I’m flying off to Bangkok, Thailand tomorrow for Bett Asia 2022 where amongst other presentations, I’ll be partnering with Lenovo to deliver a presentation on managing Windows 11 in Education with AzureAD and Intune (Microsoft Endpoint Manager).
Having only a 30min slot, I thought I’d make a quick time lapse video to show just how fast Windows can deploy when using the cloud. For those that that prefer to read than watch, here’s the breakdown by timing:
- 0-2mins: Location/Keyboard settings and updates applied to secure the device
- 2-4mins: Enter AzureAD username/password to complete the “Set up for Work or School” – this completes the AzureAD join and automatic enrollment into Intune and then applies further settings
- 4:30min: Enter username/password to sign into the desktop – active/usable desktop in under 5mins
- 5:45min: First Win32 application downloaded from Intune – Chrome Web Browser, can launch and browse immediately
- 6 mins: Launch Edge Browser for first time, demonstrate Seamless Single Sign On (no need to sign into Edge, going to Office.com automatically signed in (no need to reenter credentials) and recent files available via OneDrive
- 7mins: Office Applications are deployed via Intune and available for immediate use. Again, Seamless Single Sign On means no need to sign into the applications, recent files all available via OneDrive and can be launched in desktop application (in this instance, Excel)
- 8mins: Launch OneNote for first time, Seamless Single Sign on requires no entry of username/password, recent NoteBooks are available, including Class NoteBook from Microsoft Teams the user is enrolled in.
What Does It Look Like In Intune?
With the video showing the end user (teacher or a student) enrolling the device via the OOBE process, how does this appear in Intune for a device administrator?
In the full Intune portal we can see the device, named “AdeleVance” just how the user named it during the OOBE process, we can see the version of Windows, when it last checked in and who is the primary user:
Comparing this to the simplified Intune for Education Portal, the main information is there but the primary user is first on the left (Something schools often care about for quicker user identification) and the device serial number is also displayed. All these columns are customisable:
To obtain additional information about the device, you can easily click on the name and in the full version of Intune you can see the hardware specifications, including how much storage is used/available, RAM, CPU settings etc:
This same information is available in Intune for Education:
One feature that is unique to Intune for Education is the “Recent Checkins” tab which is super helpful to see the last few users that have signed into a device. As this device was recently onboarded only a single user had been signed in. Note that it also shows what applications and settings have already been deployed to the user:
Final Thoughts
There are other ways to rapidly deploy Windows 11 devices in an education context – Windows AutoPilot is a popular option, as is Provisioning Packages with the free Set Up School PC App available from the Microsoft Store to assist with this.
Nevertheless, an easy option is to simply provide the teacher or student with a brand new device and instruct them to choose the “Set up for work or school” option and then enter their existing username/password and then grab a coffee and wait a few minutes. It does not get much easier than that!
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