Now the latest trend in device provisioning is Autopilot!! All the organizations are slowly starting to adopt this method of seamlessly delivering Windows 10 devices to its end users. Its easy to setup and even more easier for end users to self provision the devices. Now we know that we have to extract the hardware info (ZTDID) of devices into a .csv and import it into Intune to make it Autopilot ready. For fewer devices this is an easy method but what if there are thousands of existing Windows 10 devices that needs to be converted into Autopilot devices?
Good news!! We can use the Autopilot deployment profiles to convert the existing Azure AD devices and register them as Autopilot ready.
Important: The existing devices should be enrolled in Intune MDM, so if you are using on-premises AD you should consider Hybrid Azure AD Join + automatic enrolment via GPO. To provision Windows 10 PCs using Autopilot and Intune, they must first be registered as Windows Autopilot devices in the Device Directory Service (DRS), with the Zero Touch Device ID (ZTDID).
In the Microsoft Endpoint Manager, browse to Devices > Windows > Windows Enrollment > Deployment Profiles > create a new profile, and select Yes against the option to Convert all targeted devices to Autopilot.
Configure the required settings for the profile, and Assign it to the Azure AD group with the existing devices in it (remember to create the group in advance and add the existing devices into it).
You may not see devices immediately under the deployment profile although the assigned groups have a lot of machine objects. It usually takes a bit of time, at least 24 hours (sometimes even a couple of days) for the devices in the group to be registered as Autopilot devices.
Microsoft says that the devices have to be online long enough for Intune to gather hardware information and store this against the device object. Once the device is registered, you’ll find it in the Devices page under Windows Enrollment. When you click on any device it will display the Associated Azure AD device (as shown below)
Points to remember
CPU or Processor Architecture is a required information for the ZTDID to be generated. If the devices do not have these information then the devices will fail to register into Autopilot.
Devices ownership should display as ‘Corporate’ to be added into Autopilot. Personal devices can’t be AP registered.
Happy Autopiloting !!!!