Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Post your questions now at https://aka.ms/AMA/Autopilot on the Microsoft Tech Community!
Looking to simplify setup and configuration for new devices? Let’s talk about Windows Autopilot! The engineering team will be on camera and ready to answer your questions. Whether you are seeking to better understand the differences between Windows Autopilot and Windows Autopilot device preparation—or get into the details of monitoring and reporting—this Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) session is your chance to ask questions and get answers in real time.
This session is part of the Tech Community Live: Windows Edition. Visit https://aka.ms/TCL/Windows for the full agenda.
0:00 – Panelist Introductions
1:42 – Question – Can you all talk about the differences between traditional autopilot and device prep and use case scenarios for using one over the other? Will resellers that have tenant info eventually be able to enroll devices in device prep during the purchase process?
6:17 – Question – Whilst I've used a Michael Niehaus script to deploy applications only when in Autopilot, and I've created my own script to only deploy application during pre-provisioning in Autopilot, will Microsoft ever add native capabilities to Intune/Autopilot such as a check box for apps to only install during either of these two processes (or even to ensure that an app only installs when Autopilot is completed)?
7:33 – Question – Will there be any Autopilot content at MS Ignite this year? Last year was severely lacking on Endpoint Management information.
8:15 – Question – What is the future of the Autopilot device preparation policy in the Windows 365 Enterprise environment? Currently, it's available only in Windows 365 Frontline.
9:45 – Question – In what scenarios do you recommend orgs use group tags when registering devices to AP?
11:31 – Question – how do you recommend we install the SCCM client on AP (Autopilot) with device prep so we can then assign co-management policies?
13:08 – Question – Is it planned to add custom OOBE pages to provide onboarding information for a new employee?
16:58 – Question – We're planning to move from Autopilot to Autopilot Device Preparation. How can we stop users from setting up devices with personal accounts on this screen?
18:34 – Question – Are there any improvements on the device naming. we are seeing out of 100 machine enrollment atleast 2 to 5 devices are having same device name. which is making manual activity for IT team to rename the device every month.
22:27 – Question – How do we know if we need to delete a device from Intune before running Autopilot on it again?
24:48 – Question – How can we set Intune apps to REQUIRED without them installing during Autopilot (v1) please - i.e. so they don't try to install before Autopilot has finished?
29:12 – Question – When using Autopilot for Entra-only devices I can select to rename the device using the %serial% variable. That option isn't available when using Autopilot for hybrid joined devices. I have to rename using %random% and then rename the device which creates multiple objects in Entra. Is this something that's on the drawing board?
33:00 – Question – Are there any plans for implementation on creating the dynamic group based on the ESP profile name.
36:08 – Question – Intune/Autopilot/Azure has object IDs. When scripting processes, object IDs is a bit of a challenge. Are there any plans to make working with device objects easier?
38:40 – Question – The assignment of apps to specific target devices. In configuration manager we can create a collection of with device user limitations and apply the deployment only to those devices. But if we want to achieve the same in Intune, what’s the best option currently available? Any planned improvements in the future?
42:44 – Question – I've read on the MS forum, and other blogs, that the ESP block list does not prevent all REQUIRED apps installing, whether they're on the block list or not. Hence we haven't implemented this method. Is there any truth in this please?
44:13 – Question – With Autopilot Device Preparation, I always recommend customers disable personal devices from enrolling to Intune and thus Device Preparation requires these Corporate Device Identifiers to be uploaded to Intune. Is this the recommended approach? If so, would there be any easier ways to get the Corporate Device Identifiers uploaded to Intune?
47:09 – Question – To confirm, is it just the Enterprise SKU that will prevent users from logging in with personal accounts, or also the Pro SKU? What happens if the user attempts to login with a personal account on these SKUs?
49:50 – Question – When are you planning to add export capabilities in Autopilot blade which consists of AAD ID and serial number?
51:36 – Question – We really need an order of installation for ESP applications! Will we ever have this capability?
