Imaging concepts

When we look at utilizing the WIM format and MDT, there are essentially three schools of thought in building what is commonly termed a golden image in deployment. These are the thick, thin, and hybrid images. They each have their merits and rather than adhere to a single one, I tend to view each as a tool in the deployment toolbox. So depending on the situation and customer needs, I would recommend one over another:

  • Thick Image: A thick image is an image that contains a patched operating system plus all applications used in the environment. It is large, sometimes problematic to deploy, and has some interesting licensing implications as well in that every deployed system has every piece of software installed.

    Sometimes a thick image ...

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