70-697: Configuring Windows Devices

Windows 10 marks a universal, cross-device operating system rather than a simple revision. It unifies the start experience with live tiles and adopts an Apple-like update model.

Discover how Windows 10 enhances user experience with task view, virtual desktops, snap assist, and a refined action center, notifications, and tablet mode.

Shows how Windows 10 uses a continuous update model, with insider preview program and update rings, and integrates with cloud services like Azure, Office 365, Intune, and OneDrive.

Learn how Windows 10 versions differ by edition, including home, pro, enterprise, and education, why features vary, and how volume licensing and Software Assurance enable enterprise deployments.

Navigate and use Windows 10, understand the start menu's evolution with live tiles, pin and group apps, resize tiles, and access settings, search, and recent items to support users.

Explore Cortana, the Windows 10 personal digital assistant, as you perform local and web searches, set reminders, and convert spoken commands into calendar events.

Explore Windows 10 deployment strategies, comparing standard deployments for single machines with enterprise imaging and Windows Deployment Services for deploying across many devices.

Explore how Windows editions differ, from core experiences to business features, and learn which editions—home, pro, enterprise, and education—support management, updates, and security options.

Check hardware and application compatibility using the compatibility center for Windows 10 deployments, and test enterprise rollouts to anticipate user account control, 64-bit, registry, and deprecated components issues.

Explore the Windows assessment and deployment kit, its deployment tools and application compatibility toolkit, and how to prepare workstations for enterprise imaging and USMT-based migration.

Demonstrates a manual Windows 10 installation in Hyper-V, choosing edition, creating partitions, and completing setup from a DVD image with an optional product key.

Evaluate hardware and applications compatibility, back up your data, disable antivirus during the upgrade, perform the upgrade to Windows 10, and verify data, settings, and updates afterward.

Back up the hard drive before a wipe and clean install, then capture user state data using PC mover Express or USMT tools, and reinstall apps before restoring the state.

Revert a Windows 10 upgrade to the previous version via the settings app, update & security, and recovery within a one-month window, noting password use and possible lost changes.

Explore answer files and configuration passes in Windows setup, from the PC phase to offline servicing and OOBE, detailing how packages, features, accounts, and scripts are configured.

Use a reference computer to create a standard image that you can clone and deploy to all systems, ensuring a consistent OS, pre-installed applications, updates, and policy-driven settings.

Use sysprep to generalize a reference computer, removing SIDs and activation data, so cloned images deploy with unique names, ready for out-of-box experience or audit reboots via an answer file.

Use sysprep, the system preparation utility, to generalize a reference Windows installation for imaging. Reboot to the mini setup wizard (OOBE) and automate with an answer file for cloning.

Explain mass activation for enterprise networks using a KMS host on Windows Server 2012/2012 R2, with clients activating over port 1688 via internal DNS SRV records.

Deploy virtual Windows 10 desktops with Client Hyper-V, creating virtual machines and managing storage with VHDX files and snapshots for testing purposes by developers and testers.

Enable Hyper-V on Windows 10 through optional features, then use Hyper-V manager to create virtual machines and virtual disks. Leverage PowerShell module to manage VMs, snapshots, and networks.

Configure virtual machine storage with virtual disks, compare IDE and SCSI controllers. IDE supports 2 TB and 2 controllers; SCSI supports 4 controllers and 64 disks per controller.

Prefer dynamic hard disks for space efficiency and speed. Use VHDX by default for up to 64 TB and better data protection, unless Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V compatibility is required.

Explore managing virtual hard drives and snapshots in client Hyper-V, including creating new VHD disks, fixed vs dynamic sizes, differencing disks, and checkpoints.

Explore how Windows 10 common configuration options live in the settings app, accessible via built-in search or Cortana, with the settings organized into sections for quick navigation.

Explore the devices category in the settings app to view connected printers and scanners, adjust mouse and touchpad settings, and enable typing features like auto correct and auto form fill.

Explains how to personalize Windows devices by customizing backgrounds, colors, and the lock screen using personal photos or downloaded images. Covers themes and Start menu options in the personalization settings.

Configure user accounts in the accounts category, set your account and profile photo, link a Microsoft account, manage sign-in options with password or picture-based sign-in, and sync settings across devices.

