70-698 Exam Guide: What the Windows 10 Exam Measured and How to Plan Your Next Step
Exam 70-698, Installing and Configuring Windows 10, validated practical knowledge for IT professionals who installed, configured, locally managed, and maintained Windows 10 core services. Microsoft also identified enterprise scenarios and cloud-integrated services in the audience profile. The exam is retired, so this guide is not a scheduling plan for a live test. Instead, it helps former candidates, certification researchers, and Windows administrators decide how to use the exam’s historical objectives, avoid misleading dump-based preparation, and choose a current skills path.
Is 70-698 still available?
No. Exam 70-698 is a retired Microsoft exam and cannot be scheduled as a current certification assessment. Microsoft’s retirement guidance states that a retired exam cannot be taken and its associated certification or credential cannot be earned after the retirement date. A Microsoft Q&A response also records that 70-698 and 70-697 had been retired and were no longer in use.
The original Microsoft exam was titled “Installing and Configuring Windows 10.” It belonged to the older Windows 10 certification structure rather than Microsoft’s current role-based exam model. That distinction matters: a page offering supposed current appointments, recent question updates, or a guaranteed 70-698 result is presenting information that should be treated with caution.
Microsoft stated that the MCSA: Windows 10 certification, which required 70-697 and 70-698, would retire on March 31, 2019. Microsoft’s later retirement policy explains the general consequence of retirement: candidates cannot take the retired exam or earn the associated credential after retirement. Previously earned credentials remain subject to Microsoft’s transcript and expiration rules.
What did the exam validate?
70-698 validated the installation and configuration of Windows 10, with emphasis on the practical work performed by administrators responsible for Windows 10 core services. It was aimed at professionals who installed, configured, managed locally, and maintained those services rather than candidates seeking only a conceptual introduction to desktop computing.
The official objective-domain material described the audience as IT professionals responsible for installing, configuring, locally managing, and maintaining Windows 10 core services. It also noted that candidates might encounter enterprise scenarios or cloud-integrated services. A sensible interpretation is that preparation needed to connect individual Windows tasks with the operational context in which an organization deploys and maintains client devices.
The available research does not provide a complete current blueprint, verified domain percentages, question count, exam duration, passing score, language list, or delivery specification for 70-698. Those details should not be inferred from another Microsoft exam or from an unofficial practice site. Treat the objective-domain document as historical source material, not as evidence that the retired assessment can still be booked.
How to read the historical objectives
Use the objective-domain document to build a skills inventory, not to predict exact questions. The document identified changes effective November 30, 2017, so a candidate studying from it should separate the listed Windows 10 capabilities from procedures that depend on later product versions, changed interfaces, or retired services.
For each objective, write down three things: the administrative outcome, the configuration choices that affect that outcome, and the evidence you would use to verify success. For example, instead of memorizing a setting name, describe what problem it addresses, which users or devices it affects, and how you would confirm the resulting state.
Who was the intended candidate?
The intended candidate was an IT professional with responsibility for installing, configuring, locally managing, and maintaining Windows 10 core services. Microsoft’s exam-preparation session was specifically designed for people experienced with installing and configuring Windows 10, so the exam was better suited to practitioners consolidating existing work than to someone beginning with no Windows administration background.
This profile suggests a useful readiness test. You should be able to explain and perform ordinary Windows 10 administration in a controlled environment, investigate a configuration that does not behave as expected, and describe the effect of a change on users, devices, security, or support operations. If your experience is limited to personal desktop use, begin with fundamentals and hands-on administration before attempting advanced exam-style scenarios.
Enterprise and cloud-integrated scenarios were part of the stated audience profile. That does not mean every historical task required a cloud service, nor does it justify importing the objectives of a different exam. It means preparation should include the boundary between local Windows configuration and organizational management, while keeping each topic tied to the documented 70-698 scope.
What should you study first?
Start with the installation and configuration lifecycle, then move to local management, maintenance, and scenario troubleshooting. This sequence follows the exam title and audience more effectively than beginning with isolated command memorization. Build enough understanding to explain why a deployment or configuration choice is appropriate before practicing the steps used to implement it.
A practical sequence is: establish a clean Windows 10 laboratory; document installation decisions; configure core operating-system settings; apply administrative controls; test maintenance and recovery actions; and finally work through enterprise or cloud-integrated cases. Keep a change log. Record the initial state, the action taken, the expected result, the observed result, and the diagnostic evidence.
