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  • Windows device provisioning with Workspace ONE, part 2: Apps and policies

    In the first part, I got to the point where I could successfully get a device into a managed state, but that doesn’t mean the device is actually usable. To get it to that state, I need to deploy some apps and policies to it. I typically deploy a list of representative apps that are…

  • Windows device provisioning with Workspace ONE, part 1: Getting started

    I’ve spent a lot of time over the years talking to ISVs about provisioning Windows devices, but I’ve never actually used any non-Microsoft solutions for doing that. In that time, one of those solutions has shifted names from AirWatch to Workspace ONE, now from Omnissa, a new company spun off from its former corporate parents.…

  • Thanks for reaching out

    It’s been just over a month since I posted the Microsoft giveth, Microsoft taketh blog post (which, ironically, is one of the top posts on the site), and I think I’ve finally caught up on the e-mails, direct messages, texts, and every other sort of communication from literally hundreds of people. Thanks for the support,…

  • Using PowerShell 7 as a replacement for Windows PowerShell 5.1

    Windows PowerShell 5.1, the version that’s built into Windows, shipped back in 2016 with the release of Windows 10 1607 and Windows Server 2016, with support for older OSes back to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. That was almost eight years ago. What has changed with PowerShell 5.1 since then? While there are more…

  • MSI apps are now downloaded using Delivery Optimization

    Phil Wilcock posted a blog last week with details about “non-peerable” content, pointing to Microsoft’s official documentation about what is and isn’t “peerable.” Interestingly, the Microsoft documentation is missing an entry for one specific type of content: MSI apps. These are delivered using the Enterprise Desktop App Management CSP, which historically has used BITS to…

  • RIP: Autopilot support in Store for Business

    In the slow march to its final death, the Microsoft Store for Business (and presumably the Microsoft Store for Education as well) has removed the ability to add, edit, and remove Autopilot devices. That’s a bit anticlimactic, because most customers have probably forgotten about the Store for Business/Education since the private store feature was removed…

  • Autopilot v2: My “second” thoughts

    My first thoughts around Autopilot v2 (a.k.a. Autopilot device preparation) are scattered through a week of posts: Summarizing those, along with my observations along the way, leads me to these thoughts: But that’s not what stands out the most to me. The most important change I see is the architecture that is being used. With…

  • Setting the computer name with APv2

    One of the things that is not currently included in the APv2 device preparation policy is an option to configure the computer name, so as a result the devices end up being given a random name like “DESKTOP-1GY5FL7”. Initially, I thought that would be easy enough to work around using a custom OMA-URI policy that…

  • Running an SCCM task sequence during APv2

    I mentioned in my previous post that I was able to use “Co-management Authority” (a.k.a. “Co-management settings”) to install the ConfigMgr agent and then initiate a task sequence (using PROVISIONTS) during an APv2 device provisioning process, but that I didn’t think that it was actually being monitored by APv2 since I saw no error when…

  • What is it with Microsoft and progress bars?

    People have made fun of Microsoft’s progress bars for decades. We’ve all seen examples, e.g. file copies that show days, then minutes, then hours; “updating Windows” messages that sit for a long time on a particular percentage and then jump forward; etc. And certainly there are challenges with accurate calculations, especially when conditions change (e.g.…

  • Windows Autopilot v2: Random chatter

    The social media DMs, e-mails, and blog comments around Autopilot v2 have raised a bunch of questions, interesting points, speculation, opinions, etc. I figured it would be useful to summarize those with even more questions, interesting points, speculation, and opinions of my own. This will be a long one, so find a comfortable spot, grab…

  • Microsoft giveth, Microsoft taketh

    On May 1st, Microsoft e-mailed me to congratulate me: Today, the e-mail was to take that away: The basic justification given for that was that the Intune product group was not comfortable sharing NDA information with me. My first stint at an MVP lasted only a few months before I joined Microsoft; this one ended…

  • Windows Autopilot v2 experience: Some surprises (including updates)

    Now that my “real” lab tenant has been updated, I can easily try it out. I set up a new unregistered VM, created a new Autopilot device preparation profile that targeted “All users” with a number of apps linked to it, and started the process. As expected, I saw the EULA page; since I was…

  • Digging into Windows Autopilot v2

    Yes, I know the official name is “Windows Autopilot Device Preparation.” But that’s too much of a mouthful and doesn’t really even describe what this is, other than “something different.” And overall, I think it is useful to think of it in “v1” vs. “v2”: If you read through my “reading the tea leaves” post,…

  • Getting rid of the “Learn about this picture” icon on the Windows 11 desktop

    After doing a clean install of Windows 11 24H2 (Insider Preview), I noticed that there was a new “Learn about this picture” icon on the desktop. There’s nothing I hate more than something on the desktop that I didn’t put there myself (except for the “Recycle Bin” because it’s too hard to find otherwise), so…

  • WMIC: Never mind, it was removed from 24H2

    I have to change my mind. While a clean install of the 24H2 Insider Preview ISO (26100.560) does have WMIC as an installed-by-default feature, the updated 26100.712 version does not. I guess whoever “forgot to flip the switch” remembered, just not in time for the Insider Release Preview ISO that was released. Thanks to the…

  • WMIC: Not dead yet

    I was looking through the list of deprecated Windows features to see if there was anything of interest added for Windows 11 24H2. My overall summary on that: no, not really. But you really should review that list yourself to make sure you aren’t affected by any of these. Going through the full list, I…

  • “Required” reboots and the Enrollment Status Page

    You’ve probably run into a scenario like this before and never understood why: You assign a new, seemingly harmless policy into a configuration profile in Intune, and now the device reboots at the end of the device ESP phase. And after the reboot, the user has to log in to continue the user ESP phase,…

  • Ready to try out Windows 11 24H2?

    Even though the “full” or “final” release of Windows 11 24H2 won’t be available with all the expected functionality until the 4th quarter of this year, it is going to ship earlier on new ARM64 devices that will be available in mid-June. To prepare for that, Microsoft is already pushing the core Windows 11 24H2…

  • Celebrate the life of VBScript

    Microsoft announced more of the timeline for VBScript this past week: Windows 11 24H2 makes it a removable “feature on demand” (FOD), and sometime in 2027 is expected to be turned off by default in new Windows installs. When it actually gets removed is still TBD, but we’re probably talking somewhere close to 2030 for…