Windows Deployment Services (WDS) Alternative - More Efficient
Why You Need WDS Alternative?
Windows Deployment Services (WDS) is included in Windows Server 2008 (R2)/2012 (R2)/2016 as a Server Role that allows you to deploy all the Windows operating systems since Windows Vista to multiple computers over the network simultaneously. You can first use the Windows Deployment Services Image Capture Wizard to take an image of a system with installed applications and then deploy to many computers.
It also works with virtual machines. You can use a virtual machine as a client machine to test the prepared system image that you want to deploy. Though deploying OS with WDS is not a complex task, even IT pros may take a little time to test and configure before actual deployment starts. If you need something more efficient, you need WDS alternative.
Best Windows Deployment Services Alternative
Qiling Image Deploy (AID) is a free and powerful tool for deploying Windows operating systems to multiple computers over a network. As a WDS alternative, AID offers a range of features and benefits that can help you streamline your deployment process and improve efficiency.
- It supports Windows 10/8/8.1/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2003/2008/2011/2012/2016 (32/64-bit and R2/SBS system). Therefore, you can install AID on your PC besides a server to deploy system image to multiple computers.
- It is easy-to-use with the built-in wizard. You can just follow the prompt step by step to finish the deploy process.
- What's more, unlike any other Windows Deployment Server alternative, it even provides universal restore feature that allows you to deploy the custom image to computers with dissimilar hardware.
Qiling Image Deploy (AID) is a powerful tool for deploying Windows operating systems to multiple computers over a network. As a WDS alternative, AID offers a range of features and benefits that can help you streamline your deployment process and improve efficiency.
Step by Step Guide: How to Use this Windows Deployment Services Alternative
Qiling Disk Master Standard (QDM) is a powerful tool for deploying Windows operating systems to multiple computers over a network. As an alternative to Windows Deployment Services (WDS), QDM offers a range of features and benefits that can help you streamline your deployment process and improve efficiency.
✍ Note: When deploying system images to multiple client computers, some users may encounter issues with SID (Security Identifier) conflicts. This can occur when the same SID is used across multiple systems, causing the deployment process to fail. To resolve this issue, you can try deploying the system image without the SID.
1. Start all the client computers and enter into BIOS to set the network boot (PXE boot) as the first boot device.
2. To deploy a system image to multiple client computers using PXE boot, you need to prepare Qiling Image Deploy on a server or PC. Here's how to do it:
3. Create bootable WinPE ISO file manually or automatically. Check the option "Enable DHCP" if there is no DHCP server in your LAN.
4. When you see the message "The service has started, waiting for connect...", it's time to boot all the client computers. This message indicates that the WinPE service is ready to connect to the client computers.
5. When all client computers are connected, it's time to confirm that they are online. This step ensures that all the client computers that need to be deployed are connected to the WinPE service.
6. The next step in the deployment process is to select the image you want to deploy. This image will be used to configure the client computers.
7. After clicking the "Start Deploy" button, the image deployment process will begin. This process will configure the client computers with the selected image.
Conclusion
The process of deploying images to client computers is streamlined with Qiling Image Deploy. This tool allows you to complete the deployment process in just a few clicks, making it an efficient solution for managing client computers within the same LAN.
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