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Microsoft IT

Microsoft Pulls the Plug On Its Free, Two-Decade-Old Windows Deployment Toolkit (theregister.com) 33

Microsoft has abruptly retired the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, a free platform that IT administrators have relied on to deploy Windows operating systems and applications for more than two decades. The retirement, reports the Register, came with "immediate" notice, meaning no more fixes, support, security patches, or updates, and the download packages may be removed from official distribution channels.
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Microsoft Pulls the Plug On Its Free, Two-Decade-Old Windows Deployment Toolkit

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  • by Revek ( 133289 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @04:52PM (#65919048)
    They are getting ready to force the experience. I welcome this. It will speed adoption of linux.
  • Every time I read something like this I envision Satya sitting in corner rubbing his hands together with an evil grin across his face. Funny as hell but frightening at the same time. The apprentice has now become the master. Thanks Bill.

  • by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @05:06PM (#65919080)

    I recently saw this chart, breaking down Microsoft's revenue.
    https://www.visualcapitalist.c... [visualcapitalist.com]

    It made me realize why they don't care about the desires of Windows users.

    • by yababom ( 6840236 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @06:05PM (#65919234)

      I would point out that once people start abandoning Windows on the client side, their motivation to use MS cloud and server products are severely diminished as well. So while Windows isn't the biggest money maker, it is arguably their strongest chain to keep people linked into their subscription services...

      • Agree! The only reason that businesses select Office 365, and the reviled Teams, is that they are already using Windows as a client. Literally will toss Slack out, along with years of built out documentation, chats, procedures, etc.
      • I would point out that once people start abandoning Windows on the client side, their motivation to use MS cloud and server products are severely diminished as well.

        The OS is irrelevant. What PC operating system does Amazon make? None. Yet AWS is the biggest cloud service in the world.

      • by keltor ( 99721 ) *
        Azure apparently has significantly more Linux usage than Windows AND for locked in costs, its hard to beat.

        We've migrated several customers to Azure who don't use Windows at any level.
      • Consumers are more likely to abandon general-purpose computing altogether, not just Windows. Plenty of people don't have a real computer anymore.

        Businesses, I don't see abandoning Windows any time soon. Microsoft still spends considerable effort adding features to Windows that businesses want (or think they want). You might not get that impression because latter-day Slashdot doesn't really report on what they used to. But coming to Microsoft as a business customer results in being offered some actually usef

    • by tbuskey ( 135499 )

      I wonder how much of their server products and office products are not cloud nowadays?

      How many companies switched from running Exchange in their data center to outsourcing the email server? How many are big enough to justify the IT costs of running an email server? Keeping up with security against minor and state level actors. Purchasing the bandwidth to ingest spam that come in alonside legit emails.
      How many colleges and Universities no longer run email servers for students and staff?

      The market to run t

      • by EvilSS ( 557649 )

        How many companies switched from running Exchange in their data center to outsourcing the email server? How many are big enough to justify the IT costs of running an email server? Keeping up with security against minor and state level actors. Purchasing the bandwidth to ingest spam that come in alonside legit emails.

        Quote a few. Getting rid of on-prem Exchange is usually the thing everyone is most excited for. Almost no-one wants to manage Exchange anymore, and I don't blame them. It's a pain in the ass and way over complicated for what it is.

        How many colleges and Universities no longer run email servers for students and staff?

        The market to run those private copies has shrunk too. What can't you do on a phone or tablet or a computer's web browser (being win, mac, linux, chromebook). The capabilities are increasing too. Emulators can run in web browsers. And CAD systems.

        Again, quite a few. Both Google and Microsoft give academic institutions sweetheart deals on their office suites.

    • by paulatz ( 744216 )
      It's an open secret that Microsoft makes most of its money selling Linux, not Windows. However, for some reason, they really do not want to sell their Linux services to Linux users.
    • by ledow ( 319597 )

      They never cared when Windows / Office were basically the vast bulk of their product offerings and income.

