Optional Windows 10 features can be enabled or disabled through a dialog window. Many of these features are intended for business networks and servers, while some are useful for everyone. Here's an explanation of what each feature does , and how to go about turning it on or off.
All optional Windows 10 features take up hard drive space if you have them enabled . However, you should not allow all of these features to be enabled as they could lead to system performance and security issues. You only have to activate the functions that you need and are going to actually use.
How to view optional Windows 10 features to turn them on or off
Microsoft does not offer an optimal way to manage these optional Windows 10 features, so you will have to use the old Windows features, available in the control panel, to manage features.
From this Windows Features dialog box, you can activate features such as Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization tool , Internet Information Services (IIS) for the web server and other servers, and the window subsystem for Linux. You can also remove access to some default features. The features available will depend on the edition of Windows 10 you are using.
To start the Control Panel, click the Start button or press Windows + X on the keyboard, then select "Control Panel" from the menu that appears.
Click "Programs" and then select "Turn Windows Features On or Off" under Programs and Features .
Tip: You can quickly enter these options with a single command. To do this, go to the Start menu , type "optionalfeatures", and press enter. You can also press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog, type "optionalfeatures" and hit enter.
The list of features available for Windows will appear. If a feature has a check mark next to it, it means that it is enabled. M hile if the property does not have a check mark , wants deicr it is disabled.
If you see a square in the boxes, it means that the function contains multiple sub-functions and only some of them have been enabled. You can expand the feature to see which of its subfeatures are and are not enabled..
Click "OK" and Windows will apply any changes made. Depending on the features that you enable or disable, Windows may require a restart of your computer for the changes to take effect.
What are all the optional features of Windows 10
We have put together a list of some of the features available in Windows 10 Professional, as many of the cooler features like Hyper-V virtualization require Windows 10 Professional. If you are using Windows 10 Home, you will only have some of these features . On the other hand, if you are using Windows 10 Enterprise or Education , you will have even more functions available. These are just the most common that you can find .
- . NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0): You will need it installed to run applications written for these NET versions. Windows will install it automatically if an application requires it.
- NET Framework 4.6 Advanced Services : These features are also installed automatically if necessary. They are only necessary to run applications that require it.
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services : This provides a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server. It runs as a Windows service and provides a directory for user authentication on a network. It is a lightweight alternative to a full Active Directory server and will only be useful on certain corporate networks.
- Embedded Shell Launcher : This feature is required if you want to replace Windows 10 Explorer.exe with a custom shell . Microsoft documentation recommends using this feature for creating a traditional Windows desktop application in exposure mode.
- Hyper-V: This is a virtualization tool from Microsoft. It includes the underlying platform and services and a graphical Hyper-V Administrator tool for creating, managing, and using virtual machines.
- Internet Explorer 11: If the Microsoft web browser logo is not required, you can disable it entirely.
- Internet Information Services: Provides Microsoft IIS web and FTP servers along with tools for managing the servers.
- Internet Information Server Core Hostable Web: Allows you to host a web server using IIS within its own process. You only need to install this if you need to run an application that requires it.
- Isolated User Mode: A new feature in Windows 10 that allows applications to run in a safe, isolated space if they are programmed to do so.
- Legacy Components (DirectPlay): DirectPlay was part of DirectX, and was used for networking and multiplayer games by some games. Windows 10 will install it automatically when an old game that requires DirectPlay is installed.
- Media Features (Windows Media Player): You can disable access to Windows Media Player from here, if you see fit.
- Microsoft Message Queue (MSMO) Server : This old service improves communications on unreliable networks by queuing messages instead of sending them immediately. This is only useful if you have a business application that requires and uses this particular feature.
- Microsoft Print to PDF : Windows 10 includes a PDF printer that can be disabled if required.