Select cloud protection level

Policy ID
MpEngine_MpCloudBlockLevel
Scope
Computer Configuration
Supported on
At least Windows Server 2016, Windows 10
Source
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category
Windows Components › Microsoft Defender Antivirus › MpEngine

Description


This policy setting determines how aggressive Microsoft Defender Antivirus will be in blocking and scanning suspicious files.

If this setting is on, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will be more aggressive when identifying suspicious files to block and scan; otherwise, it will be less aggressive and therefore block and scan with less frequency.

For more information about specific values that are supported, see the Microsoft Defender Antivirus documentation site.

Note: This feature requires the "Join Microsoft MAPS" setting enabled in order to function.

Possible options are:
(0x0) Default Microsoft Defender Antivirus blocking level
(0x1) Moderate Microsoft Defender Antivirus blocking level, delivers verdict only for high confidence detections
(0x2) High blocking level - aggressively block unknowns while optimizing client performance (greater chance of false positives)
(0x4) High+ blocking level – aggressively block unknowns and apply additional protection measures (may impact client performance)
(0x6) Zero tolerance blocking level – block all unknown executables

Options

  • Select cloud blocking level
    • Default blocking level
    • Moderate blocking level
    • High blocking level
    • High+ blocking level
    • Zero tolerance blocking level

Registry

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • MpCloudBlockLevel-
  • MpCloudBlockLevelREG_DWORD

Other policies in the same category

View all policies in this category (4)