How to Install and Uninstall Windows 10 optional features

The latest operating system Windows 10 from Microsoft comes with a lot of features. Most of them are useful but a few are just occupy the space and using RAM. In this post, we will see how to Turn Windows features On or Off via Control Panel. We will check out, how to add, remove or manage optional features in Windows 10 Settings.

If you don’t need any feature or want to use some built-in feature, you can turn features on or off using the Control Panel or the Settings app in Windows 10.

How to Turn Windows features On or Off?

1. Click on Start menu and search for Control Panel.

2. Click on the Control Panel (Desktop app) to open the same.

3. Set the “View by:” to “Small icons”, then click on “Programs and Features”.

4. From the left side pane, click “Turn Windows features on or off”.

5. Windows Features window will be opened.

Here you can see all the features that are available for you. You may expand a feature by clicking on the ‘+’ sign and select only those features you want to enable. Once you select the feature you want to turn on or deselect one which you want to turn off, click on OK button.

Windows will start applying the changes and may ask you to reboot your computer.

If your computer is running Windows 10 Pro (v1607), you will see the following features that you can enable or disable:

1. .NET Framework 3.5
2. .NET Framework 4.6 Advanced Services
3. Active Directory Lightweight Services
4. Containers
5. Data Center Bridging
6. Device Lockdown
7. Hyper-V
8. Internet Explorer 11
9. Internet Information Services
10. Internet Information Services Hostable Web Core
11. Legacy Components like DirectPlay
12. Media Features
13. Microsoft Message Que Server
14. Microsoft Print to PDF
15. MultiPoint Connector
16. Print and Document Services
17. RAS Connection Manager Administration Kit
18. Remote Differential Compression API Support
19. RIP Listener
20. Services for NFS
21. Simple Network management Protocol
22. Simple TCPIP services
23. SMB 1.0/CIFS Sharing Support
24. SMB Direct
25. Telnet Client
26. TFTP Client
27. Windows Identity Foundation 3.5
28. Windows PowerShell 2.0
29. Windows Process Activation Service
30. Windows Subsystem for Linux
31. Windows TIFF IFilter
32. Work Folders Client
33. XPS Services
34. XPS Viewer

How to manage optional features via Windows 10 Settings?

Windows 10 lets you add, remove or manage some optional features via its Settings app.

1. To access the additional features of Windows 10, click on Start Menu and after that click the Settings app Icon.

2. Click System (Display, notifications, apps, power).

3. From the left pane, click “Apps & features”.

4. Click on the “Manage optional features” link.

It will open the following window:

5. To remove any built-in Windows 10 app or feature, select and click on the Uninstall button.

6. To add a feature, click on the “+ Add a feature” link to open the following window:

7. Click on any app or feature which you like to install and then click on “Install” button.