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Using the command line interface

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With the Threat Prevention command line interface you can run Full Scan, Quick Scan, custom on-demand scans, and update security content from the command line or as part of a batch file.

Prerequisites

  • The Threat Prevention service (mfetp.exe) must already be running for amcfg.exe to run.

  • The interface mode for the Trellix Endpoint Security (ENS) Client must be set to Full access if a user wants to stop, pause or resume an on-demand scan through command line.

    Administrative rights are required for any task performed with amcfg.exe.

  • When running commands without administrative privileges, the tool responds with the message:

    Action Denied. The command line needs to be executed with admin privileges to use On-Demand Scan utility.

Syntax: Command line interface

The syntax for amcfg.exe is:

installation_path\amcfg.exe [ /scan | /update ] [ command_args ]
  • installation_path — C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\Threat Prevention by default

  • command_args— Commands listed in the On‑demand scan command arguments or Custom on‑demand scan command arguments tables

Arguments can appear in any order, except that you must keep each argument with its value.

Note

The command line interface is case sensitive.

Command line interface arguments

Argument

Description

/?

Displays help for the command line interface.

/help

/scan

Runs the specified scan task.

/update

Updates the scan engine, AMCore content, and Exploit Prevention content.

Note

Exploit Prevention is not supported in the ARM architecture.



Examples: On-demand scan command line interface

Open a command prompt and change to the installation location of amcfg.exe to run these example commands. By default, amcfg.exe is located in the C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\Threat Prevention folder.

To...

Run this command

Get help on the command line interface.

amcfg.exe /scan /help

Start a Quick Scan.

amcfg.exe /scan

Run an update.

amcfg.exe /update