When investigating some problems related to a Service Broker, a team wanted to isolate a single K2 server of a farm to perform some troubleshooting. Their intention was to temporarily disable workflow execution while still allowing access to SmartObject execution. But how?

Technically, you won’t find the answer in Program Files (x86)\K2 blackpearl\Host Server\Bin\Hosted Servers.

KO.dll is responsible for workflow execution. If that library file is moved out of Program Files (x86)\K2 blackpearl\Host Server\Bin\Hosted Servers (not just renamed) and the K2 Server Service restarted, you will effectively disable workflow execution on the server, while retaining its other capabilities. Consider moving the DLL to a backup location, from which it may be easily restored.