Yesterday I enabled controlled folder access in Microsoft Defender Antivirus (Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Settings > Controlled folder access = On). Today every few minutes I get the message that svchost.exe tries to write in %userprofile%\Videos directory. Why does svchost.exe access %userprofile%\Videos directory, and is it safe to allow it to do this?

The message I get states that: "You can allow apps to access your protected folders, but you should only allow apps that you trust".

I have Windows 10 Pro version 2004.

3 Answers

This Controlled folder access feature is new to Windows defender and Windows 10, and is experimental and very buggy. It protects folder Documents, Pictures, Videos by default and does not let any process access and write there. You should turn it off to get rid of this messages. Go to Windows Security > Virus and threat protection > Virus and threat protection settings > Controlled folder access and turn it off.

4

Protected access prevents ransomware from encrypting your files. It blocked svchost.exe because "one of the svchost processes may be host to a 3rd party service, which Windows Security is not trustful of." See:

There is zero good reason to turn off controlled folder access. Nagging popup messages are not more intrusive than hackers completely hijacking your system.

And for the record, there is also no good reason svchost should need to access your videos folder. I get this same popup message, and my videos folder is empty.

Leave controlled folder access on and ignore the messages. It's the safest option for the health of your computer.

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