Configure date and time, daylight savings options, region and language settings; explore speech recognition and ease of access accessibility controls, including on screen keyboard, while privacy options address security.

Configure Windows Update to tailor how your system receives updates, manage Windows Defender, and explore backup and recovery options, including file history, System Restore, and activation in Settings.

Configure and manage user accounts in the settings app, linking accounts to Microsoft accounts and enabling family, other user, or assigned access with time restrictions.

Learn how to join a Windows 10 computer to a domain using system settings to change domain membership. Enter domain credentials and reboot to log in with a domain account.

Learn how Windows PowerShell commands follow a verb-noun syntax, use named parameters with dash, and choose verbs like Get, Set, or New to manage objects, services, and network settings.

Explore Windows PowerShell basics: use tab completion for commands, run scripts (.ps1), manage variables with the dollar sign, leverage transitional aliases, and access help with Get-Help.

Review Windows 10 configuration options, focusing on the Settings app for common tasks, Control Panel for advanced settings, and Microsoft Management Console snap-ins for local or remote account administration.

Configure Windows network connectivity by understanding TCP/IP, IPv4 and IPv6, and the four essential components: IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS.

Learn about infrastructure versus ad hoc wireless networks, and why infrastructure mode, using a router and wireless access point connected to a modem and internet, is the common setup.

Connect to wireless networks easily on Windows 10, which automatically detects available networks, prompts for a security key on secured networks, and lets you manage Wi-Fi settings.

Learn about Windows tunneling protocols like SSTP and IKEv2/IPsec, their use of SSL over port 443, IPsec encryption with AES-256, and automatic VPN reconnect features.

Configure a Windows 10 VPN connection via network and sharing center or settings, specify IP address, VPN type, and sign-in options, then connect and review advanced IPv4 and authentication settings.

DirectAccess provides an automatic internet-based connection from corporate laptops to the corporate network, serving as an alternative to VPN; it requires enterprise Windows 10 and domain membership.

Explore the core components of direct access, including the client and server roles, IPsec IPv6 tunneling, network location server detection, NRPT-driven DNS with group policy and PKI-based authentication.

Troubleshoot connectivity with Windows PowerShell utilities alongside ipconfig, diagnosing IP configurations and DNS cache. Identify APIPA addresses and verify DHCP server configuration to resolve address problems.

Learn to share data and printers in Windows 10, manage storage with storage spaces, and configure NTFS and shared folder permissions for local and remote access.

Compare mbr disk basics and dynamic disks, where basic supports four partitions and dynamic disks support volumes that span across multiple drives, including spanned, striped, and mirrored volumes.

Striped volumes stripe data in 64 KB chunks across three or more disks to boost throughput, but provide no fault tolerance in Windows 10 software RAID 0.

Map partitions to drive letters or mount points to access volumes; use NTFS or another file system, and assign a drive path like C:\data to improve flexibility.

Resize volumes in Windows 10 by extending simple or spanned volumes to create unallocated space. Defragment first, then shrink a volume by moving paging files or virtual memory off it.

Use the disk management utility to initialize disks, choose a partition style, create NTFS volumes with drive letters or mount points, and configure basic span, striped, and mirrored volumes.

Learn how virtual hard drives, stored as a single portable file, enable backup and support disk operations while used with virtual machines, Hyper-V, and native boot on Windows 10.

Learn how storage spaces in Windows 10 group multiple disks into a storage pool, create a volume with a file system, and add drives for resiliency with mirror or parity.

Learn to grant the appropriate level of data access on local Windows 10 systems and file servers to avoid unauthorized access and security breaches.

Configure NTFS access using discretionary ACL; view permissions in the Security tab to assign standard permissions like read, write, modify, or full control.

remember that permissions are cumulative; the permissive level from explicit and inherited permissions applies. use effective permissions tool to verify access, and remember shared folder permissions can override NTFS allowances.

Explore how to share folders over the network using NTFS, and understand how shared folder permissions grant or deny access to data inside.

Share files and folders using File Explorer, the sharing tab in folder properties, or the sharing wizard, and use net share, PowerShell, or the SMB share commands to grant access.