      It's a method of control that they want, and Windows is a good method of control. They can use anti-monopolistic practices to force you into their ecosystem, even decades after having been convicted of just that. There are Windows Server functions and even 365 admin functions that literally only work in Edge. They have shoved Edge and Copilot into everything because they want your data - browsing and

    • That isn't what that chart says. Their product portfolio directly depends on Windows being the primary OS. You don't sell Windows Servers to Linux or Mac users. You don't sell Office to Linux users (do they still have a Mac version?) You don't sell Sharepoint and Onedrive to Linux users. You can't sell games through the Xbox store on PC to Linux or Mac Users.

      Windows is still core to Microsoft. It's an enabler for most of their other revenue streams.

  • The house that Gates built recommends Windows Autopilot or Configuration Manager Operating System Deployment (OSD) as alternatives.

    Yuck.

    • I suspected that's where they were pushing clients - Autopilot, deeply integrated with their Intune MDM, Azure AD, Office/Microsoft/Whatever 365.

      Every local server and service is to be relinquished, and their contents uploaded directly to Microsoft. Now, they're kneecapping your end-user endpoints if you won't.

  • Excellent! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Snert32 ( 10404345 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @05:24PM (#65919130)
    Stop deploying Windows! Okay, I know that won't immediately work for most businesses, but it will get businesses to realize that Microsoft is controlling their entire operation, and consider backup plans and possibly OpenSource and its utilities. That's too much control from Microsoft, who will now demand a fee for the tools to distribute the apps you're locked into.
    • It's always been this way. If someone didn't learn this lesson in 2005, then they're beyond help.
    • Most enterprise users *want* some form of structure, utilities, consistent experience, and above all at least an illusion of a secure starting point.

  • It was best to do "raw installations" of Windows to catch bugs, with the drivers that Microsoft installs. The "Generic stuff", works ok for a lot of things, but software gets 'hickups' when it is run on bare metal, and not the virtualized stuff.
    • It was best to do "raw installations" of Windows to catch bugs, with the drivers that Microsoft installs. The "Generic stuff", works ok for a lot of things, but software gets 'hickups' when it is run on bare metal, and not the virtualized stuff.

      Which is fine when you've a handful of systems but when you're doing hundreds of installations and dealing with hundreds and thousands of clients in a business it's an entirely different story.

  • Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2026 @05:40PM (#65919178)

    Because it was one way savvy home labbers got around the Microsoft Account requirement.

    Plus, configuring Windows 10 and 11 to use a local WSUS server before even touching Microslop's to get only the updates that did not break or introduce spyware.

    • This 100%. They want to disable this and all of Audit Mode where you can easily add the registry entries needed to enable local account creation.

  • by EndlessNameless ( 673105 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @05:52PM (#65919196)

    That was a free tool, often used by small enterprises.

    There's no money in free and little money in small businesses. So, screw them. They get nothing.

    Microsoft still offers OS deployment, if you're willing to pay for a server OS license. Or more, if you can afford it. Much more.

    Windows Deployment Services is "free", but it runs on Windows Server and requires an Active Directory domain. That's a minimum of two licenses unless you're seriously cutting corners, and you need at least four licenses if you're taking things seriously: two DCs, DHCP for PXE/WinPE, and WDS itself.

    If you want zero-touch deployment, there's Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly known as SCCM, which was formerly known as SMS). As the name suggests, it's designed for endpoint management in addition to OS deployment. And you will pay dearly for those features.

    So Microsoft does have some options, as long as you have some money.

    • And everyone (using in a legal context) has to pay for Windows Enterprise to disable ads.
    • If you're big enough to have either an Microsoft Entra ID or Active Directory then you can use Windows Autopilot (free) to deploy Windows onto devices. If you're smaller than that you probably don't need a deployment tool as properly using and keeping MDT functioning did actually require considerable IT time.

      I think MS is trying to get those SMEs to migrate to Windows Autopilot which would be cheaper than setting up a Windows Server and using WDS.

  • ...... isn't purely to lock in users to their cloud services?
  • x86 [archive.org]
    x64 [archive.org]

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