Snmp service is not available on windows

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Adding the SMTP service to a Windows OS seems quite straightforward in almost all cases: open the Windows Features interface, then check the «Simple Network Management Protocol» option. After rebooting, a new local service should be available called «SNMP Service».

I’ve followed those steps in Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, but I find that there is no «SNMP Service» to be found. There is an «SNMP Trap» service, but that’s apparently not what I’m looking for. It seems the SNMP agent settings (eg. community name) can only be modified within the properties of «SNMP Service».

In my searching, I found a Powershell command purported to install the SNMP service:

Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-SNMP

However, the result is an error message (even when run as Administrator):

Install-WindowsFeature : The target of the specified cmdlet cannot be a Windows client-based operating system.

The words «client-based operating system» suggests the SNMP service is only available for Windows Server OSes, but that wasn’t true for Windows 7/8. So I’m curious whether this has changed with Windows 10.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a classic protocol for monitoring and collecting information about network devices (servers, network hardware, workstations, printers, etc.). SNMP is quite a lightweight and fast protocol, it uses UDP ports 161 and 162 to transfer data. In this article, we’ll show how to install and configure SNMP service on Windows Server 2022/2019 and Windows 10/11.

How to Install SNMP Service on Windows Server 2022/2019?

In Windows Server, you can install the SNMP service using Server Manager. Select Add roles and features -> Features. Click SNMP Service (if needed, also check SNMP WMI Providers).

The SNMP WMI Provider allows you to query an SNMP device via WMI.

Click Next -> Install and wait till the installation is over.

Installing SNMP Agent on Windows Server Core

In Windows Server Core, you can install SNMP using the Windows Admin Center web interface or PowerShell.

If you are using the Windows Admin Center, connect to your Windows Server host, and select Roles and Features -> SNMP Service.

Since there is no graphical interface on Windows Server Core and the Server Core host can be managed from the  command prompt, you can install the SNMP service using PowerShell.

You can use the Install-WindowsFeature PowerShell cmdlet to install roles and features on Windows Server.

Check that the SNMP service is not installed:

Get-WindowsFeature SNMP*

Install the SNMP role and WMI provider:

Install-WindowsFeature SNMP-Service,SNMP-WMI-Provider -IncludeManagementTools

Make sure that SNMP services are running:

Get-Service SNMP*

In our example, the SNMP service is running, and SNMPTRAP is stopped.

Enabling SNMP Service in Windows 10/11

You can use the SNMP service not only on Windows Server but also on Windows 10 and 11 desktops. In Windows 10/11, the SNMP service is a part of the Features on Demand (like RSAT or OpenSSH).

You can install SNMP via the Settings panel. Go to Apps -> Optional features -> Add an optional feature -> View features.

Select Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and WMI SNMP Provider in the list of available components. To start the installation, click Next (you will need an Internet connection to Microsoft servers).

To install the SNMP service using PowerShell, run the command below:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

To install the SNMP service offline (without an internet connection), download the Windows 10/11 Features on Demand ISO image from your account on the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) website.

To install SNMP from the ISO image offline, use this command:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0 -LimitAccess -Source \munfs01DistrWin11FoD

How to Configure SNMP Service on Windows?

You can configure the SNMP service options with the services.msc console. Find the SNMP Service in the list and open its properties.

Note that the SNMP service has some additional tabs:

• Agent
• Traps
• Security

The Agent tab contains basic information about the device (administrator contact information, location). Here you can also select the type of information that the device can send when polling via SNMP.

In earlier SNMP protocol versions (SNMP 1 and SNMP 2), a community string is used for authentication. In the Security tab, you can create multiple connection strings.

You can select one of five available access levels for the community:

• READ ONLY — allows getting information from a device
• READ WRITE —get information and edit a device configuration
• NOTIFY — allows receiving SNMP traps
• READ CREATE – to read data, change, and create objects
• NONE

You can create multiple community strings. To do it, enter a name and select the permissions. To monitor the server state, the READ ONLY privilege is enough.

In the Accept SNMP packets from these hosts list, you can enter the names or IP addresses of the hosts allowed to query the device. If you don’t want to use the allowed device list, leave Accept SNMP packets from any hosts here.

The Traps tab allows setting the list of the hosts to which the SNMP agent should send SNMP traps. An SNMP Trap is a broadcast UDP packet used for asynchronous notification of the manager (for example, a notification about a critical event).

