Deploying Windows 7 RSAT | Trevor Sullivan's Tech Room

If you’ve got a large number of Windows 7 machines that you’ve already deployed, but now need to silently deploy the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT), you’re in luck. It’s quite simple to do, and Microsoft provides the necessary tools to automate this deployment.

The RSAT pack is downloaded as a MSU file, so it is more or less treated like other Windows Updates. Normally, you can just double-click an MSU file to install it, but to automate working with MSU Windows Update files, on Vista and later, we use the wusa.exe utility. Once the RSAT is installed, it must be enabled manually by the end user, in the “Programs and Features” Control Panel applet. To automate working with Windows Features, we use the dism.exe (Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool) utility.

Download the RSAT 64-bit or 32-bit file, to a folder on your computer. Create a batch file called InstallRsat64.cmdin the same folder, and open it with your favorite text editor, and place the following in its contents:

wusa "%~dp0amd64fre_GRMRSATX_MSU.msu" /quiet /norestart /log:"%WINDIR%LogsRSAT Install (64-bit).log"
dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-ServerManager /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-CertificateServices /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-CertificateServices-CA /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-CertificateServices-OnlineResponder /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-SnapIns /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-AdministrativeCenter /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-NIS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-LDS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-Powershell /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-DHCP /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-DNS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices-Dfs /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices-Fsrm /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices-StorageMgmt /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-HyperV /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-RDS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-BitLocker /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-Clustering /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-GP /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-LoadBalancing /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-SmtpServer /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-StorageExplorer /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-StorageManager /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-Wsrm

This should install all of the available RSAT components for 64-bit Windows. The code below should install the 32-bit version (just call the batch file InstallRsat32.cmd).

wusa "%~dp0x86fre_GRMRSAT_MSU.msu" /quiet /norestart /log:"%WINDIR%LogsRSAT Install (32-bit).log"
dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-ServerManager /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-CertificateServices /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-CertificateServices-CA /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-CertificateServices-OnlineResponder /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-SnapIns /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-AdministrativeCenter /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-DS-NIS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-LDS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-AD-Powershell /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-DHCP /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-DNS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices-Dfs /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices-Fsrm /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-FileServices-StorageMgmt /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-HyperV /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Roles-RDS /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-BitLocker /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-Clustering /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-GP /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-LoadBalancing /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-SmtpServer /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-StorageExplorer /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-StorageManager /FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-Wsrm

I do realize that the line extends way off to the right, but just copy the whole thing, and you will get the entire command-line. If you have any issues with dism.exe, check out the log file located in %WINDIR%LogsDismdism.log.

Please leave any questions in the comments section below! Thanks for reading!

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smartie

Nice Article, Can I use DISM to unpin default icons in Taskbar? My client wants to remove windows media player icon from task bar, How can I automate it – any GP, etc
- Trevor Sullivan
  
  As far as I know, you cannot unpin icons in the taskbar. You’d probably have to uninstall the Windows Media Player feature with dism.exe.
  
  Cheers,
  Trevor
justanordinaryboy

hello trevor ,

tried to install RSAT on Win7 machines by using your 2 lines in a .cmd script GPO (user config -> windows settings-> Scripts -> Logon )

the RSAT msu file and the logon script (.cmd) are on the same share in a DC . but when user logs on to the win7 machine he gets UAC message to provide admin uname/pwd … can you help for this ???

Kind reards.
- Trevor Sullivan
  
  You must have administrative privileges to install this package. You would deploy the package as a computer startup script, which runs with Local System credentials, not logon script, which uses the user’s credentials.
  
  Cheers,
  Trevor Sullivan
horatio

is there a way to activate the “management” in the start menu it’s not shown automaticaly becaus the deployment is running as “local service via sccm”

i have already tried to use the 2 Registry Entrys
Start_AdminToolsRoot: 0×00000002
StartMenuAdminTools: 0×00000001

But it seams like it’s not working in Windows 7
- Trevor Sullivan
  
  I’m not quite sure what you mean … what is “Management” in the Start Menu?
  
  Cheers,
  Trevor
http://twitter.com/Mr_Killian Daniel Killian (@Mr_Killian)

Is there a way to enable it without the end user having to go to “Programs and Features”. I’d like to deploy it to a couple departments but their UI is pretty locked down and as such they can’t get to the “Programs and Features” section and I don’t fancy doing it manually per machine.
Stuart

Great work.

You could set out differing options for support personnell using separate lines for each command and adding them together via an environment variable. viz:
@set FeatureSet=/FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools …
@set FeatureSet=%FeatureSet%/FeatureName:RemoteServerAdministrationTools-Features-Wsrmdism /Online /Enable-Feature %FeatureSet%
DelphicOracle

Had trouble copying the commands inside the box. Using IE9, Right-Click=> View Source, access is much easier.
Trevor Sullivan

Hi Daniel,

Yes, you can use the Add-WindowsFeature PowerShell cmdlet.

Cheers,
Trevor Sullivan
http://www.ilfracombecollege.devon.sch.uk Shaun

Can this be completed on a Windows 7 Client though as the powershell module servermanager is not available. would this need to be deployed first to the client? can this module just be copied to a Windows 7 client from the server? sorry for the questions I just havent had time yet to test.
Trevor Sullivan

Yes, Shaun. DISM.exe can handle enablement of the features on Windows 7.