The Microsoft preparation session promised a fast-paced review of exam topics, test-taking techniques, and resources for final preparation. Use that type of material for orientation and revision, but do not mistake a review session for a substitute for performing the work. The strongest study notes explain dependencies and verification steps rather than reproducing a list of labels.
Build a controlled lab
A lab should let you repeat a configuration, deliberately create a failure, and compare the result with a known-good baseline. Use a legally obtained Windows 10 environment and keep it isolated from production systems. Snapshots or equivalent rollback procedures can make experimentation safer, but document what the snapshot restores so that recovery is not confused with diagnosis.
Create small exercises with a defined objective. Examples include preparing an installation, applying a policy change, validating a service state, tracing a failed configuration, or checking whether an administrative change affected the intended scope. The specific exercise should come from the historical objective document and the Windows version available to you, not from purported leaked questions.
Turn topics into decisions
Scenario questions are easier to analyze when each answer is treated as a decision with constraints. Ask what must be installed or configured, which users or devices are in scope, what existing state must be preserved, what security or availability concern applies, and how the administrator will verify the outcome.
Write a short decision record for each lab task. Include the chosen approach, one reasonable alternative, the reason the alternative was rejected, and the test that would expose an incorrect result. This method develops transferable administration judgment and protects you from a common error: selecting a familiar action without checking whether it satisfies every condition in the scenario.
How should you prepare without relying on dumps?
Do not use exam dumps, leaked questions, or memorized answer keys as a preparation strategy. They cannot establish that you can install, configure, manage, or maintain Windows 10, and they may describe obsolete content or violate exam rules. Replace recall-only practice with objective mapping, hands-on tasks, troubleshooting notes, and explanations written in your own words.
Use practice questions only as a diagnostic tool when their source and licensing are clear. After answering, explain why the correct option fits the stated constraints and why the alternatives do not. If a question depends on a detail absent from the official objectives, mark it as an unreliable study item rather than reshaping your entire plan around it.
A useful review loop has four passes. First, identify the objective being tested. Second, answer from your understanding. Third, verify the underlying behavior in documentation or a lab. Fourth, add the result to a gap list. Repeat the gap list until you can demonstrate the task and explain its operational consequences without prompts.
Common preparation mistakes
The first mistake is treating a retired exam as a live booking target. Confirm the credential’s status before buying material or setting a deadline. The second is studying only installation screens while neglecting configuration verification and maintenance. The third is memorizing product terminology without understanding scope, dependencies, or failure recovery.
Another mistake is mixing generations of Microsoft certifications. Microsoft mapped 70-698 to the Modern Desktop Administrator path involving MD-100 and MD-101, but that historical mapping does not make 70-698 equivalent to a currently available exam. Microsoft also explicitly noted that the replacement exams would not satisfy the requirements for MCSA: Windows 10.
Finally, avoid assuming that a certificate title alone proves current competence. Windows administration skills change with operating-system releases, management platforms, security controls, and organizational practice. Use the historical exam to identify the kind of work it represented, then validate your present skills against the current Microsoft role or technology path that matches your responsibilities.
What is the best study roadmap?
Because 70-698 is retired, the roadmap should be a skills roadmap rather than a promise of an exam appointment. First verify your target credential. Then use the historical objectives to assess Windows 10 knowledge, practice the relevant administrative work, and map any remaining gaps to a current Microsoft certification or learning option.
In the first stage, read the official exam title, audience description, and objective-domain changes. Highlight every responsibility that matches your work and every responsibility you have never performed. Do not assign unsupported weights to the gaps: the supplied research does not verify percentage allocations for the exam domains.
In the second stage, prepare a lab and complete one installation or configuration exercise for each objective area you can substantiate from the official material. For every exercise, capture prerequisites, implementation steps, validation evidence, and rollback or remediation steps. If a task cannot be reproduced because the required product version or service is no longer available, record that limitation rather than inventing a modern equivalent.
In the third stage, troubleshoot deliberately. Change one variable at a time, collect evidence before reversing the change, and write a brief root-cause explanation. Practice distinguishing an incorrect configuration from a missing dependency, an insufficient permission, a scope problem, or a mismatch between local and organizational management.
In the final stage, make the credential decision. If you need a current certification, consult Microsoft’s current certification catalog and the historical mapping article only as background. Select a replacement based on the role and technology you need to demonstrate, not because its code resembles 70-698. If you are documenting an older achievement, keep the historical exam name and its status clear on your records.
A practical readiness checklist
Before treating your preparation as complete, confirm that you can describe the purpose of each studied configuration, perform it in a controlled environment, verify the result using appropriate evidence, and recover from a failed attempt. You should also be able to explain how an enterprise or cloud-integrated context changes the administrative decision when that context is part of the scenario.
