Why does enabling the OpenSSH server feature take so insanely long?

[robertstrom]

I haven't actually timed the install (but I will be doing that), but I have installed the feature MANY times using the PowerShell command line and it always takes a ridiculous amount of time. The OpenSSH-Win64-v10.0.0.0.msi download is 6.28MB. I clicked on the link and downloaded the file in a few seconds (literally).

I haven't dug into exactly how enabling Windows features work, but my impression is that it is crazy inefficient.

I have installed OpenSSH on many, many Linux systems and it takes no time at all. On a Windows system enabling the feature it takes ~ 15 - 20 minutes. Similar crazy long install times for the RSAT tools feature. The system is Windows 11 25H2 Enterprise, Proxmox virtual machine 4 vCPU's and 8GB RAM. Increasing RAM or cores does not seem to make a difference. Neither does being a physical machine.

Why the ^I&%% does this take so long?

Microsoft - please explain because this bloated feature install function is broken IMHO. Why is this so crazy slow and inefficient?

Microsoft - please make a simple install take a reasonable amount of time!

[robertstrom]

As a test, I just downloaded the OpenSSH-Win64-v10.0.0.0.msi and ran the install.

It literally took seconds to install. It was a blip.

I did an install via the PowerShell command line install of the OpenSSH "feature" and surrounded it by a couple of Get-Date commands

Install started at: Saturday, May 9, 2026 2:56:06 PM
Install finished at: Saturday, May 9, 2026 3:14:21 PM

PS /home/rstrom> $StartDate = Get-Date "Saturday, May 9, 2026 2:56:06 PM"                                                                                                                                                    PS /home/rstrom> $EndDate = Get-Date "Saturday, May 9, 2026 3:14:21 PM"
PS /home/rstrom> $Difference = $EndDate - $StartDate
PS /home/rstrom> $Difference

Days              : 0
Hours             : 0
Minutes           : 18
Seconds           : 15
Milliseconds      : 0
Ticks             : 10950000000
TotalDays         : 0.0126736111111111
TotalHours        : 0.304166666666667
TotalMinutes      : 18.25
TotalSeconds      : 1095
TotalMilliseconds : 1095000

18.25 minutes to install something that took seconds to install via a downloaded MSI package.

Does it really take that much longer to print out a bunch if progress circles? :-)

Same exact virtual machine restored to the same exact state via snapshot before performing either of the installs.

Mind boggling ... please explain ... cuz it wastes 0.0126736111111111 days of my life ...

Somebody really needs to fix this. See this regarding the RSAT tools. I'm sure it's the same crazy issue.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/discussions/windows11/why-is-add-windowscapability-so-slow-for-rsat/4076732