Use Windows Autopilot profiles on new devices to customize a customer's out-of-box experience

  • Article

Appropriate roles: Admin agent | Global admin | Sales agent | User management admin

If you manage customer devices, you might need to customize the out-of-box experience (OOBE) for the customer's users. You can preconfigure new devices with Windows Autopilot profiles before delivering the devices to customers. You can apply new profiles to devices customers already purchased.

OEMs have started including a shipping label on the outside of the Autopilot device box that shows the device's Product Key ID (PKID). This one-dimensional, readable barcode provides downstream partners with a way to register devices for Autopilot without having to unbox the device and harvest the device ID by alternative means.

This article explains how to create and apply Autopilot profiles to devices in Partner Center.

If you're not already familiar with Autopilot, see this Overview of Windows Autopilot.

GDAP roles required

You must have at least one of the following GDAP roles:

  • Intune Administrator
  • Cloud Device Administrator
  • Windows 365 Administrator
  • Directory Reader
  • Global Reader
  • User Administrator
  • Privileged Role Administrator
  • Directory Writer

Overview

With the Windows Autopilot feature in Partner Center, you can create custom profiles to apply to customer devices. The following profile settings were available at the time this article was published:

  • Skip privacy settings: This optional Autopilot profile setting enables organizations to not ask about privacy settings during the OOBE process.
  • Disable local admin account creation on the device: Organizations can decide whether the user setting up the device should have administrator access once the process is complete.
  • Automatically set up device for work or school: All devices registered with Autopilot are automatically considered work or school devices, so this question isn't asked during the OOBE process.
  • Skip Cortana, OneDrive, and OEM registration setup pages: All devices registered with Autopilot automatically skip these pages during the OOBE process.
  • Skip End-User License Agreement (EULA): Starting in Windows 10 version 1709, organizations can decide to skip the EULA page presented during the OOBE process. See Windows Autopilot EULA dismissal below for important information to consider about skipping the EULA page during Windows setup.

The following profile and device management permissions and limitations apply:

  • You can continue to manage Autopilot profiles for existing customers with whom you have reseller relationships, even if the customers removed your delegated administration privileges.
  • You can manage existing devices for your customers that you've added.
  • You can't manage devices your customer uploaded to Microsoft Store for Business or the Microsoft Intune Portal.

Create and manage Autopilot profiles in Partner Center

In Partner Center, you can create Windows Autopilot deployment profiles and apply them to devices.

Note

Only Admin agents can create and apply profiles.

Create a new Autopilot profile

To create a new Autopilot profile, use the following steps:

  1. Sign in to Partner Center and select Customers.

  2. On the Customer List, select a customer.

  3. On the customer's detail page, select Devices.

  4. From the Profiles tab, select Add new profile.

  5. Enter the profile name and note, and then configure the OOBE settings. Choose from:

    • Skip privacy settings in setup

    • Disable local admin account in setup

    • Automatically skip pages in setup (selected by default and can't be unselected)

      • Includes Automatically select setup for work or school and Skip Cortana, OneDrive, and OEM registration setup pages

    • Skip EULA

      Important

      See the Windows Autopilot EULA dismissal section for important information to consider about skipping the EULA page during Windows setup.

  6. Select Save when finished.

Apply an Autopilot profile to customer devices

Note

The following instructions assume that you've already added the customer's devices to Partner Center and that you can access their device list. If you haven't already added the customer's devices, follow the instructions given previously in Add a device group to a customer's account and then follow the steps below.

After you create an Autopilot profile for a customer, you can apply it to the customer's devices.

To apply an Autopilot profile to customer devices, use the following steps:

  1. Select Customers from the Partner Center menu and then select the customer you created the Autopilot profile for.
  2. On the customer's detail page, select Devices.
  3. From the Devices tab, select the device group you want to add profiles to.
  4. Choose one or more devices from the side panel, and then select Add profile.
    • The profile you added appears in the Profile column for all selected devices.
  5. Verify that the profile will be applied successfully to the device.
    • Connect a device to the network and power it on.
    • Verify that the appropriate OOBE screens (if any) appear.
    • When the OOBE process stops, reset the device to its factory default settings to prepare it for a new user.

Remove an Autopilot profile from a customer's device

To remove an Autopilot profile from a customer's device, use the following steps:

  1. Select Customers from the Partner Center menu and then select the customer you created the Autopilot profile for.

  2. On the customer's detail page, select Devices.

  3. From the Devices tab, select the devices you want to remove the profile from, and then select Remove profile.

    Note

    Removing a profile from a device does not delete the profile from your list. If you want to delete a profile, follow the instructions in Update or delete an Autopilot profile.

Update or delete an Autopilot profile

If a customer wants to change the OOBE after you've shipped the devices to them, you can change the profile in Partner Center.

When the customer's device connects to the Internet, it downloads the latest profile version during the OOBE process. Also, anytime a customer restores a device to its factory default settings, the device downloads the latest profile version again during the OOBE process.

To update or delete an Autopilot profile, use the following steps:

  1. Select Customers from the Partner Center menu and then select the customer who wants you to change an Autopilot profile.
  2. On the customer's detail page, select Devices.
  3. From the Profiles tab, select the profile you need to update, and then select Modify profile.
  4. Make the required changes and then select Submit.

To delete this profile, select Delete profile from the top of the page, and then select Submit.

Add a device group to a customer's account

Note

Sales agents and Admin agents can add devices to a customer's account.

Before you can apply custom Autopilot profiles to customer devices, you must be able to access the customer's device list.

If you plan to use the OEM name, serial number, and model combination, be aware of these limitations:

  • This tuple works only for newer devices (4k hashes, for example) and isn't supported for 128b hashes (RS2 and prior devices).
  • The tuple registration is case sensitive, so the data in the file must match the model and manufacturer names exactly as provided by the OEM provider (hardware provider).

To add devices to a customer's account, use the following steps:

  1. Select Customers from the Partner Center menu and then select the customer whose devices you want to manage.

  2. On the customer's detail page, select Devices.

  3. From the Devices tab, select Add group.

  4. Enter a new group name for the device list, and then select Browse to upload the customer's device list (in .csv file format) to Partner Center.

    Note

    You should have received this .csv file with your device purchase. If you didn't receive a .csv file, you can create one yourself by following the steps in Adding devices to Windows Autopilot.

  5. Upload the .csv file, and then select Add.

If you get an error message while trying to upload the .csv file, check the format of the file. You can use the hardware hash only, or the OEM name, serial number, and model (in that column order), or the Windows Product ID. You can also use the sample .csv file provided from the link next to Upload file to create a device list.

Your .csv file should look something like this:

Device Serial Number,Windows Product ID,Hardware Hash,Manufacturer name,Device model {serialNumber},,,Microsoft Corporation,Surface Laptop

Note

Manufacturer name and Device model are case sensitive.

If you don't know which values to use for Manufacturer name and Device model, you can run the following PowerShell script on the device to gather the correct values:

md c:\\HWID

Set-Location c:\\HWID

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

Install-Script -Name Get-WindowsAutoPilotInfo

Get-WindowsAutoPilotInfo.ps1 -OutputFile AutoPilotHWID.csv -Partner -Force

Update or delete a device group

To update or delete a device group, use the following steps:

  1. Select Customers from the Partner Center menu, and then select the customer who wants you to change a device group.
  2. On the customer's detail page, select Devices.
  3. From the Devices tab, select the group you need to update. Select Modify group. Make the required changes, and then select Submit.

Note

Adding a device to a device group doesn't automatically apply a profile. You must apply the profile to the newly added device separately, because the profile isn't associated to a device group but to a device.

To delete this device group, select Delete group from the top of the page, and then select Submit.

Windows Autopilot EULA dismissal

Important information

You can configure customized installations of Windows on devices you manage for your customers by using Windows Autopilot. If authorized to do so by the customer, you can suppress or hide certain setup screens that are normally presented to users when setting up Windows, including the EULA acceptance screen.

By using this function, you agree that suppressing or hiding any screens that are designed to provide users with notice or acceptance of terms means that you obtained sufficient consent and authorization from your customer to hide terms, and that you, on behalf of your customer (whether an organization or an individual user, as the case might be), consent to any notices and accept any terms that are applicable to your customer. This includes an agreement to the terms and conditions of the license or notice that would be presented to the user if you didn't suppress or hide it using this tool. Your customer might not use the Windows software on those devices if the customer hasn't validly acquired a license for the software from Microsoft or its licensed distributors.