Bitdefender (v27.0.49.250) not updating automatically on standard user account

Pourqui55

Hello,

I'm using Bitdefender version 27.0.49.250 on Windows 11, and I'm seriously concerned about the fact that updates never happen automatically when logged in as a standard user (non-admin).

Yes, the updatesrv.exe service is running under the LocalSystem account, and yes, automatic updates are enabled in the settings. But unless I manually open the Bitdefender UI and trigger an update, nothing ever happens. Not once.

To make things worse:

• There's no command-line tool like bdupdate.exe to force updates manually.
• The update mechanism is completely hidden, with no way to verify when the last update actually occurred unless I dig deep.
• Restarting the update service is blocked, even with admin rights.
• Bitdefender doesn't even provide a basic scheduled task to trigger updates.

This is unacceptable behavior for a paid antivirus solution in 2025. Users expect and rely on daily, silent, background updates to stay protected — not manual checks through the UI like it’s 2005.

Frankly, it feels like the product silently fails to protect unless I babysit it daily.

Can someone from Bitdefender please clarify if:

1. This is intended behavior?
2. There is any way to force daily updates automatically in a standard user session?

Thanks — and I really hope there's a solution, because at this point, I'm rethinking my subscription.

Gjoksi

Hello.

I believe that @camarie, who works at Bitdefender as Principal Software Developer, can help you with the issue.

Please, wait for his reply.

Regards.

camarie

I'm not on update development, but I asked the team. I can answer to these questions:

• The update mechanism is completely hidden, with no way to verify when the last update actually occurred unless I dig deep.

Updates appears in Notifications in Information section (if successful), in entries such as "Update completed successfully". Date/time is listed under, as well as the View log to display the updated files.

• Restarting the update service is blocked, even with admin rights.

Bitdefender services are protected and not implementing the stop control. To restart Bitdefender services one needs to restart the computer.

• There's no command-line tool like bdupdate.exe to force updates manually.

The update can be done on demand by right-clicking the Bitdefender tray icon and clicking on Update Now. If there are available updates, they will display and install.

• Bitdefender doesn't even provide a basic scheduled task to trigger updates.

The scheduling is done in Updatesrv service. I don't know the specific details about the how often are the update checks performed, but the check is done (depending on the update settings and probably other business logic I am not up to date to). I would say the only thing that prevent an update is a malfunction of update. I am not sure about the signature database updates release frequency, but a considerable part is replaced/superseded via other means (cloud scans, for example) which do not require a signature database downloaded/updated locally.

I don't know if this would be an useful tool to have, since it will overlap with what Updatesrv already does.

About "I'm seriously concerned about the fact that updates never happen automatically when logged in as a standard user (non-admin).", I asked a colleague who knows update inner workings to recheck if this happens. He started this recheck right now, as soon as I have the conclusions will get back to you.

camarie

Update: the update worked correctly on my colleague's test, even with a limited account. Even if there right now there are no signature updates, the internal update timestamps were correctly updated to the current check time. Test was done on a Windows 11 machine under a limited user.

Gjoksi

Hello again.

Please, follow the steps below.

-- STEP 1 --

Repair Bitdefender, by following these steps:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/13429/

-- STEP 2 --

If the instructions from Step 1 didn't help, uninstall the Bitdefender program using the Uninstall Tool:

https://www.bitdefender.com/links/uninstall_consumer_paid.html

It will completely remove the program.

Next, reinstall Bitdefender from your Bitdefender Central account and see if the issue has been solved, as reinstalling the program usually solves the issues.

-- STEP 3 --

If the instructions from Step 2 didn't help, follow the instructions in this step.

First, take screenshot(s) of the issue

and create a log file on your Windows device using Bitdefender Support Tool, by following these steps:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1733/

Next, contact Bitdefender Consumer Support by e-mail:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

with short description of the issue.

After that, you will get an automated reply by the Bitdefender Customer Care Team, with your ticket number.

Now, in reply to that automated reply, you can send the screenshot(s) you already took and the log file you already created in the first step.

Since you are all done, just wait for the support engineers to investigate your issue and find a solution to fix the issue.

