Windows Server 2025 introduces several preinstalled components that many administrators consider unnecessary on a clean server environment. After upgrading from Windows Server 2022, you may notice Azure Arc Setup, Windows Admin Center Setup, and even the Windows Feedback Hub appearing on the system. Most windows server instances will not use any of these features, thus they waste ram and disk resources that could be better used for others things.
This guide walks you through removing all three cleanly using PowerShell.
Why Remove These Components?
Windows Server 2025 continues the trend seen in Server 2022 by bundling additional software that is rarely needed on production servers:
Azure Arc Setup
Azure Arc is Microsoft’s hybrid and multicloud management platform. It extends Azure’s management, governance, security, and automation capabilities to any infrastructure — whether it’s:
- On‑premises servers
- Other cloud providers (AWS, GCP)
- Edge devices
- Kubernetes clusters
- SQL and PostgreSQL databases
Azure Arc essentially acts as a bridge that projects your non‑Azure resources into Azure so you can manage them as if they were native Azure resources.
- Installs automatically and runs a tray daemon.
- Installer located at:
%windir%\AzureArcSetup\ArcSetup\AzureArcSetup.exe
Windows Admin Center Setup
Windows Admin Center Setup refers to the installer package for Windows Admin Center (WAC) — Microsoft’s modern, browser‑based management tool for Windows Server and Windows client systems. Windows Admin Center itself is a locally deployed web management console that replaces or modernizes many traditional tools such as:
- Server Manager
- MMC snap‑ins
- Hyper‑V Manager
- Failover Cluster Manager
- Storage management tools
It allows administrators to manage servers, clusters, and PCs through a unified web interface. The Setup component is simply the MSI installer that allows you to install Windows Admin Center on a server or workstation.
- Adds a Start Menu entry for the installer.
- Installer located at:
%windir%\WindowsAdminCenterSetup\WindowsAdminCenterSetup.exe
Windows Feedback Hub
Windows Feedback Hub is a Modern UI (UWP) application that allows users to submit feedback directly to Microsoft about Windows features, bugs, and usability issues. It has traditionally been a client‑only app (Windows 10/11), but Microsoft has now made it available on Windows Server 2025, especially in Insider and Desktop Experience builds.
✔ What it does
- Lets administrators submit feedback to Microsoft
- Allows reporting bugs, performance issues, and feature requests
- Supports attaching logs and diagnostics
- Works with Microsoft accounts or Entra ID accounts
✔ Why it exists on Server 2025
Microsoft’s documentation confirms that Windows Server Insider builds use Feedback Hub for reporting issues.
Server 2025 includes the Modern UI app framework, which means UWP apps like Feedback Hub can now run natively.
This is why the app appears even though it is not traditionally part of Windows Server.
- Introduced due to Modern UI frameworks now being present by default.
- Injected into user profiles even though it does not appear in the system package repository.
These components add clutter and are unnecessary for most server environments.
Important Notes Before Removal
Azure Arc is now a Windows Capability
In Server 2022, Azure Arc was a Windows Feature. In Server 2025, it has been reclassified as a Windows Capability, meaning older removal scripts will not work.
Hidden from Server Manager
Microsoft has removed the ability to uninstall these components through the Server Manager UI, making PowerShell the only practical removal method.
Cleaning Up Windows Server 2025
Run the following commands in an elevated PowerShell window ( Run as administrator )
1. Remove Azure Arc Setup
What this command does:
Uninstalls the Azure Arc Setup capability from the OS image.
Remove-WindowsCapability -Online -Name AzureArcSetup~~~~
2. Remove Windows Admin Center Setup
What this command does:
Removes the Windows Admin Center Setup feature from the server.
Remove-WindowsFeature -Name WindowsAdminCenterSetup
3. Remove Windows Feedback Hub
Step A — Remove the app from all user profiles
What this command does:
Finds any installed Feedback Hub packages and removes them for all users.
Get-AppxPackage | ? {$_.Name -like 'Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub*'} | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers
Step B — Remove the provisioned (preloaded) package
What this command does:
Removes the Feedback Hub from the OS provisioning store so it does not reinstall for new users.
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | ? {$_.DisplayName -Like 'Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub'} | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online
4. Removing Windows 11 tools that are pointless in windows server 2025
Removing the snipping tool:
Set-Location C:\Windows\System32
SnippingTool /uninstallRemoving microsoft paint:
Set-Location C:\Windows\System32
mspaint /uninstallRemoving RDC Client ( Not server )
mstsc is the executable for Remote Desktop Connection (RDC).
The /uninstall switch is used to remove the modern Remote Desktop Connection app on supported versions of Windows.
According to Microsoft’s documentation, Windows 11 23H2 and Windows Server 2025 allow the built‑in Remote Desktop Connection app to be uninstalled.
✔ So what does mstsc /uninstall actually do?
It uninstalls the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) app, which is the classic RDP client included with Windows.
This removes:
- The Remote Desktop Connection app entry
- The associated modern app package
- The Start Menu shortcut
- The ability to launch RDC via
mstsc.exeuntil reinstalled
📌 Important Notes
- This does not disable Remote Desktop Services on the machine.
- It only removes the client application, not the server‑side RDP functionality.
- On older Windows versions, the switch does nothing because uninstalling RDC was not supported.
Set-Location C:\Windows\System32
mstsc /uninstallOptional: Remove Microsoft Edge & WebView2
You can remove Edge and WebView2, but Edge Update cannot be removed at this time.
cmd /c "cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\Application\1\Installer && setup --uninstall --msedgewebview --system-level" cmd /c "cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\1\Installer && setup --uninstall --msedge --channel=stable --system-level"
