News

Microsoft's Server Management Solution Gets Windows 10 Support

• By Kurt Mackie
• August 20, 2015

Microsoft on Wednesday released a new version of its Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) product optimized for Windows 10.

RSAT contains multiple tools for carrying out remote server management actions from a Windows 10 client device. They work with Microsoft's Windows Server Technical Previews, which are the precursors to Microsoft's emerging Windows Server 2016 product. Microsoft also released Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 on Wednesday, so users can now start testing remote management of its server roles.

The new RSAT for Windows 10 solution can be downloaded at this page. It's only available in English right now. Those installing RSAT for Windows 10 machines should remove all older versions of the tools first. Update 8/21: Apparently, the U.S. English Language Pack needs to be installed, which has been the cause of some installation failures, according to a blog post by software developer Stephen Donaghy.

Previously, RSAT for Windows 10 was just available at the preview stage, but Microsoft had promised a finished product would be arriving this month.

RSAT for Windows 10 only runs on the Pro or Enterprise versions of Windows 10 and only a "full release" of the client operating system will work. RSAT for Windows 10 doesn't run on Windows RT machines.

RSAT for Windows 8.1 clients won't run on Windows 10, so this is the release to use to test Microsoft's emerging Windows Server Technical Previews.

The tools do have a few limitations. RSAT for Windows 10 doesn't include support for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) tools. Microsoft suggests that IT pros can use PowerShell cmdlets instead.

The graphical user interface-based Routing and Remote Access Tools can't be used for remote configuration tasks in this RSAT release. Once again, Microsoft is pointing IT pros to PowerShell as an alternative.

RSAT for Windows 10 doesn't support Network Policy Server (NPS) tools. Moreover, Microsoft plans to remove the NPS console from future RSAT releases.

Lastly, Microsoft didn't include IP Address Management Tools in this release. It's not clear if they will be coming in a future release or not.

On the Windows 10 client side, Microsoft has now released most of its principal deployment tools. For instance, the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit for Windows 10 is out, along with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 Update 1 solution. Current System Center Configuration Manager products with the latest cumulative updates can deploy Windows 10 clients. Also released this month was the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2015, which supports Windows 10 clients.

IT pros needing a crash course on Windows 10 deployments can get guidance at Microsoft's "Virtual Academy." It has training and tips from Microsoft MVPs Anthony Bartolo and Pierre Roman.