Windows Deployment Services Components

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Windows Deployment Services contains five main components:

  • Windows Deployment Services Server Components. The Windows Deployment Services server service (WDSServer) is the main server-side service. It provides basic functions such as memory management, thread pooling, and network interface binding to support its subcomponents (known as providers).

  • PXE Server Components. These components are associated with booting a client computer from the network. This includes the Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE) server, the PXE providers, and the Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) provider.

  • Image Store Components. These components are associated with assisting the Windows Deployment Services client in locating, selecting, and installing an operating system image. It is the protocol used for communication to and from the client and server, unattend processing, and install image enumeration.

  • Windows Deployment Services Client Component. The Windows Deployment Services client is an application that runs within Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE), enabling you to select and install an install image. This application is the Setup.exe program from Windows Vista with some additional functionality that is needed for network deployments.