RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tool) is an essential tool introduced since Windows Server 2008 R2. It helps Windows administrators manage and maintain servers from remote location, or simply put, handle Windows Server roles and features from desktop computers such as Windows 11 and Windows 10.
If you search it on Google, you may find that you can directly download RSAT for Windows 10 in Microsoft website. And there’s a notice stating an easier option: Starting with Windows 10 October 2018 Update, you can get the list of available RSAT tools within the OS.
This means if you’ve upgraded to later versions, like Windows 10 20H2 or Windows 11, you will no longer see a RSAT download link from the official page, because the option is already built in the system.
Note: RSAT can only be installed on Professional or Enterprise editions of Windows client OS, so you cannot apply these methods to Windows Home or Standard editions.
Method 1. Install RSAT from Windows optional features
Just as mentioned above, RSAT is included as a set of Features on Demand since Windows 10 October 2018 Update, so the easiest way to access RSAT Windows 11 download is also within the OS.
1. Right-click on Windows logo and choose Settings -> Apps -> Optional features.
Or you can directly search for “optional” and open click “See optional feature history” from the result.
2. In the Optional features page, click Add a feature option, and type “rsat” in the pop-up window to view all related optional features.
3. Select the RSAT tools you want to install on Windows 11, and hit Install. Then the downloading will start, and you can see the download progress of the features in the Recent actions section.
When the installation finishes, these features will be listed in the Installed features section instead. If you want to uninstall the RSAT tools some time, just select the ones you don’t need in the Installed features section, and click on the Uninstall button.
Method 2. Install RSAT tools in Windows 11 via PowerShell
You can also use PowerShell to get RSAT download in Windows 11, just make sure you run the correct commands and everything will be easy.
1. Directly search for “powershell” in Windows and choose Run as Administrator on the right pane.
2. In the PowerShell window, type the following command and press Enter to get the list of available RSAT features in Windows 11:
Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object {$_.Name -like “RSAT*”}
3. Then you can install RSAT features from the list, type the command below and press Enter. PowerShell will start installing the specified RSAT feature.
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name xxxx ~~~~0.0.1.0
*“xxxx” refers to the name of the feature you want to install. For example, to install Rsat.FileServices.Tools, the command will be: Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Rsat.FileServices.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0
4. When it’s complete, there’s a prompt to show you the result. And if the “RestartNeeded” reads “True”, you will need to restart the computer to make the installation take effect.
Method 3. Install RSAT tools in Windows 11 via CMD
Besides PowerShell, you can install Windows 11 RSAT via DISM Command in a similar way. Try the following steps:
1. Type “cmd” in the Windows Search bar, and run Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. In the popping out window, run the following command to show the list of all available RSAT tools you can install:
DISM.exe /Online /Get-Capabilities | find “Rsat”
3. Then enter the following DISM command to install the optional feature you want:
DISM /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:xxxxx~~~~0.0.1.0
*Replace “xxxx” with the tool you want to install. For example, if you want to install DHCP tools, then the command will be: DISM /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:Rsat.DHCP.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0
4. When the installation is complete, it will prompt you with “The operation completed successfully”.
Can you use RSAT to remotely manage WSB in Windows 11?
Any ideas how I can use the Server Backup console from a windows 8 machine? other RSAT tools are available for things like Hyper-V and AD etc. but I can’t find one for server backup.
We see this kind of topics in forums from time to time, namely trying to manage or monitor Windows Server Backup (WSB) from Window Client OS (Windows 11/10/8/7/etc.) by installing RSAT. But as the user said in this case, WSB does not have an RSAT module.
WSB isn’t a component in Windows client, so there‘s no WSB MMC (Microsoft Management Console), which enables remote management of other WSB-capable servers. Frankly speaking, remote WSB is only possible server to server.
Then how can you create and monitor remote server backup from client OS such as Windows 11? Don’t worry, there are still available ways.
Alternative to remotely backup servers from Windows 11
One thing you can try is an agent-based centralized backup solution. It enables you to use any Windows PC or Server as a central console, and register any computer in the network as client, thus you can easily backup and monitor servers from a desktop PC.
The example I use here is AOMEI Centralized Backupper, it could be installed on any computer running Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP or Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/etc. as the central console, from where you can gain control over client PCs or servers in the LAN for backup and monitor.
With it, you can create File Backup, System Backup, Disk Backup, SQL Server Backup, File Sync task with optional backup schedule or even auto cleanup policy.
All the tasks will be listed in the Tasks tab so you can manage them centrally, or even restore certain data from one client to another.
Furthermore, there’s a Monitor tab allowing you to monitor the client’s network, CPU, memory, disk, and other performance information after the client computers are controlled. And you can also set up alerts to provide timely warning of abnormal performance information and analyze its abnormal conditions.
Tips: By installing client program on virtual machines, you can also backup and manage them from the central console, just as other physical machines.
RSAT helps administrators to handle Windows Server roles and features from desktop computers, and this article introduces how to install RSAT on Windows 11 as the method has changed a bit compared to earlier versions of windows 10.
Note that even with the RSAT tools installed, you cannot remotely manage Windows Server Backup on Windows 11. To do this, you may need centralized backup software that can centrally backup servers from a desktop computer.
