WADS and standalone ISO image

[Julian_]

Hello everyone,

I've been using WAPT for a year now, but I haven't yet used the WADS functionality.
Until now, I've used MDT to generate my custom ISO (with my software and various configurations).
I just saw this morning that Microsoft is accelerating the phasing out of MDT, so I'm looking for another solution to generate my standalone ISO.

I manage a fleet of connected machines as well as a fleet of offline machines.
These offline machines are at remote sites, so I send my ISO to colleagues for a zero-touch installation.

Is it also possible to create a zero-touch ISO with WAPT and WADS?

I haven't found any information in the documentation.

Thanks in advance for your tips, and I almost forgot, Happy New Year 2026!

[dcardon]

Hello Julien and Happy New Year 2026!

Regarding WADS in "connected" mode, the idea is to perform the most standard installation possible (i.e., minimal modification to the Microsoft WIM) and customize the packages through WAPT. This allows for regular WIM updates and better auditability of the OS installation, as all installation recipes are then contained in readable .py files.

As for deployment in completely offline mode, currently it's possible to create a USB drive with the WinPE bootloader, but this doesn't include the Windows ISO, drivers, or WAPT packages as dependencies. Therefore, a network connection to a WAPT server or a secondary repository is still required.

From a technical standpoint, there's nothing preventing us from creating a bootable USB drive with all of this, but we haven't yet received enough demand for it. However, given the current geopolitical landscape, I think the deployment of isolated production networks will accelerate, so we'll need appropriate solutions.

Do you have network diodes for these isolated networks? Wapt's packet-based operation via HTTP naturally makes it quite compatible with protocol break diodes/boxes.

Sincerely,

Denis

[Julian_]

Hello Denis,

Thank you for your feedback.

We have several different scenarios at our company, including a fleet managed via WAPT, which is networked, but also numerous standalone workstations that, once deployed, are never connected to a network again.

It's primarily for these workstations that I'm looking for an alternative to MDT.

For our isolated networks, we do indeed have a diode, which actually comes from the Nantes region.

[vcardon]

Hi Julien, I'm letting you know ahead of time that we're currently working with your colleagues in Nantes to integrate our two products.

This doesn't resolve the specific issue of the standalone version; we'll need to work on that.

[Julian_]

Hi Vincent,

That's what I thought.

I'd heard similar things during discussions with our mutual friend.

And it could really help us take our automation to the next level.

Regarding the ISO part, if you need a guinea pig/beta tester, I'm available.

[_Yoann_]

Hello,

As I'm in the same situation as Julien, I'd be curious to know if you have any updates regarding deployment via a standalone USB key

. Regards,
Yoann

[vcardon]

@Julien_, drop by the office sometime and we'll show you where we're at. Just give us a call with the magic word "Please" and we'll see you.

@Yoann_, become friends with Julien_ and come visit us in Nantes at the same time.

[Julian_]

Hello Vincent,

Our friend from Nantes is coming to our place in June to give us a demo of your alliance.

From what I understand, it seems to work very well; we'll have to see if it's compatible with our environment.

[_Yoann_]

@Julien_, drop by the office sometime and we'll show you where we're at. Just give us a call with the magic word "Please" and we'll see you.

@Yoann_, become friends with Julien_ and you can come see us in Nantes at the same time.

Since we're based in Nantes, we should cross paths at some point

[vcardon]

Julien_ + _Yoann_ call the office or write to me at the end of the Ascension weekend, I will organize a lunch with our mutual friend from Arc Data Shield.