Explore how a logical printer maps to a print device, with ports such as LPT, USB, or TCP/IP, and how print drivers (postscript, PCL, SML) and the spooler service work.

Understand direct attached printers as local printers, sharing them with network hosts requires permissions, and assign the default print permission, manage documents, and manage printers (full control) as needed.

Manage apps in Windows 10, including desktop and Windows Store apps, and learn installing, configuring, and supporting both types while comparing Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 for backward compatibility.

Explore manual and automatic application installs, including executable deployment from media or network shares, uac prompts and admin privileges, via group policy, System Center Configuration Manager, and Microsoft Intune.

Learn how modern apps from the Windows Store work in Windows 10, accessible from the Start menu or Cortana, requiring a Microsoft account, and mirroring across desktop, phone, and tablet.

Edge, Windows 10's web browser, offers features like writing on web pages saved to OneNote, Cortana search and voice, reading view, and a hub for favorites and reading list.

Configure Windows apps and browsers to ensure user availability, covering desktop, modern, and Windows Store apps, installation methods, customization, and Edge and Internet Explorer 11 settings.

Discover how to secure Windows 10 devices through defense in depth, focusing on local security policies and security templates, Windows firewall, IPsec, and volume-level encryption and Encrypting File System.

Understand defense in depth as a layered security strategy across data, application, host, network, and physical controls, including access control, encryption, hardening, antivirus, firewalls, and user awareness.

Protect against unauthorized access with file and folder permissions, optional encryption, Active Directory Rights Management Services, and BitLocker volume encryption for flash drives and laptops.

Explore configuring Windows UAC notification settings across basic control panel and advanced group policy, including default secure desktop prompts, non-dimming variants, and options to always or never notify.

Explore Windows Defender, the built-in antivirus in Windows 10, with automatic definition updates, scheduled scans, and severity-based actions that quarantine, notify, or remove threats.

Configure Windows firewall across private, public, and domain networks to balance security and access. Manage inbound and outbound rules and apply consistent settings via GPO.

Discover how windows firewall integrates with ipsec to protect data at the network layer, delivering integrity, confidentiality, and non repudiation in site-to-site vpn tunnel scenarios.

Configure IPsec on Windows devices to secure site-to-site VPN and internal host-to-host traffic, including Exchange and SQL Server communications, using ESP, AH, and IKE for encryption and authentication.

Explore how the Windows Firewall implements IP security (IPsec) through connection security rules. Create rules, configure inbound and outbound rules, and monitor security associations via group policy.

Learn how Windows encryption uses a file encryption key and public and private keys to protect data on NTFS, with a data recovery field and a recovery agent.

Windows BitLocker encrypts the entire volume, providing online data protection and decrypting at startup and re-encrypting on shutdown, with TPM verification to prevent offline tampering and ensure boot integrity.

Explore BitLocker requirements and modes, using a TPM chip or a USB key, with a separate unencrypted boot partition and OS encryption, plus optional startup pin.

Configure and maintain Windows 10 by using updates, monitoring tools, and device and driver management to troubleshoot issues, optimize performance, recover files, and handle startup processes.

Use performance monitor for real-time and scheduled insights into system responsiveness. Create data collector sets with performance counters across processor, memory, disk, and network, and review reports to identify bottlenecks.

Discover Windows 10 performance monitoring tools from task manager to resource monitor and performance monitor. Analyze cpu, memory, disk, and network usage, startup impact, and data collector reports for troubleshooting.

Explore plug-and-play concepts, automatic driver installation in Windows 10, network device detection, and the driver store where administrators stage drivers and enable optional Windows store apps for users.

Install new device drivers quickly when released, via Windows Update or manual updates through device manager. Download digitally signed drivers from the manufacturer’s site and avoid third-party sources.

Explore how to manage device drivers using Device Manager and devices and printers, update or roll back drivers, and verify hardware details with System Information.

Enable automatic system restore points to allow rollbacks after updates or app installs, and use msconfig to control boot options, startup programs and services, and launch admin tools.

Explore safe mode variants in Windows, including networking and command prompt, to boot with basic drivers and diagnose startup issues using boot logging and other advanced options.