54:00 – Final thoughts & key takeaways
Post your questions now at https://aka.ms/AMA/Autopilot on the Microsoft Tech Community!
Looking to simplify setup and configuration for new devices? Let’s talk about Windows Autopilot! The engineering team will be on camera and ready to answer your questions. Whether you are seeking to better understand the differences between Windows Autopilot and Windows Autopilot device preparation—or get into the details of monitoring and reporting—this Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) session is your chance to ask questions and get answers in real time.
This session is part of the Tech Community Live: Windows Edition. Visit https://aka.ms/TCL/Windows for the full agenda.
0:00 – Panelist Introductions
1:42 – Question – Can you all talk about the differences between traditional autopilot and device prep and use case scenarios for using one over the other? Will resellers that have tenant info eventually be able to enroll devices in device prep during the purchase process?
6:17 – Question – Whilst I've used a Michael Niehaus script to deploy applications only when in Autopilot, and I've created my own script to only deploy application during pre-provisioning in Autopilot, will Microsoft ever add native capabilities to Intune/Autopilot such as a check box for apps to only install during either of these two processes (or even to ensure that an app only installs when Autopilot is completed)?
7:33 – Question – Will there be any Autopilot content at MS Ignite this year? Last year was severely lacking on Endpoint Management information.
8:15 – Question – What is the future of the Autopilot device preparation policy in the Windows 365 Enterprise environment? Currently, it's available only in Windows 365 Frontline.
9:45 – Question – In what scenarios do you recommend orgs use group tags when registering devices to AP?
11:31 – Question – how do you recommend we install the SCCM client on AP (Autopilot) with device prep so we can then assign co-management policies?
13:08 – Question – Is it planned to add custom OOBE pages to provide onboarding information for a new employee?
16:58 – Question – We're planning to move from Autopilot to Autopilot Device Preparation. How can we stop users from setting up devices with personal accounts on this screen?
18:34 – Question – Are there any improvements on the device naming. we are seeing out of 100 machine enrollment atleast 2 to 5 devices are having same device name. which is making manual activity for IT team to rename the device every month.
22:27 – Question – How do we know if we need to delete a device from Intune before running Autopilot on it again?
24:48 – Question – How can we set Intune apps to REQUIRED without them installing during Autopilot (v1) please - i.e. so they don't try to install before Autopilot has finished?
29:12 – Question – When using Autopilot for Entra-only devices I can select to rename the device using the %serial% variable. That option isn't available when using Autopilot for hybrid joined devices. I have to rename using %random% and then rename the device which creates multiple objects in Entra. Is this something that's on the drawing board?
33:00 – Question – Are there any plans for implementation on creating the dynamic group based on the ESP profile name.
36:08 – Question – Intune/Autopilot/Azure has object IDs. When scripting processes, object IDs is a bit of a challenge. Are there any plans to make working with device objects easier?
38:40 – Question – The assignment of apps to specific target devices. In configuration manager we can create a collection of with device user limitations and apply the deployment only to those devices. But if we want to achieve the same in Intune, what’s the best option currently available? Any planned improvements in the future?
42:44 – Question – I've read on the MS forum, and other blogs, that the ESP block list does not prevent all REQUIRED apps installing, whether they're on the block list or not. Hence we haven't implemented this method. Is there any truth in this please?
44:13 – Question – With Autopilot Device Preparation, I always recommend customers disable personal devices from enrolling to Intune and thus Device Preparation requires these Corporate Device Identifiers to be uploaded to Intune. Is this the recommended approach? If so, would there be any easier ways to get the Corporate Device Identifiers uploaded to Intune?
47:09 – Question – To confirm, is it just the Enterprise SKU that will prevent users from logging in with personal accounts, or also the Pro SKU? What happens if the user attempts to login with a personal account on these SKUs?
49:50 – Question – When are you planning to add export capabilities in Autopilot blade which consists of AAD ID and serial number?
51:36 – Question – We really need an order of installation for ESP applications! Will we ever have this capability?
54:00 – Final thoughts & key takeaways
