Microsoft Defender for Business
Endpoint protectionUnderstand Policy Order in Microsoft Defender for Business - Microsoft Defender for Business | Microsoft Learn
In brief
The documentation now more clearly explains policy priority, how to change the order of custom policies, and that only the highest-priority applicable policy is applied.
What Defender admins need to know
Administrators can use the clarified guidance when reviewing policy order. Default policy priority remains fixed, while new policies are assigned priority and move default policies lower.
Summaries are generated from the documentation change itself.
Documentation change
View on Microsoft LearnThe comparison below shows only the changed extract. Use the full-page view for complete context.
Understand policy orderPolicy Order in Microsoft Defender for Business - Microsoft Defender for Business | Microsoft Learn
Defender for Business includes predefined policies to help ensure user devices are protected. Your security team can add new policies as well.
The Order column lists the priority for each policy. Predefined policies move down in priority order when you add new policies. You can edit the order of priority for policies you create (selectcreate. Select a policy, and then choose Change order). You can't change the priority of default policies (theypolicies. They're always last).last.
For example, suppose you have three next-generation protection policies that apply to Windows client devices. The default policy is priority 3 (last) and you can't change it. You can change the priority of policies 1 and 2 (switch places).
When multiple policies apply to a device, the device receives the policy with the highest priority only.only. After the settings of the highest priority policy are applied, policy processing for that type of policy stops. In the previouspreceding example, the affected Windows client devices get the next-generation policy with priority 1. The devices never receive policies 2 and 3.
Key points to remember about policy order
- Policies
areautomatically get assigned a priority. - You can change the priority for custom policies, but not for default policies.
- Default policies always get the lowest priority as you add new
policies are added.policies. - Devices receive the first applied policy only, even if the devices are included in multiple policies. \ No newline at end of file
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ --- layout: Conceptual-title: Understand policy order in Microsoft Defender for Business - Microsoft Defender for Business | Microsoft Learn+title: Understand Policy Order in Microsoft Defender for Business - Microsoft Defender for Business | Microsoft Learn canonicalUrl: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-business/mdb-policy-order breadcrumb_path: /defender-business/breadcrumb/toc.json feedback_system: Standard@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ permissioned-type: public feedback_product_url: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/security-compliance-and-identity/ct-p/MicrosoftSecurityandCompliance uhfHeaderId: MSDocsHeader-MicrosoftDefender manager: bagol-description: Learn about order of priority with device policies in Defender for Business.+description: Policy order in Microsoft Defender for Business determines which settings devices receive. Learn how priority works and how to change the order of custom policies. author: chrisda ms.author: chrisda ms.topic: overview@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ spProducts: platformId: e2154b6d-953e-2a71-aa19-038d46271c1a --- -# Understand policy order in Microsoft Defender for Business - Microsoft Defender for Business | Microsoft Learn+# Understand Policy Order in Microsoft Defender for Business - Microsoft Defender for Business | Microsoft Learn Defender for Business includes [predefined policies](mdb-view-edit-create-policies#default-policies-in-defender-for-business) to help ensure user devices are protected. Your security team can [add new policies](mdb-view-edit-create-policies#create-a-new-policy) as well.
@@ -57,15 +57,15 @@ When you add policies, a priority order is assigned to all policies in the group
[](media/mdb-deviceconfig-multpolicies.png#lightbox)
-The **Order** column lists the priority for each policy. Predefined policies move down in priority order when you add new policies. You can edit the order of priority for policies you create (select a policy, and then choose **Change order**). You can't change the priority of default policies (they're always last).
+The **Order** column lists the priority for each policy. Predefined policies move down in priority order when you add new policies. You can edit the order of priority for policies you create. Select a policy, and then choose **Change order**. You can't change the priority of default policies. They're always last.
For example, suppose you have three next-generation protection policies that apply to Windows client devices. The default policy is priority 3 (last) and you can't change it. You can change the priority of policies 1 and 2 (switch places).
-**When multiple policies apply to a device, the device receives the policy with the highest priority only**. After the settings of the highest priority policy are applied, policy processing for that type of policy stops. In the previous example, the affected Windows client devices get the next-generation policy with priority 1. The devices never receive policies 2 and 3.
+When multiple policies apply to a device, the device receives the policy with the highest priority only. After the settings of the highest priority policy are applied, policy processing for that type of policy stops. In the preceding example, the affected Windows client devices get the next-generation policy with priority 1. The devices never receive policies 2 and 3.
## Key points to remember about policy order
-- Policies are automatically assigned a priority.
+- Policies automatically get assigned a priority.
- You can change the priority for custom policies, but not for default policies.
-- Default policies always get the lowest priority as new policies are added.
+- Default policies always get the lowest priority as you add new policies.
- Devices receive the first applied policy only, even if the devices are included in multiple policies.\ No newline at end of file