Remember to create rules allowing inbound and outbound traffic for SNMP queries and traps in your Windows Defender Firewall. You can enable firewall rules with PowerShell.

There are several predefined rules for SNMP traffic in Microsoft Defender Firewall:

Get-NetFirewallrule -DisplayName *snmp* |ft

• SNMPTRAP-In-UDP
• SNMPTRAP-In-UDP-NoScope
• SNMP-Out-UDP
• SNMP-In-UDP-NoScope
• SNMP-Out-UDP-NoScope
• SNMP-In-UDP

You can enable all rules or just a specific one:

Get-NetFirewallrule -DisplayName *snmp* | Enable-NetFirewallRule
Get-NetFirewallrule SNMP-Out-UDP | Disable-NetFirewallRule

There is the SNMP Trap in the list of Windows services. It is used to receive messages from other SNMP agents and forward them to SNMP servers (usually it is a monitoring system querying devices using via, for example, PRTG or Zabbix).

If you configure SNMP on Windows Server Core, you won’t be able to use the SNMP service GUI to set its settings. You will have to make changes to the registry using PowerShell instead. SNMP service settings are located under the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSNMPParameters.

The following commands will set the agent description:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersRFC1156Agent" -Name "sysContact" -Value "admin@woshub.com" -PropertyType REG_SZ
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersRFC1156Agent" -Name "sysLocation" -Value "MUN_DCn2" -PropertyType REG_SZ

You will have to create a separate key with the community name under HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersTrapConfiguration for each SNMP trap.

New-Item -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersTrapConfigurationpublic1"

Set the community permissions:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSNMPParametersValidCommunities" -Name "public1" -Value 4 -PropertyType DWord

For each community, you can set a list of hosts they are allowed to accept queries from:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSNMPParametersPermittedManagers" -Name "1" -Value "mun-mon1.woshub.com" -PropertyType REG_SZ

Restart your SNMP service to apply new settings from the registry:

Get-Service SNMP|Restart Service

If you want to deploy the SNMP service settings to multiple Windows computers/servers in your domain, use Group Policy Preferences to modify the registry.

To make sure if SNMP is working, use the snmpwalk tool (available in any Linux distro):

# snmpwalk -v 2c -c public1 -O e 192.168.12.200

In this example, we have polled our Windows host using SNMPv2.

The tool has returned basic host information (syscontact, sysname, syslocation) and a lot of data on the Windows server state.

SNMP is a common and most used network protocol for monitoring SNMP-enabled network hosts; including Windows and Windows Servers. You can use it for monitoring different metrics, such as CPU load, RAM, Disk, system uptime, and much more.

It acts as a Windows service and it is prone to different problems. If it doesn’t work, you will not be able to use it for monitoring the performance of your Windows machines. The problem can occur on any Windows and Windows Server version or edition. Why does the problem occur?

For writing this article, I run my workloads on powerful mini PC - Intel NUC powered with the CPU i7 the latest generation, 64 GB RAM DDR4, 256 M.2 SSD. Intel® NUC Mini PCs are fully complete and ready to work out of the box. You can learn more here Intel® NUC Products.

There are different reasons for that. In this article, I’ll cover common issues you might see and potential solutions to fix them.

And Yes…I’d love to hear your feedback. Please let me know if any, and what solution helped you to solve SNMP problems on your Windows. You can do it by adding your comment at the end of this article.

#1 Test SNMP connectivity

SNMP doesn’t work! Well, we know that, but it sounds generic. Firstly, we need to identify where is the root cause of the problem. Is there a problem with the destination Windows machine, network monitoring solution (NMS), or communication between Windows and NMS?

You can verify if the SNMP service is running using free SNMP Tester tools. The SNMP Tester tool can be run on the source (NMS) or destination machine (Windows). I’ll do it on the destination Windows machine which doesn’t respond to SNMP queries. You can do it on your NMS machine, as well. Based on the results we get, we can make some conclusions.

What tool should you use? I advocate for Paessler SNMP Tester.

1. Download Paessler SNMP Tester from this LINK.
2. Extract it, run Setup.exe to install it.
3. Run the Paessler SNMP Tester.
4. Under 1. Set SNMP Tester add the IP/Port, choose SNMP Version and Community. Under 2. Select Request Type select Read Device Uptime.
5. Under 3. Run Test click Start. In the case below, you can see there is no response from Windows. Considering I use the correct paraments, my SNMP doesn’t work.

