Microsoft accidentally published an app, StagingTool, that allows enabling hidden and WIP features in Windows 11. The app much like the famous ViVeTool that is a third-party solution for the same purpose. It can also bypass A/B testing and enable required features even if they are not officially available on this device.
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The StagingTool app was accidentally revealed during the Bug Bash event. It appeared as a recommendation in one of the quests. While the quest was made for Microsoft employees, it gone public. Perhaps it has got wrong permissions, so it has become visible to everyone.
Microsoft has adjusted the quest shortly after, but the app already found its path to the Internet.
Similar to ViVeTool, the StagingTool app operates with feature IDs to alter the Windows Component Store. To get the specific feature ID, one may refer to this GitHub page.
ℹ️ StagingTool offers exporting the configuration to a REG file, which ViVeTool does not allow. On the other hand, ViVeTool can enumerate the component store for existing features, and download a feature dictionary to make it easier to identify them.
How to use StagingTool
- Open Terminal as Administrator (Win + X > select Terminal(Admin))
- Type the following command to enable a feature:
path\to\StagingTool.exe /enable <ID>. - To disable a feature, the command as follows.
path\to\StagingTool.exe /disable <ID>. - Finally, resetting a feature can be done with this command:
path\to\StagingTool.exe /reset <ID>. - To get a brief option reference supported by the app, run it as
stagingtool /?.
Obviously, you need to specify the full path to the stagingtool.exe file, and provide the correct feature ID.
Stagingtool.exe is copyrighted by Microsoft and is not intended for public use. So we cannot redistribute it here and provide a download link for you. But it should be not hard find it on the Internet if you are really interested in getting it.
Summary
If you are not going to modify Windows images (WIM/ESD/VHD) with specially formed REG files, you will be happy with free and open source ViVeTool. The StagingTool app won't give you anything special. ViVeTool is available to everyone, while StagingTool is for internal Microsoft use only.
Thanks to Xeno.
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