New resource: `Microsoft.Windows/WindowsFeatureList` for Windows Server roles

[Gijsreyn]

Summary of the new feature / enhancement

DSC already ships two DSIM-backed resources, but neither can install Windows Server roles:

• Microsoft.Windows/OptionalFeatureList calls DismEnableFeature internally but does not expose the EnableAll, SourcePaths, or LimitAccess parameters. Without EnableAll, installing a role that has required sub-features (e.g. RDS-RD-Server) fails or produces an incomplete install.
• Microsoft.Windows/FeatureOnDemandList uses a completely different API, targeting mostly Windows 10/11 client "Feature on Demand."

Note

This was a requested feature at the OpenDSC side.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

A new Microsoft.Windows/WindowsFeatureList resource backed by DismEnableFeature with full parameter support.

[musklor]

Thank you very much.
And it will work with rsat-ad-powershell?

[Gijsreyn]

@musklor - I tried with BITS in the PR build, and that worked. But I assume when you install AD-Domain-Services with EnableAll, it should work:

$schema: https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json
resources:
  - name: Install AD DS
    type: Microsoft.Windows/WindowsFeatureList
    properties:
      features:
        - featureName: AD-Domain-Services
          state: Installed
          enableAll: true

If you feel like giving it a try, you can grab it from the Actions tab and then the branch. You should see the artifacts published beneath the logs.

[musklor]

Thank you, so we can go on.

[musklor]

@Gijsreyn hello, do you have any news about this new resource?
Thanks for the work.

[Gijsreyn]

It's still open for review @musklor and hasn't been released.

[Gijsreyn]

@musklor - the v3.3.0-preview.3 was brought out yesterday. Can you give it a go and test out the new resource?

[musklor]

@Gijsreyn

I think it's not related to WindowsFeature.

We are working with WindowsOptionalFeature and not WindowsFeature.

Export show it : Remote-Desktop-Services is not RDS-RD-Server.

[Gijsreyn]

@musklor - I tried the following:

$instance = @{
    features = @(
        @{ featureName = 'Licensing'; state = 'Installed' }
    )
} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3

dsc resource set --resource Microsoft.Windows/OptionalFeatureList --input $instance

Which installed me on a fresh Windows Server 2025 the Remote Desktop Licensing:

I ran dism /online /get-features /format:table to get the names of the features.

[musklor]

Ok, it works. ("enableAll : true" is the key ! and OptionalFeatureList doesn't have this option)

$instance = @{
    features = @(
        @{ featureName = 'AppServer'; state = 'Installed'; enableAll = $true }
    )
} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3

dsc resource set --resource Microsoft.Windows/WindowsFeatureList --input $instance