While trying to Turn Windows features on or off, it says «Please wait for a while» and goes blank.

Original title: Turn Windows features on or off

trying to install an ArcGIS extension that requires turning on some features, however when i click on the «Turn Windows features on or off», it says to please wait for a while and goes blank. please help. and yes this is a genuine windows and i have used this features other times. thank you

Replies (3) 

This issue might have caused because of many reasons such as, due to any restarts pending after installing updates or due to missing or corrupted System Files or due to user profile corruption. I would like to know some information about this issue so that we could assist you further.

1. Are you logged in as an Administrator?

2. Is there any restarts pending after installing an important update?

As a first step, I would suggest you to restart the computer and then try turn on or off Windows features.

I would suggest you to try the following methods and check if it works for you.

Method 1:

Run System File Checker scan and check if the issue persists. System File Checker scan will help you find and replace missing or corrupted System Files.

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files:

Method 2:

Performing a system restore returns system files and settings to a previously non-corrupted state.

Follow the steps to perform System Restore:

a. Click Start, type system restore in the Searchprograms and files box.

b. Right-click System Restore, click Run as administrator.

c. In the System Restore dialog box, click Next.

d. Select a restore point in the list that’s dated before you you started experiancing the issue and then click Next.

e. On the Confirm your restore point window, click Finish.

For further reference, you may refer to the following Microsoft Help article.

Method 3:

Create a new user account and check if the issue persists.

Create a user account:

If the issue does not persist in new user account, then try the steps provided in the following Microsoft Help article.

Please reply with the status of the issue, so that we could help you better.

Turn Windows Features on or off is blank or empty

If you try to access the Windows Features or the Turn Windows Features On or Off, through, the Control Panel or by simply typing optionalfeatures .exe in your start search box, the following dialogue box is expected to open. But if it is blank or empty, this post will help you troubleshoot the issue.

Windows throws up funny errors sometimes. You click open Control Panel, click open Program & Features and go on to turn Windows features on or off. While on a normal day you will see options to turn on or off, Windows features like Hyper-V, Internet Explorer, IIS, Media features, .NET Framework, etc, I am sure you will be surprised if you were to find the window blank or empty!

While this could happen on very rare occasions, you should know how to fix it if you or your friend’s computer were to ever face this problem.

We have seen what to do if the Windows Update page is blank or the Control Panel is blank. In this post, let’s see the potential solutions to this problem.

The Windows Features or the Turn Windows Features On or Off box of the Control panel, lets you turn off or turn on several features of the Windows operating system. Turning off a feature does not uninstall the feature – nor does it free up disk space. It only disables the feature.

Turn Windows Features on or off blank

1] See if a System Restore helps you. Else Run sfc /scannow or System File Checker to replace corrupted Windows system files.

2] Create a new administrator account and see if it resolves the issue.

3] Make sure the Windows Modules Installer service Startup status is set to Automatic and it is currently running. To do this, type services.msc in Run box and hit Enter to open the Services Manager. Look for Windows Modules Installer and check its status. Double-click on it to change its Properties if required. This Windows Service enables installation, modification, and removal of Windows updates and optional components. If this service is disabled, install or uninstall of Windows updates might fail for this computer.

4] Open an elevated command prompt, type the following and hit Enter:

But this may or may not work for all.

5] If this Turn Windows Features On or Off box appears completely blank, it is quite possible that the Component Store that contains information about Windows components has been corrupted – so see if fixing this corruption helps you. While one can use the CheckSUR tool to resolve this issue, the way it works in Windows 10/8 is different, says TechNet. The Inbox Corruption Repair in Windows 8/10 and Windows Server brings the functionality of CheckSUR into Windows.

To repair the Component Store corruption open an elevated command prompt and run the following command, and restart your computer:

If things work for you, you will be able to see the Turn Windows features on or off populated with the options.

Turn Windows features on or off

I am using Windows 7 professional version 8.0.50727.42 with all windows updates applied. I am trying to install Microsoft.NET framework 2.0 SP 1 and it keeps telling me that I have to use «Turn Windows features on or off» to install the 2.0 SP1 and it terminates. When I go to the «Turn Windows features on or off» function in the control panel, it doesn’t have Microsoft.NET 2.0 as one of the features to turn on or off.

How can I get my version of windows to recognize the 2.0 to be able to proceed?

According to this thread: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxsetup/thread/f983b4e9-ab63-4497-a20a-9acc0df83fd9

For Windows 7, .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1 is shipped with it as one of OS component.
For .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1, it includes .NET 2.0 with SP2 and .NET 3.0 with SP2 as prerequisite.
This means, you have the .NET Framework 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2 and 3.5 SP1 plus a few post 3.5 SP1 bug fixes on Windows 7. They are OS components . We don’t need to manually install it.

Please use Verification Tool to verify .Net Framework 2.0. If .Net Framework 2.0 cannot be verified on your computer, you can try to follow the steps mentioned in the following blog to repair the .NET Framework 2.0 on Windows 7.
See: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2007/03/26/how-to-repair-the-net-framework-2-0-and-3-0-on-windows-vista.aspx (also apply to Windows 7)

Or you can try to repair OS. Here is a KB about this, please see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212/

Since .NET Framework 2.0 is installed as a part of the OS, the cause can be that OS is not well installed on your PC.

