2016 Windows Defender Locks up Veeam Server

[Cicadymn]

I recently installed Veeam 9.5 on server as we've finally been able to migrate to it over AppAssure.

It worked great for a month, then every couple weeks it would either lock up to the point it required a hard reset, or occasionally crash. It wasn't an issue on our test VM that we had run for several weeks. The lock ups started happening weekly, then finally nightly. I tried Windows Updates, updating the host, I tried 9.5 Update 1, and plenty of other options. After talking to support they thought it was related to the Windows install and the only option was to migrate to a new VM. I migrated over and sure enough, the problem starts up again. But one thing happened, it performed to the point where I could sort of interact with it, very slowly. I noticed in the running processes Windows Defender was using a ton of RAM.

After killing Defender and blocking it. Veeam is humming along perfectly again. I'd wager that was the same problem on the first VM.

Just wanted to put a heads up on forum in case others are moving that way. Veeam was actually our first production 2016 server and it wasn't an issue on our test VMs obviously as they weren't behaving the same way Veeam does. If you're migrating or setting up Veeam on Server 2016 be sure to double check Windows Defender is disabled!

[Andreas Neufert]

Can you please follow the advice of KB1999 and please report back if this had addressed your issue:
https://www.veeam.com/kb1999

[Andreas Neufert]

Sometimes the Antivirus Systems can not keep up with the changes Veeam do against several files and slow down the whole system.

[Mike Resseler]

@Andreas is correct. Have a look at the exclusions and implement them properly.

To give some additional information on this, MSFT has done some really hard work on Windows Defender (this can actually happen to older server versions also if you have the latest windows updates and are tight on security with defender). You can say what you want on MSFT and Defender, but lately they have done a lot of good work, to the point that many start to believe that Defender is one of the best out there! So this is actually a good warning for those that want to take advantage of Defender a bit more, be aware and look at exclusions very well (not only for Veeam )

[ITDude]

After killing Defender and blocking it. Veeam is humming along perfectly again.

What do you mean by that? Removing it via:

Remove-WindowsFeature Windows-Defender

?

[StevenMeier]

We are using windows 2019 physical Servers (large ones) as work horses .

We have been working with Veeam and MS and HPE to diagnose the same fault. The only way to fix was uninstall windows Defender completely as the wdfilter process would lock up 47 of our 48 CPUS once this was removed the boxes have been stable for 2 months.

I have a long story around this and plan to post in the forums, but have been reluctant too until we were convinced it was AV and its related processes.

I am convinced now but making MS believe this is proving very difficult. There response was "it can't be MS as if you remove Veeam it will work properly"...….great logic aye ?