Remember that the screenshot(s) and the log file will help a lot to the support engineers for better and faster investigation on your issue and finding a solution.

NOTE: If the log file is larger than 25MB, you can upload the log file here:

https://upload.bitdefender.net/

After the upload is done, you will get a notification with the file's URL and then you can share the file's URL with the Bitdefender Consumer Support.

Regards.

Pourqui55

Hi @camarie,

Thanks for getting back to me — I really appreciate you checking with the update team on this, since that’s the part I’m most concerned about: why Bitdefender doesn’t seem to update at all when using a standard (non-admin) user account.

I just want to clarify a few things based on your reply:

1. Notifications: The only time I ever see an update notification is when I manually launch the Bitdefender UI and trigger the update myself. So the notification is basically just confirming something I already had to do manually. That’s not what I’d call “automatic protection.” Most users expect updates to happen silently in the background — and to be notified only if something went wrong.
   
2. Restarting services: I understand the services are protected, and I get the logic behind that. But it’s frustrating that I have no way to force a refresh or reinitiate the update process — especially when it seems like nothing is happening on its own.
   
3. Right-click > Update Now: Yes, that option works — but again, it requires me to remember to do it. If I forget (which is easy to do), my system could go days without getting new signatures. For a paid product that advertises “automatic updates,” that really shouldn’t be the case.
   
4. Scheduled updates: I get that the Updatesrv service handles this, but if we don’t know when or how often that happens — and we have no visibility if it fails silently — then I really can’t trust that it’s doing what it should. A simple scheduled task or log entry would go a long way toward giving users peace of mind.
   
5. Cloud-based protection: Just to be crystal clear — I’m using Bitdefender Total Security, not a business product like GravityZone.Total Security does not include full cloud-based scanning or cloud-managed antivirus logic. It relies heavily on local malware signature databases. The Global Protective Network might assist in threat intelligence, but it doesn’t replace actual signature updates.So it's important not to use the cloud protection argument to justify missed or delayed local updates — because in this product, local signature updates are essential.

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/352409#Comment_352409

Just to make sure I understand correctly: was the update your colleague observed actually automatic and silent, or was it manually triggered in some way (like opening the Bitdefender UI, clicking "Update Now" from the tray icon, restarting the system, etc.)?

Also, can you confirm whether the test was done specifically on Bitdefender Total Security? I’m asking because that’s the product I’m using, and I want to be sure we’re talking about the same edition.

For context, I’m seeing the exact same issue on two separate Windows 11 PCs, both using standard (non-admin) user accounts.On both systems:

• Updates never happen unless I manually trigger them.
• No notifications appear unless I initiate the update myself.
• The last update timestamp stays unchanged for days unless I take action.

And just to be thorough — during the test, were any logs checked to confirm that an update check actually happened silently in the background (even if there were no new signatures available)? From a user’s point of view, there’s just no sign that anything is happening unless we go looking for it.

To help clarify what I’m seeing on my side, feel free to check the screenshots I’ve attached — they show the lack of recent updates and how nothing changes unless I intervene.

I’m not questioning your colleague’s test — I just really want to understand whether what they saw was truly “hands-off,” because that’s what’s expected from a premium product like Total Security.

Thanks again for your time and help — I really do appreciate it.

camarie

"Just to make sure I understand correctly: was the update your colleague observed actually automatic and silent, or was it manually triggered in some way (like opening the Bitdefender UI, clicking "Update Now" from the tray icon, restarting the system, etc.)?
Also, can you confirm whether the test was done specifically on Bitdefender Total Security? I’m asking because that’s the product I’m using, and I want to be sure we’re talking about the same edition."

Yes, the test was done on Bitdefender Total Security using automatic update, not manual.

camarie

Follow up: you mentioned quite a number of details, and I would like to have them checked thoroughly. Let me check again with my colleague to address at least a number of them.

Pourqui55

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/352406#Comment_352406

Hi @Gjoksi , and thanks for taking the time to send all these steps — I really appreciate your help.

That said, I just want to clarify a few things:

• This issue is not a typical glitch or installation problem. I’m experiencing it on two separate and clean Windows 11 PCs, both running Bitdefender Total Security v27.0.49.250, fully up to date.
• The product itself runs fine. There are no crashes, errors, or unexpected behavior. The only issue is that automatic updates don’t happen under a standard (non-admin) user account — unless I manually trigger them.