Your notes should contain procedures and reasoning, not copied answer strings. Review the gap list after each lab. A topic remains a gap if you can follow steps only when prompted, cannot explain the expected result, or cannot identify what evidence would show that the action succeeded.
Can you schedule 70-698 today?
No current scheduling route should be assumed for 70-698. Microsoft’s registration instructions describe the normal process for available exams: open the certification or exam detail page, select the scheduling option, and choose the relevant provider. That general process does not override the retirement status of a specific exam.
For an available Microsoft certification, Microsoft says candidates taking a certification on their own or as part of a training program select “Schedule with Pearson VUE.” Students, members of academic institutions, and candidates taking a Microsoft Office Specialist exam select “Schedule with Certiport.” These instructions are useful for a replacement exam only after its current detail page confirms availability and eligibility.
Microsoft’s general registration page also states that certification exams can be scheduled no more than 90 days in advance and that a maximum of two Microsoft Certification exams can be scheduled at a time through Pearson VUE, effective January 16, 2023. Those are current process rules for scheduling available exams, not evidence that 70-698 can be booked.
For an available online exam, Microsoft recommends running a system pre-check before registration and explains that candidates are responsible for meeting the computer and testing-area requirements. The same page says that if no online option appears, it is not available from the exam provider. Since 70-698 is retired, check the live official page for the replacement credential instead of relying on an archived booking link.
Which credential should replace the old target?
The answer depends on your present role. Microsoft’s mapping article associated 70-698, Installing and Configuring Windows 10, with the Modern Desktop Administrator certification path involving MD-100 and MD-101. This is a historical orientation point, not a statement that those particular exams remain available or that they reproduce every current Windows administration requirement.
If your goal is to document the older MCSA: Windows 10 route, understand that the replacement exams did not satisfy that certification’s requirements. If your goal is current professional development, begin with the work you perform now: desktop deployment, endpoint configuration, identity integration, security, cloud management, or another defined responsibility. Then check Microsoft Learn for the current role-based certification associated with that work.
Microsoft’s retirement guidance says a certification earned or renewed before retirement remains on the learner’s transcript in Active Certifications until it expires, after which it moves to Historical Certifications. That distinction can help you interpret an older transcript accurately. It does not convert a retired exam into a current credential or make an unearned certification claim valid.
When comparing paths, ask four questions: Is the credential currently offered? Does its skills outline match my job? Does it assess the technology I need to use now? Can I obtain authoritative objectives and registration information from Microsoft? These questions produce a more defensible decision than choosing a site that advertises old exam answers.
How should you use the official sources?
Use the sources for different jobs. The objective-domain PDF establishes the historical title, audience, and change context. The Microsoft Learn preparation session supplies orientation for experienced Windows 10 administrators. The mapping article explains how Microsoft connected 70-698 to the later role-based structure, while the retirement and registration pages establish the decisions that matter now.
Read the retirement guidance before investing in preparation. It explains why Microsoft retires assessments and what happens to previously earned credentials. Read the registration guidance only for a currently available replacement. If the live Microsoft catalog and an archived page disagree, the current official catalog and retirement guidance should control your scheduling decision.
The Microsoft Q&A page can help explain the historical transition, but it is not a substitute for a current exam detail page. Community answers may preserve useful context about retirement and replacement exams, yet they should not be used to infer current prices, dates, question formats, delivery options, or certification eligibility.
What should you do next?
If you intended to take 70-698, stop looking for a booking date and verify the current Microsoft path that matches your objective. If you are studying Windows 10 administration for work, retain the historical objectives as a checklist, build a lab, and test your ability to configure and troubleshoot rather than memorize answer patterns.
Take these actions in order: confirm the target credential on Microsoft Learn; save the relevant current skills outline; compare it with the 70-698 historical objectives; mark knowledge gaps; complete hands-on exercises; and review the official registration requirements only after selecting an available exam. Keep your notes dated and label historical material clearly.
The most useful result of studying 70-698 today is not an unsupported claim that you are ready for a retired test. It is a clear record of Windows administration capabilities, the limits of the historical content, and the current credential or learning route that can validate the skills you need next.
Conclusion
70-698 remains relevant as a record of the Windows 10 installation and configuration work Microsoft once assessed, but it is not a current scheduling target. Use its official audience and objective material to organize hands-on review, reject dump-based shortcuts, and identify gaps. For a credential you can pursue now, verify the current Microsoft offering, role alignment, objectives, and delivery details before committing time or money.
