While I will never be a fan of proxy servers, there is one case where it is useful to use one: When you want to see all the network traffic and the […]
Windows Autopilot device provisioning network traffic, annotated
Michael Niehaus
Geeking out with UEFI
Some people may think some of my past posts get into the weeds, exploring the technical depths of Windows Autopilot, Intune, Windows 10, ConfigMgr, etc. But I would say those generally only […]
Sign in to Azure Active Directory with a FIDO2 key
Back in July, Alex Simons announced the public preview of Azure Active Directory’s support for FIDO2 security keys. Even though I have been carrying one of those around with me for several […]
Windows Autopilot high-level scenarios
Time for a little up-leveling (especially after the super-long proxy server post). Based on a recent Twitter conversation, I think it’s worth talking about a couple of higher-level topics. First, what are […]
Windows Autopilot and proxy servers
Did I mention that I dislike proxy servers? I certainly talked a lot about them in this post, but let me go on the record to say I really, really dislike them […]
BitLocker, ESP, and Windows Autopilot: Working in harmony
Let’s say you want to enable BitLocker during a Windows Autopilot user-driven deployment, and you want “maximum security” by changing the default BitLocker encryption settings to instead use XTS-AES 256-bit encryption (instead […]
The Enrollment Status Page phases and steps
Have you ever wondered what actually happens during each phase of the Enrollment Status Page (ESP) and each step within a phase? Or maybe more simply, what exactly is it tracking? If […]
Why does “Preparing your device for mobile management” take longer with Windows 10 1903?
It’s a question that I’ve been asked a number of times, and one that I actually asked myself when doing initial tests with Windows 10 1903. And the answer is interesting – […]
Requiring a network connection for the Windows Autopilot process
If you’ve gone poking around in the available device configuration policies in Intune, you might have seen this one in the “Device Restrictions” category for “Windows 10 and later” devices, in the […]
Trying out the ConfigMgr task sequence debugger
One of the new features in the ConfigMgr 1906 release (and in previous tech preview releases) is the task sequence debugger. See the What’s new documentation that talks about it, and the […]
Windows Autopilot oddities
Sometimes I can’t explain them, but I can at least pass them on so that you don’t tear your hair out trying to figure out what’s going on. The enrollment status page […]
Event Viewer and “Saved Logs”
If you are like me and open lots of saved event log files (*.evtx), such as those captured by the “mdmdiagnosticstool.exe -area Autopilot -cab c:\autopilot.cab” command, you probably end up with an […]
Creating a Windows Autopilot role in Intune
Some customers have asked “how do I delegate access to manage Windows Autopilot devices in Intune.” Well, Intune has a robust Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) mechanism that can be used to create […]
What does an enterprise Windows 10 device look like?
I always get into this “philosophical” debate with IT pros: When buying new Windows 10 devices, what kind of configuration is recommended? It’s certainly not “buy the cheapest possible PC you can […]
UUP is (still) coming soon, and dynamic update is (still) important
How many of you remember the Unified Update Platform, a.k.a. UUP, being announced in 2016? Let me remind you: And there was another update in 2017: There was some documentation published in […]
Join me for a Q&A session
One of the things that I’ve wanted to do for a while is to have an open Q&A call – you know, the typical “office hours” concept from your college days, where […]
Configuring the Intune Connector for AD to use a proxy server
As I discussed previously, proxy servers are a pain. I wish they could be wiped from the face of the earth. But since that’s about as likely as everyone being off of […]
Trying out Windows Autopilot with Windows 10 1903? Install the latest update.
As you kick the tires on Windows Autopilot scenarios (whether new scenarios like white glove or existing ones), make sure you’ve installed a recent cumulative update and aren’t using just the original […]
Want to watch the MDM client activity in real time?
In the past, you could use the Microsoft Network Monitor to capture network traces, showing the gory details of all the network traffic to and from the machine. That utility morphed into […]
Windows Autopilot and the joy of networking
One of the biggest challenges that we run into with customers who want to adopt Windows Autopilot for deploying new devices is the variety of network setups. This can be broken down […]
Out of Office Hours 
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