If you run SNMP Tester on the destination Windows machine, and it doesn’t respond to SNMP: SNMP is not enabled. Please check #2.

If you run SNMP Tester on the destination Windows machine, and it responds to SNMP but doesn’t respond to SNMP from NMS: you need to check if SNMP settings are matched with your NMS. Please check #3 and #4.

#2 Check SNMP service

SNMP service is not enabled by default. Regardless you are running Windows or Windows Server, you need to enable it. If you are unsure, you need to check the SNMP services status using the Services tool or PowerShell.

In Windows and Windows Server with Desktop Experience (GUI), you can check the SNMP status using Services.msc. Services is a tool in the Windows operating system to get a list of all the services on the computer. msc stands for the management console.

In order to do it, you need to open the Services tool and navigate to SNMP Service.

1. Hold Windows logo + R
2. Type services.msc and press Enter

Navigate to SNMP Service and check if it is running. If SNMP service is available, but not running, change the startup type and run it by clicking on Properties > General > Startup type > Start.

You don’t see SNMP service? That means it is disabled, and you need to enable it. You can check the details on how to do it on different operating systems in the following articles:

• How to install deprecated SNMP in Windows 10 1803 and onwards
• Can you still monitor your Windows 11 with SNMP
• Install and Configure SNMP in Windows Server 2019
• Can you still monitor your Windows Server 2022 with SNMP

What if you are running Windows Server Core or Hyper-V Server Core? In that case, you can check the status using PowerShell by executing the following command:

Get-WindowsFeature SNMP*

I’ve got you covered with the complete procedure in these two articles:

• Install and configure SNMP on Windows Server Core
• Install and configure SNMP on Hyper-V Server Core

SNMP service is enabled, but I still can’t monitor target Windows machines using SNMP. Well, check the next step(s).

#3 Check SNMP settings

It is not only enough to enable SNMP on your Windows, you also need to configure it. It could happen that settings are not matched, and Windows and NMS can’t exchange SNMP messages. It could also happen that someone intentionally and accidentally made some changes. So, it always makes sense to check if the settings are matched or not.

There are four important parameters you need to match. It is an SNMP version, community string, port (explained in #4), and SNMP access list.

What SNMP versions are available? Windows only supports v1 and v2c. You need to check if v1 or v2c are configured within your NMS. If in any case, you use v3 in your NMS; Windows will not be able to respond to it.

What is the community string? A community string is some kind of key that is shared between NMS and Windows machines. The default one is public. You can keep the default one or change it (recommended).

What is the default port? SNMP uses UDP ports 161 and 162. For more information please refer to #4.

What is an SNMP access list? It is a list of IP addresses that are allowed to send SNMP queries to target Windows machines. This setting can be only configured on Windows machines.

Both, the community string and SNMP access list can be configured within the SNMP service itself. In order to do it, you need to open the Services tool and navigate to SNMP Service.

1. Hold Windows logo + R
2. Type services.msc and press Enter
3. Right click on SNMP Service and click Properties
4. Click on Security tab

Check the community string and match it with the NMS. You can add, edit or remove it.

The second option you need to configure is the SNMP access list. There are two options available, Accept SNMP packets from any hosts or Accept SNMP Packets from these hosts. If you select Accept SNMP packets from any hosts or Accept SNMP Packets from these hosts, you also need to add the IP address of your NMS. In my case below, the community string is prtgnetworkmonitor and my Windows machines only accept SNMP queries from 192.168.88.21 which is PRTG Network Monitor.

Navigate to your NMS, in my case PRTG Network Monitor and verify if the SNMP version and community string are matched. In my case, they are.

I know there is one thing missing, a port. Please refer to the next step.

#4 Check SNMP port(s)

SNMP uses the UDP port 161 for general SNMP messages. It uses UDP port 162 for SNMP Traps. These ports (if not changed on the Windows), must be matched with the port on your NMS.

If you are unsure what SNMP post is used, you can check it by navigating to your Windows machine and opening %systemroot%System32DriversEtc. Open file services with a text editor (e.g. Notepad++) and navigate to SNMP.

#5 Check firewall rules

This is not really a common situation, but it might be the case in certain situations. No harm to look at it. Windows provides you with a native firewall that can control inbound and outbound traffic. You can open Windows Firewall Advanced Settings and check if there are any rules blocking SNMP. The newest version of Windows and Windows Server, it is called Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.

