Microsoft deprecated the SNMP in Windows 2012 (R2). As of Windows 10 1809 respective Windows 2016 this feature is pretty much hidden. The decision likely was made due to security risks related to SNMP, in any case – as of right now it is still available if you really need it – but not via the good old Control Panel – Add Remove Features function. The following should even work on Windows 2019, since there is no indication that Microsoft finally removed the feature itself.
The following link is for Windows Server 2012 (R2) – it clearly states that SNMP is deprecated: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/hh831568(v=ws.11)
Windows client and server operating systems share the same kernel in the background – for the most part.
Alternate ways to enable the feature:
- using Apps & Features will help you getting SNMP via Optional Features
- then use Add a feature
- PowerShell commands:
- Either those commands12Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP*"Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0"
- or the following version of commands12Get-WindowsCapability -Online | ? Name -like 'SNMP.Client*'Add-WindowsCapability -Online | ? Name -like 'SNMP.Client*'
- Either those commands
- or you use DISM on a command prompt1DISM /online /add-capability /capabilityname:SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
In all cases – you will run in to an possible issue if you use WSUS – you might need to temporarily bypass it in order to install this feature. It is possible that you need to restart the Windows Update service on the system for this setting to take effect.
- Open Regedit and adjust the following key123HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AUkey: UseWUServernew / temp value: 0
It is pretty obvious that this feature will be removed at one point – but as of now it is still available.
Let’s talk about a few things in regards to SNMP on Windows – or even in general when it comes to all your switches, firewalls, routers and other network components.
- using SNMP on a Windows OS is a potential security risk – actually – SNMP itself is in general, cause it is standardized in often not locked down while having as well just limited security features
- see here for a more official statement on this by the US government: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA17-156A
- I personally don’t see a reason to use SNMP to monitor a Windows Server – the system itself can easily be monitored by WMI and other methods – that might have pro’s and con’s – but it generally works
- There are circumstances then you need SNMP enabled – I had this while coming across mostly UPS software that only allowed to interact with it via SNMP – the UPS itself was connected per USB and the software on a Windows server/client allowed no API calls or similar – you had to enable SNMP on Windows and then use SNMP through Windows to grab data for e.g. UPS monitoring
- having said this – this is actually a flaw by the vendor in such a case and should by addressed with the vendor
- there is possibly more then just an UPS software that does behave like this
