Windows 10 RSAT DNS: Fixing a Missing Console After 1709

On some earlier Windows 10 builds (notably around the Fall Creators Update, version 1709), the DNS Console was missing from Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) due to packaging changes on Microsoft’s side. That’s long since been resolved — current Windows 10 and Windows 11 builds include the DNS Console as a standard RSAT “Feature on Demand,” with no manual DLL registration or third-party download required.

Installing It (Current Method)

Via Settings:

1. Go to Settings > Apps > Optional features.
2. Click Add a feature.
3. Search for and install RSAT: DNS Server Tools.

Via PowerShell (elevated):

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Rsat.Dns.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0

Deploying to Multiple Machines

Push the same PowerShell command via SCCM, Intune, or a Group Policy startup script for a fleet-wide rollout. Avoid manually copying dnsmgr.dll or other console files from a third-party zip and registering them with regsvr32 — that approach predates the official Feature on Demand fix and means running unverified files with system-level registration, which the built-in method above avoids entirely.

Now Available on Arm64 Too (Updated for 2026)

The one genuine change since this fix originally landed: RSAT, including DNS Server Tools, was historically x64-only. Microsoft’s current RSAT documentation confirms that as of Windows 11 25H2, the same set of RSAT snap-ins — DNS Server Tools among them — is now available on Arm64 devices as well, installed via the exact same Settings > Apps > Optional Features path or the same Add-WindowsCapability command above. If you’re standing up an Arm-based admin workstation (e.g. a Surface or other Snapdragon laptop), you no longer need to work around a missing DNS console the way earlier Arm devices required.

Resources

• Microsoft
• Download DNS Console