New Training: Plan and Implement Windows 10 Using MDT

In this 5-video skill, CBT Nuggets trainer James Conrad shows you how to manage images using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. This essential skill involves deploying images, task sequences, and drivers. Watch this new Windows 10 training.

Learn Windows 10 with one of these courses:

• Managing Modern Desktops

• Microsoft 365 Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator Associate

This training includes:

• 5 videos

• 1.1 hours of training

You’ll learn these topics in this skill:

• Windows Deployment Services (WDS) Overview and Requirements

• Windows Deployment Services Lab

• Introducing the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)

• Create and Manage Images

• Manage Application and Driver Deployment

An Introduction to Managing Drivers for Computers in MDT

IT professionals are armed with the task of managing a lot of computers in organizations. This not only includes server equipment but end-user machines as well. The number of computers that IT professionals need to manage adds up quickly. It's easy to see why having to manage multiple types and models of computers can become difficult quickly, so organizations plan computer deployments around common standards like computer manufacturer and model. This helps reduce time and complexity in the IT environment especially when IT professionals utilize tools like Microsoft's Deployment Toolkit to create standardized images for computers.

These standardized images not only include versions of Windows and common apps but drivers for those computers as well. Though businesses try to reduce the number of models of devices they deploy to end-users, different job roles require different types of computers, and thus, multiple models of computers are still deployed throughout the business. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit does implement tools for helping to manage drivers for different machines, though.

One of the practices that IT professionals can use to help organize and update those drivers is by organizing them into different folders for each category of computer. Don't worry about creating Windows images with drivers that may be included multiple times. The MDT software will automatically de-duplicate driver sets at the time it creates Windows images.