So in this case, repairing or reinstalling the product (which I’ve already done before) won’t really help — the behavior is consistent across both machines.

Also, regarding the Support Tool: it requires administrator privileges to run, which means it doesn’t reflect what actually happens in a real standard user session which is exactly the use case I’m investigating.

Now, I do have two additional technical questions that would really help ( @camarie )

1. Is there any way to check logs related to silent/automatic updates? I don’t mean notifications — I’m looking for log files that show when the system checked for updates in the background, even if no update was available.
2. I’ve modified the update frequency in the Bitdefender settings and set it to check every hour. Is there any way to verify that the update service is actually running every hour, or to see that the check is happening on schedule — maybe through a task log or timestamp?
   
   
   

Understanding that would really help confirm whether the update process is actually being triggered, even if no update is available.

As always, thank you for your time and support , I truly appreciate the continued follow-up on this.

camarie

1. Is there any way to check logs related to silent/automatic updates? I don’t mean notifications — I’m looking for log files that show when the system checked for updates in the background, even if no update was available.
2. I’ve modified the update frequency in the Bitdefender settings and set it to check every hour. Is there any way to verify that the update service is actually running every hour, or to see that the check is happening on schedule — maybe through a task log or timestamp?

1. The only thing I can come up with is undocumented. In the C:\Program Files\Bitdefender\Bitdefender Security\update_statistics.xml file there are various sections for update. For example, Antivirus has Check time and succtime (both are is UNIX timestamps). For example from my machine:

<Antivirus>

    <Check time="1744012810" succtime="1744012810" error="0" id="74949" location="av64bit2011" size="0" server="https://upgr-mmxxiii-cl-ts.2d8cd.cdn.bitdefender.net" proxy="" updater="epaas_update_instance" updtime="1744002672" updavailable="0" current_ring="0" prev_ring="0" />

    <Update time="1744002912" succtime="1744002912" error="0" id="74949" location="av64bit2011" size="68757410" server="https://upgr-mmxxiii-cl-ts.2d8cd.cdn.bitdefender.net" proxy="" updater="AutomaticUpdate" updtime="1744002672" current_ring="0" prev_ring="0" />

</Antivirus>

which means a check time of Mon Apr 07 2025 08:00:10 GMT+0000 (2 hours ago) with the same success time, and update time Mon Apr 07 2025 05:15:12 GMT+0000 (5 hours ago) which succeeded (error=0) and size of approx. 65.57 MB.

2. To verify it is running automatically every hour (as configured) one could snapshot the content of the update_statistics.xml file once and then after approximatively one hour (first time probably will not be exactly at 1 hour - again, I am speculating here since I don't know in detail the update logic, but I suppose, for example, if one configures the update at 13:11, the next update will occur at a fixed hour, which I suppose would be either 14:00 or 15:00). I will do this myself on one of my machines to check this and get back to you.

Pourqui55

Thanks a lot — that's super helpful!

I just checked the update_statistics.xml file as you suggested, and I can confirm that a check was indeed triggered right after the 1-hour interval I configured.

That gives me some hope that the update mechanism is at least trying to do its job in the background.

Now I'm crossing my fingers to see if it will actually perform the update automatically once a new definition is available — without any manual action from my side.

camarie

Most likely you are a power user which likes to have everything under control. But you surely understand the tradeoff for getting a product which needs to be kept simple for the vast majority of the users. We have in plan a custom, separate event log where we would record all sorts of internal, not-user-friendly events which, in cases such as this, might prove useful. If this will happen, we will announce this on the usual channels.

camarie

Update (configured to automatic update on 1 hour):

Antivirus section (last recorded update before changing to automatic on 13:11)
First check on 1744012810 = my time: Mon Apr 07 2025 11:00:10 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)
Next check on 1744024377 = 14:12 my time: Mon Apr 07 2025 14:12:57 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

So the check was done after 1 hour (14:12 after 13:11) after setting to automatic update/1 hour. Looks right to me.