Once you open it, on the left side of the device tree, you can find Inbound and Outbound rules. Go through them and see if there are any rules that are blocking SNMP.

In my case, Windows 10 has the rule to block SNMP. What can I do in that case? I can disable the rule, modify it or delete it.

What can you do in your case? Please advise your IT department if you are allowed to modify it. In centralized environments dependent on the Active Directory, you can perform this change on hundreds or thousands of Windows machines by running a single group policy.

#6 SNMP stopped working after Windows Update

Well, this might happen with any Windows features. Windows Update is a must to do, but sometimes it just breaks things. We as IT professionals need to have a mechanism for how to mitigate or minimize potential problems.

If you noticed that SNMP stopped working after Windows Update, you can try to revert the update to the previous version (if possible). If you can’t do it, search for potential fixes on the Internet.

#7 Repair your Windows

Malware infected your Windows and SNMP files. You tried all of the potential solutions, but they didn’t work.

You can try to repair system files by running the sfc /scannow. The sfc /scannow command will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%System32dllcache.

Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following command.

sfc /scannow

#8 Check your NMS

If SNMP works fine on your Windows machine, but NMS has some difficulties sending SNMP queries, you should check with the vendors if there are any known problems with SNMP. Open a ticket and read the release notes.

#9 Wireshark knows where the packet goes

Considering your Windows and NMS are working properly and your SNMP packets are somewhere lost; try to analyze your network traffic using Wireshark. Wireshark is a super powerful tool for that kind of job.

And Yes…I’d love to hear your feedback. Please let me know if any, and what solution helped you to solve SNMP problems on your Windows. You can do it by adding your comment at the end of this article.

If you find this article helpful, you can share it with your network by using the social media buttons below.

SNMP (
Simple Network Management Protocol
) — это классический протокол для мониторинга и сбора информации о сетевых устройствах (сервера, сетевое оборудование, рабочие станции, принтеры и т.д.). Протокол SNMP довольно легкий, быстрый, для передачи данных использует UDP порты 161 и 162. В этой статье мы рассмотрим, как установить и настроить службу SNMP в Windows Server 2022/2019 и Windows 10/11.

Установка службы SNMP в Windows Server 2022/2019

В Windows Server службу SNMP можно установить с помощью Server Manager.

Выберите Add roles and features -> Features. Выберите SNMP Service (если нужно отметьте также SNMP WMI Providers).

Служба SNMP WMI Provider позволяет опрашивать SNMP устройство через WMI.

Нажмите Next -> Install и дождитесь окончания установки.

Установка SNMP агента в Windows Server Core

В Windows Server Core можно установить SNMP с помощью веб-интерфеса Windows Admin Center и PowerShell.

Если вы используете Windows Admin Center, подключитесь к хосту Windows Server, выберите Roles and Features -> SNMP Service.

Т.к. в Windows Server Core отсутствует графический интерфейс, а для его управления используется командная строка, вы можете установить службу SNMP из командной строки PowerShell.

Для установки ролей в Windows Server из PowerShell используется командлет Install-WindowsFeature.

Проверьте, что служба SNMP не установлена:

Get-WindowsFeature SNMP*

Установите роль SNMP и WMI провайдер:

Install-WindowsFeature SNMP-Service,SNMP-WMI-Provider -IncludeManagementTools

Проверьте, что службы SNMP запущены:

Get-Service SNMP*

В нашем примере SNMP служба запущена, а SNMPTRAP остановлена.

Установка службы SNMP в Windows 10/11

Вы можете использовать службу SNMP не только в Windows Server, но и в десктопных редакциях Windows 10 и 11.

В Windows 10/11 служба SNMP, вынесена в отдельный компонент Feature On Demand (как RSAT и OpenSSH).

Вы можете установить SNMP через панель Settings. Перейдите в Apps -> Optional features -> Add an optional feature -> View features.

В списке доступных компонентов выберите Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) и WMI SNMP Provider. Для начала установки нажмите Next (понадобится интернет подключение к серверам Microsoft).

Для установки службы SNMP через PowerShell, используйте команду:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

Для установки службы SNMP без подключения к интернету, вам понадобится скачать ISO образ Windows 10/11 Features on Demand из личного кабинета на сайте лицензирования Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).

Для офлайн установки службы SNMP с такого ISO образа используется команда:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0 -LimitAccess -Source \msk-fs01DistrWindows-FODWin11

Настройка службы SNMP в Windows Server и Windows 10/11

Вы можете настроить параметры службы SNMP в консоли services.msc. Найдите службу SNMP Services в списке и откройте ее свойства.

