220-1102 Operating Systems Practice Question
A technician needs to deploy Windows 10 to multiple computers with a preconfigured answer file that automates the installation process. Which tool should the technician use to create this answer file?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse MDT as the tool for creating answer files because it is a common deployment tool, but WSIM is the specific utility for authoring Unattend.xml files, while MDT orchestrates the full deployment process using those files.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Windows System Image Manager (WSIM)
Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) is the correct tool because it is specifically designed to create and edit unattended answer files (Unattend.xml) for Windows 10 deployments. WSIM allows the technician to configure installation settings, such as product key, user accounts, and network configuration, which are then applied automatically during setup. This directly matches the requirement to preconfigure an answer file for automated installation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Windows System Image Manager (WSIM)
Why this is correct
Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) is the Microsoft-signed utility specifically designed to create and edit unattended answer files (unattend.xml) that supply installation settings to Windows Setup. It can validate the answer file against a target Windows 10 image (install.wim) and its components, ensuring the settings are applied correctly. While it ships as part of the Windows ADK, WSIM is the precise tool for authoring the XML answer file—not the ADK suite itself, and not a separate deployment platform.
- ✗
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)
Why it's wrong here
The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) is a comprehensive deployment solution that orchestrates the entire Windows 10 rollout—task sequences, driver injection, application installation, and state migration—but it is not the utility for manually authoring a Windows Setup answer file. MDT relies on its own configuration files (CustomSettings.ini, Bootstrap.ini) and it generates or consumes unattend.xml as part of its automation flow, rather than serving as the primary editor. The correct tool for directly creating the .xml answer file is WSIM, while MDT automates the process around it.
- ✗
Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK)
Why it's wrong here
The Windows ADK is a broad suite of tools—including Deployment Tools, Windows PE, and imaging utilities—intended to enable a wide range of deployment and servicing scenarios. Although it contains WSIM, the ADK itself is not a tool that directly creates answer files; you must launch WSIM from the ADK's component list to author unattend.xml. Thus, ADK is the environment or installer, not the specific answer-file editor, so it does not fulfill the requirement of 'preconfigured Windows 10 deployment' with a manually created answer file.
- ✗
Sysprep
Why it's wrong here
Sysprep is a system-preparation utility that generalizes a Windows installation by stripping machine-specific identifiers (such as the computer name and security identifier) so that the image can be safely duplicated and deployed to multiple computers. It can accept an answer file to automate its own process (via /unattend:unattend.xml), but it is entirely incapable of authoring or editing an answer file—that is outside its scope. Since the question asks for the tool that creates the preconfigured settings, Sysprep is a consumer of the answer file, not the correct choice.
Go deeper
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Key term
Windows
Windows is a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft that manages computer hardware and software, providing a graphical user interface for users to interact with their devices.
Key term
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed by Microsoft that combines the familiarity of Windows 7 with the modern features of Windows 8, designed to run on a wide range of devices from desktops to tablets.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1102 exam.