Pourqui55

@camarie

Alright, I believe the issue is still there.

Let me walk you through everything again from the beginning, just to make sure we’re on the same page:

• I log in using a standard (non-admin) local account on Windows 11.
• In this session, no automatic update takes place.
• Then, I manually run Bitdefender as an administrator and change the update check interval to 1 hour.
• As expected, a check was successfully triggered after 1 hour (confirmed via update_statistics.xml).

Now here’s the key part:

• I restart the computer and log in again using the same standard user account.
• After waiting beyond the 1-hour interval, I notice that no new check was performed.

So at this point, it seems like the hourly check works only once per session (and only if Bitdefender was previously run with admin rights ! ?).

Would it be possible for you to double-check this behavior on your side? It looks like something may be interfering with the scheduled update check after reboot when using a non-admin account.

Thanks again for your help

camarie

Understood. I just filed an internal issue - assigned to the colleague that helper me with the previous verification - initially to confirm if this is an issue or it is supposed to work this way and I did not knew enough about the logic.

We'll get back to you as soon as it makes into the next to-do issues list and we can come up with more details.

Pourqui55

@camarie

Just to confirm what I mentioned earlier, I ran another test to validate the behavior.

• I logged into a standard (non-admin) local account on Windows 11.
• After waiting more than 1 hour, no update was triggered ( Bitdefender was already configured to check for updates every hour )
• Then I ran Bitdefender as administrator, opened the settings, and simply moved the update interval slider (left and right) to reapply the 1-hour interval.
• This action updated the update_enable_scheduler.xml file — interestingly, the file contains only a single line: <root />.

Shortly after that, a check was indeed triggered, and I could confirm it using the update_statistics.xml file.

Here’s what I observed from the log entries:

First check & update:

<Check time="1744021189" succtime="1744021189" .../>
<Update time="1744006959" succtime="1744006959" ...  />

Second check & update (after changing the check interval ):

<Check time="1744027711" succtime="1744027711" ... />
<Update time="1744027725" succtime="1744027725" ... />

As you can see, there was approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes between the two checks, and the check was correctly done the second time after the interval change triggered with admin rights.

I’ll keep monitoring it to see if this behavior continues over time, but if you’re able to reproduce this on your end or get confirmation from the dev team, that would be great.

Thanks again for your continued support

camarie

Thank you so much, this is of great help. We're discussing right now in a meeting the next to-do tasks, and, while I cannot guarantee it will make it, the issue is created and I will keep asking the aforementioned colleague. With such detailed explanation, if there is something not working correctly, I hope he will find it.

Gjoksi

Hello.

I was just wondering, why the Update settings in your program's GUI are greyed out.

I don't think that is normal.

My specs:

OS Windows 10 Pro 22H2 x64 With Latest Windows Updates Installed

OS Build 19045.5679

Local Account, Administrator

Here are my Update settings in Dark mode:

And in Light mode:

As you can see, on my device, they are not greyed out.

Maybe that explains your issue.

I'm not an expert, just a regular users, who tries to help. :)

Regards.

Pourqui55

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/352441#Comment_352441

Hi @Gjoksi

You're using Bitdefender with an admin account, not a standard user account — that's why your configuration options aren't greyed out.

camarie

Probably the settings picture is recorded while using the limited, non-admin account.

Gjoksi

Hey, please don't yell at me, i was just trying to help you both. :))

Pourqui55

Hello @camarie

I think I now have a clearer understanding of the issue.

It looks like the update scheduler only starts counting the configured interval after Windows has booted, rather than being based on the timestamp of the last update.

For example:

• I have a 1-hour check interval configured.
• The last update was on April 16, 2025.
• On April 17, the PC wasn’t used or turned on.
• On April 18, I booted the machine at 7:00 AM, but the update didn’t trigger immediately—it only ran at 8:00 AM, exactly one hour later.

So, if I shut down the PC before the 1-hour mark, the update doesn’t happen at all.
This becomes even more problematic with the default interval of 8 hours, in many cases, the update might simply never run unless the device stays on long enough.

Could you please double-check this behavior with the developers and see if it can be fixed as soon as possible?

Let me know what you find out.

thanks a lot!