Обратите внимание, что у службы SNMP есть несколько дополнительных вкладок:

• Agent
• Traps
• Security

На вкладке Agent указывается базовая информация об устройстве (контакты администратора, местоположение). Здесь же можно указать тип информации, который может отправлять данное устройство при SNMP опросе.

В старых версиях протокола SNMP (SNMP v.1 и SNMP v.2) для авторизации пользователя используется строка сообщества (community string). На вкладке Security можно создать несколько строк подключения.

Можно выбрать один из пяти уровней доступа для сообщества:

• READ ONLY — позволяет получать данные с устройства;
• READ WRITE — позволяет получать данные и изменять конфигурацию устройства;
• NOTIFY — позволяет получать SNMP ловушки;
• READ CREATE – позволяет читать данные, изменять и создавать объекты;
• NONE

Вы можете создать несколько community string. Для этого нужно задать имя и выбрать права/ Для мониторинга состояние сервера достаточно выбрать READ ONLY.

В списке Accept SNMP packets from these hosts можно указать имена/IP адреса серверов, которым разрешено опрашивать данное устройство. Если вы не хотите ограничивать список разрешенных устройств, оставьте здесь Accept SNMP packets from any hosts.

На вкладке Traps указываются адрес серверов, на который SNMP агент должен отправлять SNMP-ловушка (SNMP trap). SNMP Trap это широковещательный USP пакет, используемый для асинхронного уведомления менеджера (например, сообщение о критическом событии).

Не забудьте открыть в Windows Defender Firewall правила, разрешающие входящий и исходящий трафик для SNMP запросов и ловушек (TRAP). Нужные правила фаейрвола можно включить с помощью PowerShell.

В Windows Firewall есть несколько готовых правил для SNMP трафика:

Get-NetFirewallrule -DisplayName *snmp* |ft

• SNMPTRAP-In-UDP
• SNMPTRAP-In-UDP-NoScope
• SNMP-Out-UDP
• SNMP-In-UDP-NoScope
• SNMP-Out-UDP-NoScope
• SNMP-In-UDP

Можно включить все правила, или только определенное:

Get-NetFirewallrule -DisplayName *snmp* | Enable-NetFirewallRule

Get-NetFirewallrule SNMP-Out-UDP | Disable-NetFirewallRule

В списке служб Windows есть еще одна служба SNMP Trap. Она используется для получения сообщений от других SNMP агентов и пересылки на SNMP сервера (обычно это система мониторинга, опрашивающая устройства по SNMP, например PRTG или Zabbix).

Если вы настраиваете SNMP на Windows Server Core, вы не сможете использовать графический интерфейс службы SNMP для настройки ее параметров. Вместо этого придется вносить изменения в реестр с помощью PowerShell. Настройки службы SNMP хранятся в ветке реестра HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSNMPParameters.

Следующие команды зададут описание агента:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersRFC1156Agent" -Name "sysContact" -Value "[email protected]" -PropertyType REG_SZ
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersRFC1156Agent" -Name "sysLocation" -Value "MSK_Datacenter1" -PropertyType REG_SZ

Для каждой ловушки SNMP придется создать отдельный ключ в HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersTrapConfiguration с именем community.

New-Item -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesSNMPParametersTrapConfigurationpublic1"

Укажите разрешения для community:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSNMPParametersValidCommunities" -Name "public1" -Value 4 -PropertyType DWord

Для каждого community можно указать список серверов, с которых разрешено принимать запросы:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSNMPParametersPermittedManagers" -Name "1" -Value "server1.winitpro.ru" -PropertyType REG_SZ

Перезапустите службу SNMP для применения новых настроек из реестра:

Get-Service SNMP|Restart Service

Если нужно распространить эти SNMP настройки на множество компьютеров/серверов Windows в домене, используйте возможности внесения изменений в реестр через GPO.

Проверить работу службы SNMP можно с помощью утилиты snmpwalk (доступна в любом Linux дистрибутиве):

# snmpwalk -v 2c -c public1 -O e 192.168.13.122

В этом примере мы опросили наш Windows хост через версию протокола SNMPv2.

Утилита вернула базовыую информацию о хосте (syscontact, sysname, syslocation) и довольно большое количество информации о состоянии сервера Windows.