diff --git a/scripts/install-iis-release.ps1 b/scripts/install-iis-release.ps1
index acb599d..77bbef9 100644
--- a/scripts/install-iis-release.ps1
+++ b/scripts/install-iis-release.ps1
@@ -129,19 +129,18 @@ function Get-BindingInformation {
 }
 
 function Assert-HostCapabilities {
-  $getWindowsFeature = Get-Command Get-WindowsFeature -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
-  $getOptionalFeature = Get-Command Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
-  if ($null -ne $getWindowsFeature) {
-    $aspFeature = Get-WindowsFeature -Name Web-ASP
-    if ($null -eq $aspFeature -or -not $aspFeature.Installed) { throw 'The IIS Classic ASP feature (Web-ASP) is not installed.' }
-  } elseif ($null -ne $getOptionalFeature) {
-    $aspFeature = Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName IIS-ASP -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
-    if ($null -eq $aspFeature -or $aspFeature.State -ne 'Enabled') { throw 'The IIS-ASP Windows feature is not enabled.' }
-  } else {
-    throw 'Classic ASP feature state cannot be verified: no supported Windows feature cmdlet is available.'
+  # Query IIS directly instead of Get-WindowsFeature/Get-WindowsOptionalFeature:
+  # those feature cmdlets can stall while collecting server-manager state.
+  $aspHandler = (Get-WebConfiguration -PSPath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST' -Filter 'system.webServer/handlers').Collection |
+    Where-Object { $_.path -eq '*.asp' -and $_.modules -match '(^|,)IsapiModule(,|$)' -and $_.scriptProcessor -match '(?i)asp\.dll$' } |
+    Select-Object -First 1
+  if ($null -eq $aspHandler) {
+    throw 'The IIS Classic ASP handler (*.asp through asp.dll) was not found.'
   }
-  if ($null -eq (Get-WebGlobalModule -Name AspModule -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
-    throw 'The IIS Classic ASP module (AspModule) was not found.'
+  try {
+    Get-WebConfigurationProperty -PSPath 'MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST' -Filter 'system.webServer/asp' -Name 'enableParentPaths' -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
+  } catch {
+    throw "The IIS Classic ASP configuration section is unavailable: $($_.Exception.Message)"
   }
   if ($null -eq (Get-WebGlobalModule -Name RewriteModule -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
     throw 'IIS URL Rewrite is not installed (RewriteModule was not found).'