Turn Windows features on or off: table

In its work, the operating system uses Windows components necessary to perform certain functions when working on a computer. By default, not all applications and services available to the user are used in Windows.

Windows components include system add-ons: applications and services that may be required to perform their respective tasks. Some components are enabled by default, while others are enabled from the settings; some programs, when installed on a PC, offer to install the missing system components.

When performing various tasks on the computer, some components must be enabled, other components are practically not used by users, so they can be disabled or removed so that they do not take up disk space.

Some software is dependent on the presence of certain system functions in the OS, otherwise these programs will not be able to work on this computer. To avoid the problem, Windows components are included that are responsible for the specific functionality of the system or applications.

If a specific function is no longer needed, users disable Windows components that were previously enabled or completely unnecessary to the user.

In this article, we will look at where Windows components are located, for what functions they are used on a computer, we will enable or disable Windows 10 components, as well as a description of the purpose of these tools, collected in a table.

By default, the required components are already enabled in the system settings. If necessary, the user may need to enable the missing Windows 10 tools. We must remember that without special need, you should not disable or remove system components if you do not know their purpose.

Before you can enable or disable Windows features, you must create a restore point or perform a system backup. In this case, if problems arise due to your actions on the PC, you can return the computer to its previous state, which it had at the time the restore point or backup was created.

Where are the components of Windows 10

Before applying certain settings regarding the functions of the operating system, you need to find out where the programs and components of Windows 10 are located. You can access the settings for system components in several different ways. We will consider the simplest options.

Some Microsoft Windows components are core, while others are optional.

1 way:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Open the Apps option.
3. In the “Apps & features” section, click on the “Additional components” link.
4. The Optional Components window lists the installed components on this computer.

2 way:

1. Press the “Win” + “R” keys.
2. In the “Open:” field of the “Run” dialog box, enter the command: “optionalfeatures” (without quotes).
3. Click on the “OK” button.
4. The Windows Features – Turn Windows features on or off window will open on the desktop.

This method can be used on Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Enable Windows 10 features – 1 way

Some programs or features require you to install Windows features that are not yet on your computer, so you must enable them.

Enable optional Windows features:

1. In the Settings app, from the Apps & Features tab, open the Optional Features window.
2. Click the “Add Component” button.
3. In the “Adding an additional component” window, check the box next to the desired tool, click on the “Install” button.
4. The window installs Windows components of the user’s choice.

After the installation is completed, the component is ready to work in the operating system.

To navigate to Windows 10 Core Features settings, do the following:

1. In the “Additional components” window, in the “Related settings” section, click on the link “Other Windows components”.
2. A Windows Core Components window will open where you can apply the appropriate settings.

Read more about these settings later in this article.

How to enable components of the Windows operating system – method 2

During the operation of the PC, the user may need functions without which it is impossible to use some applications and programs. The software needs features that are disabled by default. Therefore, you must enable the appropriate system components.

Go through the following steps:

1. Open the Windows Features window.

In the “Turn Windows features on or off” window, some tools are enabled by default, while other components can be manually enabled. A checkbox next to the name of a component means that it is enabled in the operating system.

A shaded checkbox (dark square) indicates that this component is partially enabled. Some of the component’s parameters are enabled, while some dependent services and services are not. If necessary, at any time you can enable the missing functionality by activating the corresponding item.

A plus next to the name of the component means that there are other dependent elements that can be enabled or disabled.

If you see that there are no signs next to the name, then this component is disabled.

2. Check the box next to the desired component, click on the “OK” button.
3. The computer searches for the required files and then applies the changes.
4. You will need to restart your computer to complete the installation.

Disabling Windows 10 features

Unnecessary additional components of Windows 10 can be removed from the computer.

Do the following:

1. Go to “Settings” and then to “Applications”.
2. Open the Apps & Features tab.
3. Click on the “Additional Components” link.
4. In the “Installed components” section, select an unnecessary tool, click on the “Remove” button.

How to disable Windows features

In some cases, it makes sense to disable unnecessary components if the user does not use them on his computer.

You will need to do the following:

1. Uncheck the box next to the corresponding item to disable an unnecessary component.
2. Click on the “OK” button.
3. After finding the required files and applying the changes, restart your PC.

Purpose of Windows 10 components: table

Most of the components perform the same purpose in different versions of the operating system: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7. In newer versions of the OS, new components appear that are not in older versions of the system.

In addition, there are differences in the number of components available depending on the edition of Windows, for example, there is a difference in the editions of Professional (Professional) or Home (Home).

This table compiles a list of Windows 10 Pro components and their functional purpose. An asterisk (*) indicates features that are enabled by default.

Component name	Component Functions
*.NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)	Required for many Windows applications built on the .NET platform. Do not disable this component.
*.NET Framework 4.X	A newer enhanced programming environment used by some applications.
Microsoft Defender Application Guard	Microsoft Defender Isolation Tool.
Hyper-V	Microsoft virtual machine software.
*Internet Explorer 11	Microsoft’s outdated built-in browser. Some applications require this particular browser to work.
Windows Identity Foundation 3.5	Tool used by older .NET applications.
*Windows PowerShell 2.0	Powerful shell built-in replacement for the command line. Enabled by default in Windows 10 instead of Command Prompt.
Windows Projected File System	Designed virtual file system.
Device lock	Login settings.
IIS Web Core Embedded	Designed for web developers and IT professionals.
Protected host	A virtual machine tool on a remote service.
Telnet client	Used to communicate with Telnet servers.
TFTP client	Sending files via TFTP.
*Work Folder Client	Synchronization of working folders over the network from a corporate server.
*Components for working with multimedia	Windows Media Player (Windows Media Player)
Legacy Components	Contains elements of older Windows applications.
Containers	Tools for creating and managing Windows Server and Hyper-V containers.
Data Center Bridge	Used in corporate networks in a single Ethernet structure.
Windows Sandbox	Protected (isolated) Windows Sandbox environment.
*Print to PDF (Microsoft)	Built-in Microsoft Cloud Print for saving PDF files.
Virtual machine platform	Used by Microsoft virtual machines.
*Windows Hypervisor Platform	A platform at the Windows kernel level for virtualizing multiple operating systems on a single machine.
*Support for Remote Differential Compression API	Used by programs and system functions.
Support for SMB 1.0/CIFS file sharing	Data synchronization with older versions of Windows.
Windows Subsystem for Linux	Running applications and the Linux kernel on Windows.
Simple TCPIP services (such as echo, daytime, etc.)	Provides support for additional protocol services.
Microsoft Message Queuing Server (MSMQ)	Used in some corporate networks.
*SMB Direct Service	Data exchange in a network with different operating systems.
Windows Activation Service	Used by software developers to host web applications on Microsoft servers.
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services	For user authentication in small corporate networks.
IIS Services	Services for IIS Web and FTP Servers.
NFS Services	Providing access to the files of the network file system.
*Print and Document Services	Services for working with printers and faxes.
MultiPoint Connector	Monitoring and data management in corporate networks.
*Microsoft XPS Document Writer	Processing documents in XPS format.
Windows TIFF IFilter	Text recognition (OCR) inside TIFF files.

It is better not to disable the Windows components that are enabled by default, they can be useful in the process of using the system. Other components that you do not use can be disabled. If you do not fully understand what should be done, then it is better not to touch anything.

Article Conclusions

The operating system has some features that you can enable in the built-in Windows Features tool. Applications and some system features require additional software to run programs and Windows. The user can enable necessary tools in Windows components, disable unnecessary ones, or remove additional components.