Windows – Can you reinstall Windows remotely

reinstallremotewindows

I have noticed a company offering to reinstall Windows (XP,Vista,7) remotely over the internet (like remote support package)? How can this be done?

Best Answer

Mehrdad suggested an unattended installation, and even though that greatly reduces the amount of user intervention required during an installation it still requires a user to physically be at the machine at some point.

What you want is Windows Deployment Services (WDS). We use it at my university in conjunction with Symantec Ghost and it works very well. There are of course many prerequisites you must meet before being able to use this solution, and since you want to do it over the internet you would probably need to set up a VPN. Typically WDS is used in organizations with large domains, not just for home users.

If you were using Linux you could try PXE (PXE on Ubuntu). I read good things but I have no experience with it.

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