Leahy & Co’s ownWDS Console: Windows installs managed from a browser

Plenty of IT teams and IT support companies still install Windows over the network with Windows Deployment Services (WDS), more so since Microsoft retired its free deployment toolkit, MDT, in January 2026. WDS’s own tools haven’t kept up. Its console means remoting into the server, half its settings exist only on the command line, and when a PC won’t start its install, the reason is buried in event logs.

Windows 11 made it harder. Its own boot image no longer works with WDS, and an April 2026 security update stopped hands-free installs. Both show up as a PC that restarts or stalls, with the explanation in a log nobody is watching.

I built WDS Console, a web console for WDS, and published it as free, open-source software under Leahy & Co.

• Boot images, install images, devices, drivers and the server’s settings, all from a browser on any PC or phone: import an image straight from an ISO, prestage a list of PCs from a spreadsheet, and approve the ones waiting in bulk.
• Every network boot is listed with how far it got. With WDS’s client logging on, an install can be followed live: which image, who picked it, how long it took and what went wrong.
• I worked out why Windows 11’s boot image stops in WDS (the block is in Windows Setup itself, with no setting to turn it off), documented two ways around it, and made the console warn when one is added.
• Hands-free installs stay off unless an admin turns them on, with a warning about the security fix behind the change, and refused requests show up in the console instead of only in the event log.
• Sign-in uses Windows accounts, limited to the groups you choose, and every change is logged with who made it. Unattend files are logged by size only, because they often hold passwords.
• One script installs it as a Windows service, on the WDS server or on another machine that manages it over the network, and checks it can reach WDS before it finishes. A demo mode with a made-up server lets anyone try it on a Windows PC first.