You can use Windows Insider Program to try experimental features before they are available for public users. However, it needs Preview Builds to be installed and you can’t use stable Windows 11 OS. Fortunately, there are alternative tools available like ViVeTool to unlock experimental features without going for Windows Insider Preview Builds. You can install ViVeTool app in stable Windows 11 and explore hidden features. In this article, we will explain how you can install and use ViVeTool in Windows 11.
What is ViVeTool?
It is a free and open-source command-line utility which you can download from GitHub. ViVeTool comes with set of commands with pre-defined syntax to use. Each feature in Windows is assigned with a Feature ID and ViVeTool uses this Feature ID to enable or disable it easily.
Warning: This tool can change the Windows system features resulting in unforeseen result. The system may become unstable or inaccessible if you modify system features. Therefore, make sure to enable or disable only the features that you know about. Also, take a backup before you play around with this type of tool.
How to install ViVeTool in Windows 11?
There are two methods to use ViVeTool in Windows 11.
- Using command line tool.
- Use the forked GUI version which is easier with simple user interface.
We will explain installing and using both the tools in the following sections.
Installing ViVeTool Command Line Utility
Command line utility is the original ViVeTool which do not have any user interface. To install ViVeTool in Windows 11:
- Open your browser and go to ViVeTool GitHub page.
- Find the latest version and download the zip file of the program.
- Once the downloading process is completed, extract the downloaded zip file in your desired location.
- Now next step is to open the Command Prompt to enable or disable certain features.
Enable or Disable Feature Using ViVeTool in Windows 11
- Click on the Search button / box in Taskbar and type “cmd”.
- Select “Run as administrator” to open the Command Prompt in administrator mode.
- Type the below command and press enter. Here, ViveToolfolderpath is the folder where you extracted ViVeTool zip archive.
cd /d <ViveToolfolderpath>- In our case, we have extracted the files in the location C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive\Documents\ViVeTool-v0.3.2 location. Therefore, the command will be like below:
cd /d C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive\Documents\ViVeTool-v0.3.2
- As mentioned, a specific feature ID is given to every component of the Windows operating system. For example, let’s enable the widget full-screen panel and 38665217 is its feature ID. You can get the complete list of feature IDs in this GitHub list.
- Type the following command and press the enterkey for enabling the feature.
ViveTool.exe /enable /id:38665217- This will successfully enable the widget full-screen panel feature in your system. Later, if you want to disable the same feature. All you need to do is to type another command like below and press enter key:
ViveTool.exe /disable /id:38665217
- After running the commands, you will see a message mentioning “Successfully set feature configurations”.
Below is the complete list of available commands for ViVeTool, though you primarily need to use /enable or /disable command.
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
| /query | Show feature configurations |
| /enable | Enable a feature ID |
| /disable | Disable a feature ID |
| /reset | Reset custom configurations of a feature ID |
| /fullreset | Reset all custom configurations of all features |
| /changestamp | Shows change timestamp of feature |
| /querysubs | Shows feature usage subscriptions |
| /addsub | Add a feature usage subscription |
| /delsub | Delete a feature usage subscription |
| /notifyusage | Send a usage notification for feature |
| /export | Download custom configurations of a feature |
| /import | Upload custom configurations of a feature |
| /lkgstatus | Shows “Last Know Good” rollback status |
| /fixlkg | Fix “Last Know Good” rollback corruption |
| /appupdate | Check for ViVeTool updates |
| /dictupdate | Check feature name directory updates |
| /fixpriority | Upgrade manual overrides for the latest ViVeTool version and restore Windows automated A/B feature. |
Installing ViVeTool GUI Version
Though the above method works to enable hidden Windows features, it is not convenient to use it from Command Prompt. In addition, it is also a problem to search and find the feature’s ID. The alternate option is to use ViVeTool GUI which is a modified version of the command line utility with a graphical user interface.
- Go to GitHub and find the latest stable version of ViVeTool GUI.
- Note that most of the time the first item on the page will be “Pre-release”. Make sure to scroll down and find “Latest” stable version.
- Click ViVeTool.GUI.Setup.exe file and download it your computer.
- If you are using Edge, you will see a warning and click on it to start the download.
- After that you will see another warning notification for trusting the downloaded file.
- You can proceed further and open the downloaded .exe file. Again, you will be stopped with the Defender SmartScreen and click on “More info” link.
- You will see the file name and publisher as unknown. Now, click “Run anyway” button.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to install ViVeTool GUI like any other apps in Windows 11. When the installation is completed successfully, click on “Finish” button to launch the tool.
Enable or Disable Features Using ViVeTool GUI
There are two ways to use the tool. One is to scan through the feature ID and another is to manually enter the feature ID to enable or disable it.
- For selecting the feature ID from the available list, click “Select Build” dropdown and choose the correct build as per your Windows 11 build. If you do not know the build number, check our article to find build, version and edition details in Windows 11.
- After that go through the available features list and select the item you want to enable or disable.
- Click the “Perform Action” button and select “Activate Feature” option.
- You will see a confirmation saying “Successfully Set Feature” indicating the feature is enabled on your system.
For manually entering the feature ID, click on the “Manually change a Feature” or press F12 key. Enter the feature ID in the pop-up and click “Perform Action” next to the text box. Select “Activate Feature” option to enable the selected feature.
Similarly, you can disable any feature ID either by going through the list or by manually entering the ID.
Final Thoughts
ViVeTool is a utility for power users to customize and enhance Windows 11 experience. Using this tool, you can use the hidden features without installing the Windows Insider Preview Builds. You can either use the command line tool or forked GUI version to make your task easier.
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