Jordan Flynn KB
Windows

Windows Autopilot Deployment

Streamlining device provisioning with zero-touch deployment via Autopilot.

How It Works

Windows Autopilot allows IT administrators to set up and pre-configure new devices without building custom OS images. Devices are registered using their hardware hash, which is uploaded to Microsoft Intune. During the first boot, the device connects to the Autopilot service, applies the assigned deployment profile, and enrols into Azure AD and Intune automatically.

Benefits

  • Eliminates the need for traditional imaging workflows
  • Reduces provisioning time from hours to minutes
  • Ensures every device starts with a consistent, policy-compliant configuration
  • Devices can be shipped directly from the vendor to the end user
  • Scales effortlessly — registering 10 or 10,000 devices uses the same process

Tip

Ask your hardware vendor to register device hashes at the point of purchase. This enables true zero-touch deployment where the IT team never handles the physical device.

Registering Devices

Note

Each device is identified by a unique hardware hash. You can export this hash from a running device or receive it directly from the vendor. Once uploaded to Intune, the device is recognised during OOBE and the assigned profile is applied.

Export hardware hash from a local device
Install-Script -Name Get-WindowsAutopilotInfo
Get-WindowsAutopilotInfo -OutputFile C:\AutopilotHash.csv

Bulk Registration

Register devices in bulk via Microsoft Graph
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.DeviceManagement
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "DeviceManagementServiceConfig.ReadWrite.All"

$devices = Import-Csv "C:\AutopilotHash.csv"
foreach ($device in $devices) {
    New-MgDeviceManagementWindowsAutopilotDeviceIdentity `
        -SerialNumber $device.SerialNumber `
        -HardwareIdentifier $device.HardwareHash
}

Warning

Hardware hashes must be unique. Re-uploading a hash that is already registered to a different tenant will fail silently — always check the import status in Intune after a bulk upload.

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