Is Master image, Golden image, Winpe & Adk worth learning?
Posted by itz_cool_247@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 25 comments
I just started my IT learning journey, I was wondering if any of these concepts are worth learning and are still used today?
Soft_Attention3649@reddit
Absolutely. Learning master images, golden images, WinPE, and windows ADK is still very relevant, especially for IT deployment, recovery and standardization tasks. While there are foundational, modern tools like Minimus, are also worth exploring if you are interested in secure, minimal images for cloud native or containerized environments. Its a nice way to bridge traditional IT practices with modern Devsecops workflows
zatset@reddit
Using golden images is one of the fastest ways to set up new computer or reinstall a computer. By integrating the network drivers in the image you have operating system that can then be added to AD from which to be configured - settings, applications. And of course - the rest of the drivers.
lordmycal@reddit
Nope. Learn how to use Autopilot and Intune instead.
gordonv@reddit
This is what I need to learn. That and all of Entra ID.
c_pardue@reddit
learn what they are so that at your first and second IT jobs you aren't looking at your team lead like he has a dick growing out of his forehead, if he ever brings these things up.
i had to learn about golden images and winpe on the job. was not hard because i just needed to know wtf they basically were, and learned how it was set up by my team so that i could use it. was very easy because they were like, "this is how we're provisioning these machines. let me show you how to use it." and i said ok and i took notes. BOOM 2ez
No_Promotion451@reddit
Yes it's not rocket science. Learn the basics and dig into more advanced areas if you have the time
discgman@reddit
Yes and yes. This will save you so much time during mass imaging projects.
stephendt@reddit
We do, yes. We don't have access to Autopilot and Intune, so we have a custom image that pulls our latest deployment script and installs our RMM, where the rest of the setup can occur.
bjc1960@reddit
We use Autopilot and deploy with Intune. Many employees are remote, or in remote offices, and IT is all remote. Autopilot is super-easy, and we drop ship computers from Dell, or "fresh-started" ones from our homes.
Trakeen@reddit
We have thousands of vms in different vdi pools so its still used in large orgs. My whole day has been spent building images for azure virtual desktop with packer. Didn’t think i’d touch vdi stuff again but our vdi team doesn’t know anything about windows imaging or using more modern ci/cd processes
Onoitsu2@reddit
Master/golden image, nah. WinPE, for sure. ADK, potentially. But I have a custom WinPE, I can have someone boot over PXE, USB, .exe loaded in their current windows install, that then uses the Windows bootloader to boot into my WIM. That is loaded entirely into RAM, and I have remote access to the system, and am able to fully erase drives and reinstall windows freshly from the latest source files, applying desired partitioning scheme, autounattend.xml tweaks, registry tweaks, and then my own custom $OEM$ script that kicks off in OOBE. So I don't have to actually DO any of the install, just watching it till the end on a screen.
I recently reinstalled Windows on 2 systems for my friend in NYC. 1 over wifi, the other a wired ethernet connection, while I was sitting here in ABQ. If you know what you're doing, you can get nearly all of what AMT hardware can do with software alone and the right scripting of things.
flyguydip@reddit
I haven't used golden images in about 10 years. There are far less problems that I run into when I just deploy with the stock iso and kick off all the modifications I need in an MDT task sequence. Final tweaks come from GPO's, and maybe a one off install of one app or another required by one specific user, but for the most part, all MDT pushing stock ISO's now.
turboturbet@reddit
No but your effort into learning Modern Management ideas like intune/autopilot and Azure Virtual Desktop/Windows 365.
Have a look at powershell module called OSDCloud..
AdeptFelix@reddit
Its depends on what kind of sysadmin you're gonna be. There's a lot now that are basically cloud-focused, using Intune or other MDMs, have devices pre-registered and shipped directly to employees and never touch them directly. Then you have onsite sysadmins, ones that maintain fleets of devices locally at schools, companies with large static hardware presences, or industrial control systems that can't talk to the internet. The latter may still use "legacy" imaging solutions as you won't need everything pulled from online.
itz_cool_247@reddit (OP)
Thank you, my goal is learning citrix so knowing that, I think ill continue to learn this as well.
ErikTheEngineer@reddit
Just a consideration - don't throw too much effort behind Citrix. They got bought by private equity and just like VMWare their customers are trying to get off it as quickly as they can. It'll be a long time but if you go too deep down the rabbit hole, you'll end up employable only in healthcare settings (by far the #1 industry using Citrix.) The concepts transfer nicely over to RDS or Azure Cloud PCs...just don't get so married to one technology that it's hard to retrain later.
EntraGlobalAdmin@reddit
No. Please don't. If you ever need help CoPilot can assist. Learn AutoPilot, Entra and Intune instead.
BlackV@reddit
It's still good learning
But these days, I boot winpe wipe disk down latest image from Ms apply to device (including OEM drivers)
The tool used is osd cloud
bristow84@reddit
Having some sort of knowledge on legacy software like this isn’t a bad thing as it helps you gain a deeper understanding on these subjects but don’t expect to put it into practical use that often with the shift from traditional thick imagine towards Autopilot/Intune.
ErikTheEngineer@reddit
Yes. Picking up some information on how disk images are built is a good way to get more familiar with the OS itself, Windows' driver model, building stuff up from components, etc.
Lots of cloud-only places have migrated to Intune or another MDM and just start with a fresh Windows image. But there are a couple reasons to even make that base level a master image that you control...and it's all about control. Even business PCs' default disk images have crapware in them; it's not as bad as a Costco/Best Buy PC but you may not want whatever bloatware they're pushing, and want to put on just enough to run the hardware. Plus, we use Intune/Autopilot at the place I'm at, but there are use cases for machines that have to be ready to go when they come off the line (kiosks, manufacturing equipment, device controllers, etc.) These often have weird proprietary software that has to be set up a certain way...and even if it's automated (which it should be!) the software is huge and takes Intune forever to install. We're using packer to run builds in VMs and sysprep them for the cases where we need a working machine right away.
I've been working in this industry for 30 years. Especially with the cloud and SaaS, the perspective has definitely shifted to "oh, you just need to know these tools, doing fundamental work is so 2015." Me having a foot in both worlds and having some automation skills under my belt has been the thing keeping me employed. Established businesses are not 100% cloud yet, and are too complex to have a one-size-fits-all attitude towards things. Taking time to learn the basics, even when people are telling you that's old and legacy and you'll be flipping burgers in 6 months if you don't drop all that now and learn OpenWeasel, it's the future -- will make you employable in a greater number of places.
seannyc3@reddit
Yes, it is still valuable if you have legacy static software. It’s still good knowledge to have.
gwig9@reddit
It depends. 1000s of rebuilds every year. Absolutely. Especially if the org isn't shelling out for Entra or other cloud system management.
schumich@reddit
Not anymore, its going away, we used to have a gm but now i just update the images to the latest release and also update office c2r, the rest is on demand, i you dont pack a ton of software you save maybe 20% time, also its a thnig of the past with Autopilot and intune
KAugsburger@reddit
They are still used but it is less frequent than it used to be. Many smaller orgs will just use AutoPilot or deployment scripts via their RMM instead. Traditional imaging also doesn't work as well if your workforce is geographically spread out.
There is some value but it isn't very likely that you will be creating your own custom OS images unless you are working for an org that is relatively large.
Helpjuice@reddit
Yes, these and anything else that helps you automate rollouts is very important to understand. As not every environment is gong to be setup right and it is not best use of anyone's time and energy to manually deploy 1,000 of machines (client, server, routers, switches, firewalls, etc.) when automation can reduce the pain.