You can try the following:
Click Start
Type: CMD, from the results, right click CMD
Click ‘Run as Administrator’
At the Command Prompt, type: sfc/scannow

This will check for any integrity violations

[Fix] Turn Windows Features On Or Off is Blank in Windows 10

The Windows Features dialog box ( optionalfeatures.exe ) lets you add or remove additional or optional Windows features. For instance, you can remove Media Features → Windows Media Player using the Windows Features (“Turn Windows Features On Or Off”) dialog box if you no longer plan to use WMP.

Sometimes, the “Turn Windows Features On Or Off” box may be completely empty.

If the optional Windows features list doesn’t populate even after waiting for several minutes, here is how to fix the problem.

[Fix] Turn Windows Features On Or Off is Blank in Windows 10

Step 1: Start the Windows Modules Installer service

1. Press WinKey + R to open the Run dialog
2. Type services.msc and press ENTER . This will open the Services console.
3. Double-click Windows Modules Installer service.
4. Set its Start type to Automatic.
5. If the Windows Modules Installer service is not running, click the Start button to start it.

Step 2: Delete the “StoreDirty” registry value

If you’re using Windows 8, run this command. This command may not be necessary (or the Components branch be missing) if using Windows 10.

• Open an elevated command prompt, type the following and hit ENTER:

If the above steps don’t help, it’s possible that the system files or the Component Store that contains information about Windows components have been corrupted. Running the Sfc.exe and DISM commands as in Step 3 and 4 should fix the corruption.

Step 3: Run the System File Checker

The System File Checker is used to scan for missing or corrupted system files and restore them from the component store.

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt window.
2. Type the following command and hit ENTER :

If SFC is unable to restore the missing or corrupt system files due to component store corruption, proceed to Step 3.

Step 4: Repair the Component Store using DISM

In Windows 7 and earlier, you used the System Update Readiness tool to fix the corruption of system files or component store. In Windows 8 and Windows 10, we use DISM for that purpose. Run the following command for Windows 10:

From the elevated Command Prompt window, type the following command:

Wait for the operation to complete. This command repairs the Component Store if any corruption is found.

Note: If the above steps don’t help, you can run the DISM command mentioning the source image (fresh Windows 10 Install.wim) from the mounted ISO or DVD media matching the same Windows 10 build your system is running. For more information, check out article Repair Windows 10 Using DISM and SFC

Hope that fixes the empty “Turn Windows Features on or off” listing issue.

Enable and Disable Windows Features

Never use IE? You can uninstall it here!

No matter which version of Windows you use, there is a lot of features that are installed with the system by default, many of which you probably will never use. Disabling Windows features you don’t use can optimize your system, making it faster and saving precious hard disk space.

This article shows you how to enable and disable features in Windows 7/8/10, Vista, and XP.

Windows Vista, 7/8/10

To turn Windows features in Windows Vista to Windows 10 on or off, click Control Panel on the Start menu. You can also click on Start and then type in control panel.

Click the Programs link.

NOTE: If you are in Classic View, the link reads Programs and Features.

Under the Programs and Features heading, click the Turn Windows features on or off link.

NOTE: If you are in the Classic View, the Turn Windows features on or off link is on the left panel.

The Windows Features dialog box displays with a “Please wait…” message, while the features list is loaded.

When the list of features displays, you can move your mouse over one of the features and view a description of that feature.

For each feature you want to turn off, select the check box to the left of the feature so there is NO check mark in the box. For example, since we are not using a Tablet PC, we decided to turn off the Tablet PC Components feature, along with some other features we don’t use. Once you have made your changes, click OK to close the Windows Features dialog box.

A dialog box displays showing the progress of the changes being made to your Windows system.

You must restart your computer for the changes to be completed. Click Restart Now if you are ready to restart the computer now. If you want to wait to restart the computer, click Restart Later.

While the computer is shutting down and again while it is starting up, the following message displays. Be sure you don’t shut off the computer while the features are being configured.

Windows XP

To turn Windows features in Windows XP, click Control Panel on the Start menu.

Click the Add or Remove Programs link (or the icon in Classic View) on the Control Panel window.

On the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, click Add/Remove Windows Components in the left panel.

A dialog box displays asking you to wait while the list of Windows features is generated.

The Windows Components Wizard displays with a list of Components. If the check box to the left of a component has a gray background, there are sub-components within that component. Click Details to view the components under that main component.

For example, the following dialog box shows the components available under the Network Services main component. You can turn on or off any of these components and click OK to accept your changes and return to the Windows Components Wizard.

For each feature you want to turn off, select the check box to the left of the feature so there is NO check mark in the box. For example, we are not using MSN Explorer or Outlook Express, in addition to some other features. Once you have made your changes, click Next.

The Configuring Components screen displays the progress of the changes being made to your system.

When the changes have been made, the Completing the Windows Components Wizard dialog box displays. Click Finish.

You must restart your computer for the changes to be completed. Click Yes if you are ready to restart the computer now. If you want to wait to restart the computer, click No.

You can turn on any of the Windows features again, if desired, simply by following these procedures and selecting the check boxes for features you want so there is a check mark in each check box. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio