Self-deploying mode: Create and assign self-deploying Autopilot profile

Autopilot self-deploying mode steps:

  • Step 5: Create and assign Autopilot profile

For an overview of the Windows Autopilot self-deploying mode workflow, see Windows Autopilot self-deploying overview.

Create and assign self-deploying Autopilot profile

The Autopilot profile specifies how the device is configured during Windows Setup and what is shown during the out-of-box experience (OOBE).

Tip

For Configuration Manager admins, the Autopilot profile is similar to some of the configuration that takes place during a task sequence via an unattend.xml file. The unattend.xml file is configured during the Apply Windows Settings and Apply Network Settings steps. Note however that Autopilot doesn't use unattend.xml files.

To create a self-deploying mode Autopilot profile, follow these steps:

  1. Sign into the Microsoft Intune admin center.

  2. In the Home screen, select Devices in the left hand pane.

  3. In the Devices | Overview screen, under By platform, select Windows.

  4. In the Windows | Windows devices screen, under Device onboarding, select Enrollment.

  5. In the Windows | Windows enrollment screen, under Windows Autopilot, select Deployment Profiles.

  6. In the Windows Autopilot deployment profiles screen, select the Create Profile drop down menu and then select Windows PC.

  7. The Create profile screen opens. In the Basics page:

    1. Next to Name, enter a name for the Autopilot profile.

    2. Next to Description, enter a description.

    3. Select Next.

      Note

      Microsoft recommends setting the option Convert all targeted devices to Autopilot to Yes. This tutorial concentrates on new devices where the device is manually imported as an Autopilot device using the hardware hash. However, this option can be helpful when assigning Autopilot profiles to device groups that contain existing devices. For example, this option is helpful when using the Windows Autopilot for existing devices scenario. With Windows Autopilot for existing devices, existing devices might need to be registered as an Autopilot device after the Autopilot deployment completes. For more information, see Register device for Windows Autopilot.

  1. In the Out-of-box experience (OOBE) page:

    • For Deployment mode, select Self-Deploying.

    • Join to Microsoft Entra ID as defaults to Microsoft Entra joined, is greyed out, and can't be changed. Only Microsoft Entra joined is available because self-deploying mode only supports Microsoft Entra join. Self-deploying modes doesn't support Microsoft Entra hybrid join.

    • Microsoft Software License Terms defaults to Hide, is greyed out, and can't be changed.

    • Privacy settings defaults to Hide, is greyed out, and can't be changed.

    • Hide change account options defaults to Hide, is greyed out, and can't be changed.

    • User account type defaults to Standard, is greyed out, and can't be changed.

    • For Language (Region), select Operating system default to use the default language for the operating system being configured. If another language is desired, select the desired language from the drop-down list.

    • For Automatically configure keyboard, select Yes to skip the keyboard selection page.

      Note

      If users should select their keyboard layout, then select No instead. However, the purpose of Autopilot self-deploying mode is to deploy a device with minimal to no user interaction. Setting Automatically configure keyboard to No requires additional user interaction.

    • For Apply device name template, select No. Alternatively, Yes can be chosen to apply a device name template. Be aware of the following if the name template is selected to Yes:

      • Names must be 15 characters or less, and can have letters, numbers, and hyphens.
      • Names can't be all numbers.
      • Use the %SERIAL% macro to add a hardware-specific serial number.
      • Use the %RAND:x% macro to add a random string of numbers, where x equals the number of digits to add.

    Note

    If the language/region and keyboard screens are set to hidden, they might still be displayed if there's no network connectivity at the start of the Autopilot deployment. When there's no network connectivity at the start of the deployment, the Autopilot profile, where the settings to hide these screens is defined, hasn't downloaded yet. Once network connectivity is established, the Autopilot profile is downloaded and any additional screen settings should work as expected.

  1. Once the options in the Out-of-box experience (OOBE) page are configured as desired, select Next.

  2. In the Assignments page:

    1. Under Included groups, select Add groups.

    Note

    Make sure to add the correct device groups under Included groups and not under Excluded groups. Accidentally adding the desired device groups under Excluded groups prevents devices in those device groups from receiving the Autopilot profile.

    1. In the Select groups to include window that opens, select the groups that the Windows Autopilot profile should be assigned to. These device groups are normally the device groups created in the previous Create device group step. Once done, select Select.

    2. Under Included groups > Groups, ensure the correct groups are selected, and then select Next.

  3. In the Review + Create page, verify that all settings are set correctly, and then select Create to create the Autopilot profile.

Verify device has an Autopilot profile assigned to it

Before deploying a device, ensure that an Autopilot profile is assigned to a device group that the device is a member of. Autopilot profile assignment to a device can take some time after the Autopilot profile is assigned to the device group or after the device is added to the device group. To verify that the profile is assigned to a device, follow these steps:

  1. Sign into the Microsoft Intune admin center.

  2. In the Home screen, select Devices in the left hand pane.

  3. In the Devices | Overview screen, under By platform, select Windows.

  4. In the Windows | Windows devices screen, under Device onboarding, select Enrollment.

  5. In the Windows | Windows enrollment screen, under Windows Autopilot, select Devices.

  6. In the Windows Autopilot devices screen that opens:

    1. Find the desired device that Autopilot deployment profile assignment status needs to be checked.

    2. Once the device is located, its current status is listed under the Profile status column. The status has one of the following values:

      Before starting the Autopilot deployment process on a device, make sure that in the Windows Autopilot devices page:

      • The device's Profile status status is Assigned.
      • In the properties of the device, Date assigned has a value.
      • In the properties of the device, Assigned profile displays the expected Autopilot profile.

Note

Intune periodically checks for new devices in the assigned device groups, and then begins the process of assigning profiles to those devices. Due to several different factors involved in the process of Autopilot profile assignment, an estimated time for the assignment can vary from scenario to scenario. These factors can include Microsoft Entra groups, membership rules, hash of a device, Intune and Autopilot services, and internet connection. The assignment time varies depending on all the factors and variables involved in a specific scenario.

Next step: Deploy the device

For more information on configuring Autopilot profiles, see the following articles: