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[Solved] Add-WindowsCapability failed. Error code = 0x800f0954 – RSAT Fix

If you have tried to install Remote Server Administration tools for Windows 10 version 1809, 1903 or later you might have come across: Add-WindowsCapability failed. Error code = 0x800f0954. If you haven’t, that’s great! If you have, you’re in luck because today we’re going to go over the steps needed to fix the issue.

Add-WindowsCapability -Name RSAT Error

 

By default, the WindowsCapability logs are stored in C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log so we’ll check there to see what’s happening behind the scenes.

DISM   DISM Package Manager: PID=1280 TID=6320  Error in operation: (null) (CBS HRESULT=0x800f0954) - CCbsConUIHandler::Error
DISM   DISM Package Manager: PID=1280 TID=5772 Failed finalizing changes. - CDISMPackageManager::Internal_Finalize(hr:0x800f0954)
DISM   DISM Package Manager: PID=1280 TID=5772 Failed processing package changes with session options - CDISMPackageManager::ProcessChangesWithOptions(hr:0x800f0954)
DISM   API: PID=11232 TID=1244 Failed to install capability. - CAddCapabilityCommandObject::InternalExecute(hr:0x800f0954)
DISM   API: PID=11232 TID=1244 InternalExecute failed - CBaseCommandObject::Execute(hr:0x800f0954)
DISM   API: PID=11232 TID=8352 CAddCapabilityCommandObject internal execution failed - DismAddCapabilityInternal(hr:0x800f0954)

Fix: Add-WindowsCapability failed. RSAT Error code = 0x800f0954

The steps to fix this are pretty simple and should only take a couple of minutes.

  • On the problem child machine open gpedit.msc
  • Go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System
  • Open Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair

Gpedit settings for windows capability fix
 

  • With that settings open, select Enabled
  • Check Download repair content and optional features directly from Windows Updates instead of Windows Server Updates Services (WSUS)

Specify Settings for optional component installations

 

  • Go back in your Powershell Window
  • Run a gpupdate /force
  • Rerun the Add-WindowsCapability again to install the feature

Add-WindowsCapability -Name RSAT Succeeded

Apps Settings 3

Once you’ve installed the RSAT tools for 1809, 1903 and later you might want to consider undoing those settings because this will install unnecessary updates on your machine. You would especially want to reconsider this if you’re deploying software updates using SCCM. Hopefully you’ve been able to fix the Add-WindowsCapability failed. Error code = 0x800f0954 error that so many of us have been running into.

Finally, feel free to check out the rest of our server administration for more of that content.

5/5 - (12 votes)

Paul Contreras

Hi, my name is Paul and I am a Sysadmin who enjoys working on various technologies from Microsoft, VMWare, Cisco and many others. Join me as I document my trials and tribulations of the daily grind of System Administration.

34 Comments

  1. You’re a life saver. This worked perfectly on my Windows 10 22H2 system in a WSUS environment. I did change settings back to the original once the targeted RSAT component was installed. Thank you for taking the time to post your findings. May good fortune find you.

  2. Not working for me. I’ve got this error:
    Add-WindowsCapability failed. Error code = 0x80190003

  3. Thanks for this quick solution. Worked like a charm and I was able to install RAST AD DS-LDS fine.

  4. Thank you. Stuck on this one for a few hours. Other solutions did not work. This one did. On Windows Server 2022

  5. my server is not connected to the internet, so this fails… still doesn’t install ssh server

    • It worked for me for installing the Optional feature OpenSSH Server and Client. I used the GUI (Settings > Apps > Optional features), but it should be the same through an admin PowerShell window (when using Add-WindowsCapability in the PowerShell the GUI recognized it was running and showed an install progress bar).

  6. ‘Add-WindowsCapability’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
    operable program or batch file.

    • If you are running this on a server its probably the other cmdlet Install-WindowsFeature.
      Try this:
      Install-WindowsFeature -Name “RSAT-AD-PowerShell” -IncludeAllSubFeature

  7. Note that this fix is absolutely useless in cases where remaining behind WSUS is required, or Windows Update is not directly accessible, as in a secured network environment.

    I really hate that RSAT is now bundled with the OS. It’s now significantly less reliable and manageable than it was as a separate package.

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