous version by Windows Update > Update history and uninstalling the latest cumulative update.

While a stable version of Windows 11 is set in October this year, there are reports Microsoft is working on the next feature update for this latest OS. While it’s warning users of more buggy updates in the Dev channel, the current Beta channel has its own share of bugs.