Add exceptions to Windows Defender Antivirus on Windows Server 2019

Open windows Defender by opening Server Manager > Windows Defender Antivirus

Scroll to the Exclusions section and click on “add or remove exclusions”

Choose from the drop-down and add your exclusion. You can add files, folders, file types and processes:

There’s a bug in Windows Server 2019 that after setting an exclusion, it won’t show up in the list. Try log off and log on again, and if that doesn’t help, open PowerShell and check your Exclusion with the Get-MpPreference cmdlet:

Get-MpPreference | select -ExpandProperty Exclusionpath

Get-MpPreference | select -ExpandProperty Exclusionprocess

Get-MpPreference | select -ExpandProperty Exclusionipaddress

Get-MpPreference | select -ExpandProperty ExclusionExtension