Microsoft has announced that the Windows Deployment Services (WDS) server role will be deprecated starting with the next Windows Server release.
WDS is a redesigned version of Remote Installation Services (RIS) that allows IT administrators to remotely install Windows operating systems on fleets of dozens or hundreds of computers over a network.
After WDS is no longer supported in the next Windows Server release, Microsoft will stop active development and plans to discontinue and completely remove it.
The company has partially discontinued WDS and removed boot.wim support in 2021 and hands-free facility in January 2026 (This is now disabled by default for all customers who have installed the April 2026 Windows Updates or any subsequent ones.)
Following these changes, deploying standard desktop operating systems using the native setup engine was officially no longer supported starting with Windows 11, and Microsoft limited WDS to deploying Windows Server or booting custom deployment environments.
“This includes the Inbox WDS role, WDS services, management tools and interfaces, and the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) boot functionality provided by WDS.” Microsoft said.
“Deprecated products will be supported until they are eventually removed from a future operating system release.” it added in an early statement released earlier this week.
“Although WDS is deprecated, it continues to function on all currently supported versions of Windows Server according to published maintenance lifecycles. This announcement does not change the availability or support of WDS for these versions.”
However, Microsoft noted that the Inbox WDS server role and associated WDS functionality remains available on all currently supported versions of Windows Server (Windows Server 2025 and earlier), and that non-Microsoft deployment products and independent PXE implementations that do not depend on WDS are not affected.
“The deployment of the Microsoft Configuration Manager operating system is not affected,” it said. “However, begin migrating Configuration Manager environments that still use WDS-backed PXE or WDS-dependent multicast away from these WDS dependencies.”
Microsoft recommended its customers start planning their migration to alternatives like… Microsoft Configuration Managerwhich provides a more flexible experience when deploying Windows images.
