Device Security is a part of the Windows Defender Security Center. This section provides greater insight into the security feature integrated into your Windows device. It gives the management and status reporting of the security features that are built into your devices. Nevertheless, you can also hide this section on your system. Numerous colleges and companies will like to keep the settings minimum for the users. This post will show you procedures through which you can easily hide the Device Security Area in Windows 10.
The Group Policy Editor is not obtainable in all versions of Windows 10. The Windows 10 Home version doesn’t come with the Group Policy Editor. That is why we have added the Registry Editor procedure for a similar setting.
Procedure 1: Using the Local Group Policy Editor
The Group Policy is a Windows trait through which users can configure different settings for their operating system. There are several settings in Group Policy Editor for hiding any specific settings in your Settings app. It further has a setting for hiding the Device Security Area in the Windows Defender Security Center. If you allow the setting, this section will no longer appear on the Windows Security app’s home page. It will further not show the icon on the navigation bar on the side of the Settings app.
The condition for this setting is to have at least Windows 10 version 1803 or Windows Server 2016. Check the below actions and see how it works:
Note: If you are utilizing the Windows Home edition, then skip this method.
1- Start a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows and R keys on your keyboard. Now type “gpedit. MSC” in the box & click on the Ok button to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2- You need to navigate to the subsequent path in the Local Group Policy Editor window:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Security\Device security\
3- Double click on the setting named “Hide the Device Security Area,” and it will open up in another window. Then you require to change the toggle option from the Not Configured to the Enabled option.
4- Lastly, click on the Apply and then the Ok button to save the changes. Often, the group policy will automatically update the changes.
5- Nevertheless, if it does not update the new configurations, you require to do it manually. Hunt for command prompt in the Windows search feature. Right-click on it and open it as an administrator.
6- Now type the following command in the Command Prompt (Admin) to force update the group policy changes:
gpupdate /force
Note: This can further be done by simply restarting your system.
7- You can always enable the Device Security Area by changing the toggle option back to Not Configured or Disabled in step 3.
Procedure 2: Using the Registry Editor
The Registry Editor is another procedure for hiding the Device Security section of the Windows Defender Security Center. If you previously used the Local Group Policy Editor method, this will already have the value configured. If you are straight using this method, you must create the missing keys and value to configure your system’s setting. It is a little technical compared to the Local Group Policy Editor method, and nevertheless, by following the below steps, you can easily configure it:
1- Start a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R key on your keyboard. Now type “Regedit” & click on the Ok button to open the Registry Editor. Furthermore, if prompted by UAC (User Account Control) dialog, click on the Yes button.
2- You can further create a backup before making any new changes in the Registry. Agree on the File menu in the menu bar & then choose the Export option. Now name the file and choose the location for the file. Agree on the Save button to save the backup.
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Security\Device security\
Note: You can evermore recover a backup by agreeing on the File > Import option and then selecting the file that you previously saved as backup.
3- You need to navigate to the subsequent path in the Registry Editor window:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender Security Center\Device security
Note: If some of the keys are missing in the Registry, you can create them by right-clicking on the available key and then choosing the New > Key option.
4- Select the Device security key, then right-click on the right pane, and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Name this newly created value as “UILockdown.”
Also, Check :
5- Right-click on this value and choose the Modify option. Now change the value data to 1.
6- Finally, after all the configurations, make sure you restart the system to apply these new changes.
7- You can always allow the Device Security Area again by changing the value data to 0. You can further remove the value “UILockdown” from the Registry Editor.
