SNMP is a Simple Network Management Protocol used to monitor or configure target devices. Microsoft integrated SNMP v1 in Windows NT and SNMP v2c in Windows 200. Until today, Windows only supports these two versions and not SNMP v3 which supports authentication and encryption.
SNMP is a Windows feature that can be enabled in Control Panel > Programs and Features, as shown in the screenshot below. This procedure works fine in Windows 7, 8 and some Windows 10 versions.
As of Windows 10 1083 and onwards, SNMP is considered as deprecated and it is not anymore listed in Control Panel > Programs and Features. The reasons are security-related.
Also, according to US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), SNMP may be abused to gain unauthorized access to network devices and it is recommended to be disabled. Microsoft recommends using the Common Information Model (CIM), which is supported by Windows Remote Management.
It is hidden from Windows builds, but still available to be installed. Let’s do it together via PowerShell.
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name “SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0“
Once you install SNMP, please navigate to Services and configure SNMP.
Thank you for reading this article. In case of any questions, feel free to comment or contact me.
