Optional Features

[hoak]

I’m trying to get the OptionalFeatures.exe to work on Server 2016 as this offered more granularity on what you could cleanly install and uninstall with the Desktop Experience. Features like the Media Player, and .NET components (and a lot of other stuff) could be cleanly uninstalled and reinstalled with OptionalFeatures.exe transplated from Windows 8.1 to Server 2012 R2 per Hallidayrules instructions here.

Server 2016 and Windows 10 have an OptionalFeatures.exe file that appears to be the same file with the same version and size that appears to be some manner of non-functioning stub file. I thought I’d try the old Windows 8.1 file but the TrustedInstaller blocks deletion and/or replacement and the permissions dialogs for Server 2016 have changed, and I’m not getting anywhere with them… Can anyone advise?

[Anonymous]

Add a new language from Control Panel, and Optional Features will be activated, because is needed to install optical character recognition for the language. I advise to try Greek or Russian, since they have different, although related, alphabets to the standard, latin one.

[Anonymous]

Thanks but accomplished nothing for me, OptionalFeatures.exe in WindowsSystem32 still does nothing…

[Anonymous]

Try it for each user. You need to add the keyboard input for that language, to activate Optional Features.

[Anonymous]

I did exactly this, all it did was install a link to the Metro/Modern interface Optional Features dialog/panel — which only offers installation options for languages; none of the high granularity options offered by the native interface OptionalFeatures.exe were enabled, and OptionalFeatures.exe still does not run even after following your recommendation above. Are you sure you’re not confusing these two interfaces (that have the same name) and what they do?

[Anonymous]

I may confuse something, I barely touched standard Windows 10 (Enterprise ltsb and non-ltsb, Home and such have not even touched), only Windows Server 2016 since first technical preview. For me, OptionalFeatures.exe was embedded into Settings.

[Anonymous]

I think the only way to get this working (if there is even that possibility) is the way Hallidayrules did on Server 2012 R2; you’ll need the OptionalFeatures.exe from Windows 8.1, and need to download and use the Microsoft Application Verifier to allow it to run… Hopefully there’s not some security issue like having to disable TrustedInstaller required to be able to remove the new and useless OptionalFeatures.exe…

[Anonymous]

@hoak wrote:

I think the only way to get this working (if there is even that possibility) is the way Hallidayrules did on Server 2012 R2; you’ll need the OptionalFeatures.exe from Windows 8.1, and need to download and use the Microsoft Application Verifier to allow it to run… Hopefully there’s not some security issue like having to disable TrustedInstaller required to be able to remove the new and useless OptionalFeatures.exe…

I do not agree with doing that, I consider it piracy. I try to keep out imported code from Windows 10 into Windows Server 2016.

[Anonymous]

@Lotusisrael wrote:

I do not agree with doing that, I consider it piracy.

Well you can disagree and call anything ‘piracy’ if you wish, but that doesn’t make it a legal fact. Running Windows components you own on Server 2016 may abrogate the TOU agreement if something new has been added to the TOU, but as long as you own license to all the software concerned, it’s not in any way piracy as nothing has been stolen, neither is it illegal… If the TOU is abrogated it may be that Microsoft won’t support the product in the amended form; however the same applies to any of the hacks, adjustments or tweaks you applied, tried and posted here.

[Author]

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