Why are IIS optional features enabled by default in Windows 10 Home?

[mavrosxristoforos]

I am running a Windows 10 Home desktop computer, upgraded from Windows 7. Recently I could not update from version 1803 to versions 1903 or 1909, failing every time, exactly at 60% with the message "Windows could not configure one or more system components". I tried everything on the Microsoft website, from manual downloads and updates to running sfc, DISM, chkdsk commands and ended up calling Microsoft, updating all my drivers and using the Windows 10 ISO image for the update. Nothing. The Microsoft representative suggested I should format my computer and start clean.
However, using the Windows 10 ISO gave me a hint by showing the following message: "0xC1900101 - 0x30018 The installation failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with an error during SYSPREP operation". So I googled that and came up with the SetupDiag.exe tool, which finally told me the actual error! The problem was with the Microsoft-Windows-IIS-HttpProtocol component. So, after a lot of search, I came up with this post: https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/updates-failing.20371/#post-102117 which finally did it for me after so many failed tries! I started my computer in Safe Mode, renamed the inetsrv folder, and was able to disable the Internet Information Services optional features! In my case, there were two options selected: Security > Request Filtering and Application Development Features > .NET extensibility 4.7.

Now, I apologise for such a large prologue, but I wanted to help others, in case they bump into my post. My question is this: Why were those IIS optional features enabled in my computer? I am pretty familiar with IIS and Web servers in general, as I am a PHP developer, but I do not work with IIS on my computer. Instead, I use Apache. I never recall doing anything that would enable IIS. Does anyone know what those features actually do and why were they enabled in my Home computer? Did I do something wrong by disabling them? It always feels weird when you uncheck something that says "Security" in your computer! Ideas?

 

[Regedit32]

Hi and Welcome to the Forum.

The IIS Service, is not installed during an installation of Windows 10 by default.

This Service is included in Windows 10 Home, but it will not be configured*, unless your previous edition of Windows 7 had it enabled.

I'm assuming you have now disabled it via Turn Windows features on or off , and that is perfectly fine to do as it's not integral to Windows 10. You only need it if you were running a Internet Web Server, and even then, there are alternate options you can go with.

* Some Users have reported this Service has been configured when upgrading from Windows 7 over the years, but I can confirm that is not the case for my test machines which had Windows 7 Home and Ultimate installed prior to upgrading.

There may be a bug of some sort affecting some Users, but if that is the case I'm unaware of any Microsoft documentation warning of this issue. Perhaps someone else on this Forum knows of a document and can point you in that direction.

Saltgrass's post, you linked to includes a Microsoft Document that discusses an issue like this.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[mavrosxristoforos]

Hi Regedit32! Thanks for replying.

Most probably some software may have enabled it, then. It just seems so peculiar that you cannot disable those optional features, unless you go into Safe Mode. It practically gives you the impression that those features are important Windows assets, and you can only disable them by disabling other parts of your system (by going into Safe mode). I will probably find out what enabled it, if something comes up that doesn't work, as suggested in the discussion you mentioned. I will post here if I ever do find what it was.

Thanks again.

 

[oliverzofia]

IIS is known as Internet Information Services that allows users to set up a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server with management services to a host website.