Windows Autopilot

Endpoint Manager 2021.1 SU1 introduces a new, streamlined, and more powerful Windows Autopilot experience. Windows Autopilot helps you set up new devices or reassign existing ones. Autopilot isn't a full provisioning tool. It expects that Windows 10/11 is already installed, and that the Windows out-of-box experience (OOBE) setup is ready to be run the next time the device turns on.

When Windows Autopilot provisions a device, there are two main phases:

  1. Applying selected setup choices automatically that would normally be shown to the user, such as region or keyboard layout selection.

  2. Enrolling the device into Windows MDM, installing any configured applications, applying policies, and joining the device to Active Directory.

Once you've completed the steps in Prerequisites and Installation, you can begin using Endpoint Manager's Autopilot support. Here's how it works:

  1. Create Azure AD groups that contain devices you want to target for Autopilot deployment. If you want to target all devices for Autopilot, you can skip this step.

  2. Create a deployment profile that defines settings for domain join type, how the device will be provisioned, the end-user experience, and AD group assignment.

  3. If you want to deploy applications as part of a deployment profile, create an application definition.

  4. Import devices by obtaining a .CSV file with device hardware hashes or having an OEM partner directly input device hashes into your organization's Azure AD tenant. Add the imported devices to an Azure AD device group that has a deployment profile.

  5. Sync your changes with Azure AD. When devices sync with AD they are ready for deployment.