If you notice that Bitdefender Shield, Firewall, Advanced Threat Defense or other security settings are grayed out and cannot be turned off or on, it is likely due to insufficient permissions on your Windows user account.
Why Are Bitdefender Settings Grayed Out?
Bitdefender requires administrator rights to modify critical security settings. If Bitdefender is installed on a Windows account with standard (non-administrator) privileges, some features will be inaccessible (grayed out) to prevent unauthorized changes.
How to Fix Bitdefender Features Grayed Out and Unclickable
To modify Bitdefender’s protection features and customize them as needed, you need to open the Bitdefender interface as administrator:
- Close the Bitdefender interface if it is currently open.
- Right-click the Bitdefender desktop icon.
- Select Run as administrator from the menu.
- Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control.
- Enter the administrator password if asked.
- You should now be able to toggle on and off all switches on the Bitdefender interface.
If you frequently need to adjust Bitdefender settings, consider configuring your Windows user account as administrator.