Imaging and licensing large numbers of computers.

Question

I am trying to find out if there is a more efficient way to image and license PC's outside of the way that I am doing it now. Any suggestions would be welcome.

This is the scenario:

My company receives large numbers of PC's directly from a manufacturer, we then need to install our image of Windows onto these PC's and then license Windows. We are installing Windows using USB thumb drives, this process is automated through Macrium (we plug in the thumb drive and an autorun script installs Windows automatically on boot). We use OEM licenses currently (the license key on a sticker on the DVD envelope), and we are manually typing in the license key onto each PC. I have not experimented with Intune or Autopilot.

My question: Is there a way to automate this process further, perhaps with digital licenses somehow?

Answer 1

Hi Daniel,

You could purchase PCs from the manufacturer with Windows 10/11 Pro embedded on the machine.

From here, you can then set up Microsoft Autopilot/Intune to manage and deploy your devices. If you use Autopilot you can have the devices automatically join Azure AD and mange the devices going forward (apps, OS, etc).

Please read about Autopilot further (or you can contact a Microsoft Partner to assist):

Windows Autopilot documentation

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/autopilot/

Microsoft Intune securely manages identities, manages apps, and manages devices

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/fundamentals/what-is-intune

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If this is helpful please accept answer.

Answer 2

Dillon, unfortunately it is not an option for us to purchase the PC's with Windows embedded like that; we have to image them ourselves.