Should Intune be able to factory reset a windows 10/11 BYOD device

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Should Intune be able to factory reset a windows 10/11 BYOD device

Theodore Itofele 0

We currently use Intune to manager BYOD iOS and Android devices (we require enrollment before accessing our services), and with both oses, the option to wipe a user's personal device is greyed out. That is good because we can't accidentally wipe and factory reset a personal device.

But with Windows10/11, the option to wipe a personal device is available, and after testing, I was able to wipe a personal windows device and reset to factory. Is there a reason why this is possible for windows? Is there a way to disable this option for personal devices so that personal devices are not accidentally wiped?

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Crystal-MSFT 53,991 Microsoft External Staff

@Theodore Itofele, Thanks for posting in Q&A. Based on my researching, it is not possible to disable the factory reset or wipe option on personal devices running Windows 10/11. A factory reset or wipe on a personal device is a built-in feature of Windows that reverts the device to its original settings, removing all apps and data that were installed after purchase. This feature exists to enable users to troubleshoot issues with their personal devices, as well as for security reasons, such as wiping the device if it is stolen or lost to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. However, if you want to prevent accidental factory resets or wipes on personal devices, it is recommended that you educate users on the importance of backing up their data and confirm that the device they are about to reset or wipe is their own personal device.

Thanks for your understanding.

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Theodore Itofele 0 Reputation points

2023-06-22T11:08:30.0033333+00:00

In Intune, the option to wipe a personal device is disabled for iOS/iPadOS and Android devices; so I was curious to know why that option is available for Windows. If a user loses their own device, we are more concerned with wiping company data, and that can be achieved without having the ability to wipe a user's device. If the device can sync to Intune, then company data can be wiped in case it is stolen.
From a user's perspective, it seems like an overreach to allow that type of control to the company in a BYOD scenario.
In our particular scenario, staff were very reluctant to enroll their android and iOS device because they did not want the company to get much control apart from being able to remove corporate data, I do not see them agreeing to enroll their windows devices.

What is Microsoft's reason for not having the same limitations to windows personal devices that iOS and android have in place?
Crystal-MSFT 53,991 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-23T06:08:39.89+00:00

@Theodore Itofele, Thanks for the reply. From your description, I know you want the wipe option for personal device to block as personal device will have personal information, which user don't want to remove I fully understand your feeling. Here I suggest feedback in the following link to see if it we can change the feature behavior:

https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/ef1d6d38-fd1b-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472

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Should Intune be able to factory reset a windows 10/11 BYOD device

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