Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit

Mostly designed for system administrators and IT professionals, the Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit or, in short, WDI Customization Kit, provides a console-based software tool specifically designed for deploying Windows disk images to one or more devices.

Featuring reliable image management and processing tools, the application supports both bootable portable USB media and regular Windows deployment. It can handle virtual disk images (VHDX) and Windows images (WIM), while also providing media customization tools via the built-in package creator.

Let’s rewind a bit and acknowledge the lack of a regular GUI for Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit. It only works via the command line window but that should not worry you a bit, since all the instructions are intuitive, especially if you have dealt before with a Windows image deployment tool.

First of all, note that the Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit features image management and processing tools. In other words, it can carry out various image-related operations. You can use it to inspect, mount and unmount VHDX images or create new images. Existing Windows disk images can be easily converted to VHDX format prior to making any modifications to their default configuration.

Customizing Windows installation media is possible with the Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit. The integrated “Package Creator” streamlines image customization, allowing you to make the desired changes to installed apps and components, features and services. Unattended installations are also possible.

Modifying a live operating system requires you to first toggle the “Brute TSK/SVC” option in the application’s settings, to avoid any permission-related issues that might occur. Local user and administrator accounts can be created, tasks can be forcefully stopped, and services can be started or stopped via the Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit.

The Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit streamlines Windows deployment via a bootable portable media or via regular installations. With a footprint of less than 200KB, it allows image customization, but it does not include ISO creation. However, adding the install.WIM file once the customization process is completed allows you to create ISO images. This surely turns the Windows Deployment Image Customization Kit into a reliable and powerful deployment tool for Windows images.