Microsoft’s Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) is a set of tools for managing various Windows Server roles. It includes tools such as:
- Active Directory Users & Computers (ADUC)
- Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC)
- Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
Note: RSAT will not install on Home/Standard versions of Windows 10, Windows RT, or systems running ARM or other system-on-chip architectures.
Installation
The Active Directory, Group Policy, and DHCP components of RSAT are installed along with the USGS SysAdmin Tools (USAT) PowerShell module (to install USAT or learn more, see the Scripting and Automation page). If you don’t intend to use USAT, read on.
Since Windows 10 v1809, RSAT has been included as an Optional Feature of the operating system – components can be installed with some simple PowerShell. Open PowerShell as Administrator, double click on the line(s) of code below for the RSAT component(s) you need, copy-paste them into PowerShell, and hit <enter>.
Note: RSAT typically remains functional after Windows feature updates, but if for some reason they don’t, refer to the RSAT section on the Known Issues page.
Active Directory (ADUC & ADAC):
Add-WindowsCapability -Name 'Rsat.ActiveDirectory.DS-LDS.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0' -Online
Group Policy (GPMC):
Add-WindowsCapability -Name 'Rsat.GroupPolicy.Management.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0' -Online
DHCP:
Add-WindowsCapability -Name 'Rsat.DHCP.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0' -Online
BitLocker Recovery:
(to access recovery stored in Active Directory, primarily for server operating systems)
Add-WindowsCapability -Name 'Rsat.Bitlocker.Recovery.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0' -Online
Troubleshooting Installation:
Sometimes RSAT is stubborn about installing from the internal network. If that happens to you, you can try the suggestions below from an elevated powershell terminal to see if it works better:
gpupdate /force
stop-service -name wuauserv ; Set-ItemProperty -path "HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -name "UseWUServer" -Value "0"
#Copy and paste the RSAT commands for the features you wish to install
Set-ItemProperty -path "HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" -name "UseWUServer" -Value "1" ; start-service -name wuauserv