Device security is a newly integrated feature of Windows security. A couple of years ago, we had Microsoft Security Essentials as a separate anti-virus program for Windows. But the newer builds of Windows have made use of what the Microsoft Security essentials program was all about and incorporated it with the Windows Defender. Now Windows Defender is working just as powerfully as a separate antivirus program. In Windows Defender, we now have Windows security, and Device security is a section of it.
Device security is meant to give the user insight into the security features integrated with a Windows device. It does so by providing the management and status reporting of the security features on your device. It is one of the seven areas that protect your device and lets you specify how you want your device protected in the Windows Security Center. Now many people would like to keep this feature completely hidden in their system. Specifically, colleges and companies working with multiple devices interconnected with each other would like to hide this feature. Here in this article, we will see how one can hide the Device Security area of Windows 10. So without any further ado, let’s get into it.
How to hide Device Security in Windows 10?
Before we get into how you can hide it, let’s look at what this feature is all about. Then we will get a better insight into why someone would want to hide this in the first place.
Different devices with different specifications see different things in Device Security. What you see here depends entirely on what kind of security features are built into your device. Generally, you will see one of the four messages mentioned below:
- Your device meets the requirements for standard hardware security.
- Your device meets the requirements for enhanced hardware security.
- Standard hardware security is not supported.
- Your device exceeds the requirements for enhanced hardware security.
As for the features that come with Device security, we have the following:
Core isolation: It protects your device’s core parts against malware or something similar to that by isolating computer processes from your operating system and device. You can modify the core isolation feature, enable it, or even disable it in this Device security section of Windows Security.
Memory integrity: This prevents malicious code from accessing the high-security processes of your system. Even when your system is under attack, this will safeguard the necessary high-security processes.
Secure boot: This prevents malicious software from loading when you start up your device.
Security processor: This provides additional encryption features to your device.
If there is anything wrong with your security processor, then you will see one of the following messages:
- Device health attestation isn’t supported on this device.
- TPM storage is not available. Please clear your TPM.
- TPM measured boot log is missing. Try restarting your device.
- There is a problem with your TPM. Try restarting your device.
- A firmware update is needed for your security processor (TPM).
- TPM is disabled and requires attention.
- Your TPM isn’t compatible with your firmware and may not be working properly.
- Device health attestation isn’t available. Please clear your TPM.
It is good to hide this section if multiple users work on your system. You don’t want everyone to know the possible security threats that your system can’t handle.
So to hide the device security area, we will take a look at the two possible ways. Firstly, we will see how you can hide it using the group policy editor. But not all versions of Windows have the group policy editor. If you are using a Windows 10 Home system, you will have to hide this area using the registry. For convenience, we have included both methods in this article.
Using the Local Group Policy Editor:
The Group Policy editor lets users customize and configure various settings of a Windows system. This is a useful editor if you want to hide certain things from your default Windows layout. It can hide almost every setting in the Windows Settings section. By making a few changes in the Group Policy Editor, we can even hide the Device Security area in the Windows Defender Security Center. It will even hide the Windows security icon that we see in the system tray in the taskbar’s bottom right corner.
Press the Windows Key + R, and it will open the Run dialog box.
Enter “gpedit.msc” in the Run dialog box and click on Ok.
This will open up the group policy editor.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative templates > Windows components > Windows Security > Device Security.
Double-click on the “Hide the Device security area” setting, and it will open up a new window.
Here, you will see a toggle is set to “Not Configured.” Change that toggle from “Not Configured” to “Enabled.”
Click on Apply and then click on Ok.
Group policy editor should automatically now work in the background and hide the device security area in your Windows security window. If you still see the device security settings for some reason, you need to update the group policy editor’s changes forcefully.
Click on the Windows search bar and search for “command prompt.” Once it shows up in the results, click to open it up as an administrator.
Type the following command in the command prompt window and press Enter:
Now your device security section will definitely be hidden. If you want this setting to show up again, go back to the same path in the group policy editor and change the toggle back from “Enabled” to “Not Configured” or “Disabled.” You will have the device security setting showing up in your Windows security window again.
Using the Registry Editor:
You don’t need to go for this method if the previous method with the group policy editor already hid the Device security section. However, for Windows 10 Home users who don’t have the Group Policy editor, hiding the setting using the Registry Editor will work. This is a bit more complicated than the previous method as you will have to create keys and configure their values. So follow the guide mentioned below accurately.
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Press the Windows Key + R, and it will open the Run dialog box.
Enter “regedit” in the Run dialog box and click on Ok.
The UAC(User Account Control) pop-up will show up, asking for permission to access the registry editor. Click on Yes.
In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the path: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender Security Center\Device security.” If any keys are missing in the registry, create them by right-clicking and choosing the New > Key option in the previously available key.
In the Device Security key, right-click on the right-pane and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option.
Name this newly created value as “UILockdown.”
Right-click on this newly created value and choose Modify.
Change the value data to 1.
Click on Ok and then restart the system.
You will notice that the device security setting is not showing up anymore in the Windows security window. If you want this setting to show up in the future again, remove the value “UILockdown” from the Registry Editor that you created in the Device security key.
This is how you can hide the Device security setting from showing up in the Windows security window. As an admin, this will help maintain your system’s security if multiple users have access to your system. If you have any questions or queries about this article, then comment down below, and we will get back to you. Also, be sure to check out our other articles on iPhone tips and tricks, Android tips and tricks, PC tips and tricks, and much more for more useful information.
