Configuring and managing my Surface Pro X using Windows AutoPilot, Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager

February 21, 2020February 18, 2020 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

This is not a traditional walk through of a specific technical topic. It’s rather a story about setting up my new Surface Pro X device, making it work with AutoPilot, Intune and ConfigMgr in a Hybrid AAD Join deployment.

You don’t per say have to own a Surface Pro X device in order to benefit from the content in this post. However, as the Surface Pro X ships with an ARM processor, it makes for some unique situations and experiences.

During the post, I will deep dive some of the technical aspects of Hybrid AAD joining the device, as this has a lot of moving parts and dependencies in order to work.

Additionally, this process was not completely without obstacles. I’m not sure if these obstacles are working as intended or not, but I failed to get Co-management work loads to work properly, as well as I was seeing weird things happening if applying the Security Baseline for Windows. More on that throughout the post. 🙂

Install Google Chrome Extensions using Microsoft Intune in 3 different ways (Powershell, ADMX ingestion and MSI)

March 3, 2019February 27, 2019 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

I have previously covered the approach on how to install Google Chrome extensions using System Center Configuration Manager. Find my post here: https://www.imab.dk/forcefully-deploy-the-windows-defender-google-chrome-extension-using-configuration-manager/

Then it came to my attention that Microsoft released another and new extension for Chrome last week. It’s called Microsoft Web Activities. This made me go through the approach again, and figured I wanted to cover the methods on how to install Google Chrome Extensions using Microsoft Intune.

PXE boot your way into Windows AutoPilot and Windows 10 Shared PC

March 1, 2019February 18, 2019 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

This is a continuation of my previous post on Windows AutoPilot for existing devices. This time covering a similar scenario, where I’m PXE booting an existing device (known or unknown to ConfigMgr) into a Windows 10 Shared PC with Windows AutoPilot and Microsoft Intune

Now, the scenario might have many similarities compared to last week, but nevertheless there’s a real purpose with the crazyness. This is about getting started with Windows AutoPilot and giving you inspiration on how to do that. In my environment, it’s a whole lot easier to make the switch into AutoPilot for non-user devices (I bet I’m not alone on this one). That be devices which are shared between users in public spaces and kiosk devices in particular.

Also, devices in this category are quite often not brand new and might even be old repurposed user-devices (hence we cannot ask our reseller to add them into AutoPilot prior to delivery and thus we have to do it ourselves) 🙂

A peek into the **AutoPilot Deployment Profiles** in my environment

AutoPilot for existing devices: Move from Windows 7 to modern Co-managed Windows 10 in a jiffy using ConfigMgr

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Lately I have been preparing our own shift from old school device provisioning with PXE and ConfigMgr, to the modern alternative with Windows AutoPilot. The preparation is two folded, where the mindset of the IT pros working with the technologies needs a shift, but obviously also the technologies and features involved.

We’ve been hitting F12 and preparing devices within IT for many years and while it’s easy to persuade IT pros into using new and exciting technologies, the businesses we serve also needs maturing. We are not quite there yet, but we are getting closer, and the first step is obviously to embrace the technology and start using it.

We don’t have any devices running Windows 7 in our environment (phew), but this is an approach that can be used with previous versions of Windows 10 as well. For example when moving from 1803 to 1809.

How to automatically join Windows AutoPilot devices to On-Premises AD (Hybrid Azure AD Join)

November 10, 2018November 7, 2018 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Good news everyone! The feature was introduced at Ignite earlier this year and now it’s finally here. Windows AutoPilot now allows you to join your Windows 10 v1809 devices to your on-premises Active Directory (Hybrid Azure AD Join). All the magic lies in a new Intune connector for Active Directory. Sounds exciting, right? This will be everything you need to know, on how to get started with this new amazing feature.

The new Intune Connector for Active Directory (Preview)

Deploy the SCCM Client using Microsoft Intune and the Cloud Management Gateway (CMG without PKI certificates)

November 1, 2018October 25, 2018 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

Last week I blogged about how to get properly started with Windows AutoPilot. This week I’m continuing on the topic, and going into details on how you can deploy the SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) client as a part of the Windows AutoPilot enrollment and thus achieve Co-management with SCCM and Microsoft Intune.

I have previously blogged a lot about Co-management. Focus here has been enrolling devices already managed by SCCM into Intune MDM.

This post is the opposite. This time we are deploying a device through Windows AutoPilot, enrolling it into Microsoft Intune and then deploying the SCCM client through the Cloud Management Gateway. Sounds interesting? Read on 🙂

Find all my Co-management posts here: https://www.imab.dk/category/co-mgmt/
- My post about setting up the Cloud Management Gateway without PKI certificates is especially of interest if pursuing Co-management

How to get properly started with Windows AutoPilot: Everything you initially need to know!

October 21, 2018October 20, 2018 by Martin Bengtsson

Introduction

It’s time for me to take on a new topic on the blog. I have been experimenting, working and blogging a lot about SCCM, Intune and Co-management, but never really touched base with Windows AutoPilot. Time is due and this will be the first in a series of posts about Windows AutoPilot and how to eventually reach Co-management with SCCM and Microsoft Intune through Windows AutoPilot.

First things first though. This post will give you everything you need to know on how to properly get started with Windows AutoPilot. Curious? Read on 🙂

A peek into my AutoPilot devices in my test tenant 🙂