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What would be the recommended best-practice approach for designing and implementing Microsoft Intune as the centralized management platform for corporate Windows 11 laptops for users licensed with Microsoft 365 Business Premium?
We are looking to establish a secure, standardized, scalable, and maintainable endpoint management model that covers the entire device lifecycle, from provisioning and enrollment through ongoing management and eventual retirement.
Specifically, we would like guidance on the recommended architecture and policy baseline for Windows Autopilot, Microsoft Entra ID, Intune configuration and compliance policies, Conditional Access, Microsoft Defender, BitLocker, Windows Update, application deployment, and Windows LAPS.
One of our key requirements is to follow the principle of least privilege: end users should normally operate as standard users and should not be able to create unauthorized local accounts or add users to the local Administrators group. At the same time, IT needs a secure and manageable mechanism to perform administrative and support tasks when elevated privileges are required.
From Microsoft’s perspective, what would be the recommended Intune architecture, security baseline, and policy strategy for this scenario? Which policies should be considered essential, which should be optional, and are there any configurations or common mistakes you would recommend avoiding to prevent unnecessary operational complexity or user disruption?
We would also appreciate recommendations on how to structure device and user groups, policy assignments, pilot deployments, and phased rollout so that the environment remains secure but also practical for IT to operate and maintain over time.
MicrosoftHi Chriistian. There isn’t necessarily a single “best” Intune architecture or policy set for every organization. The right approach depends heavily on your environment, security requirements, operational priorities, application portfolio, support model, and organizational standards.
A good starting point is Microsoft’s Zero Trust and Cloud-Native Windows guidance. It describes the broader approach of using cloud-native Windows management with Zero Trust principles, including continuous verification and least-privilege access.
For Windows 11 configuration specifically, I recommend starting with the built-in Intune security baselines rather than attempting to define every security setting independently. They provide a Microsoft-recommended starting point that you can validate and adjust to meet your organization’s requirements.
From there, build around a few core principles:
- Use Windows Autopilot and Microsoft Entra join where they fit your provisioning and identity requirements.
- Keep users as standard users by default. Use Windows LAPS to secure and rotate managed local administrator credentials for appropriate support and recovery scenarios.
- Where controlled elevation is required, consider Intune Endpoint Privilege Management to allow specific tasks to run elevated without making the user a local administrator.
- Establish the security, compliance, Conditional Access, Defender, BitLocker, update, and application-management policies your organization requires, but avoid configuring the same settings through multiple policies where possible.
- Keep assignments and group structures as simple as practical. Use exceptions deliberately rather than creating many slightly different versions of your core policies.
- Pilot first and expand in phases. Validate security settings, applications, updates, provisioning, and the support experience with representative devices and users before broad deployment.
Most importantly, treat Microsoft’s guidance and baselines as a starting point, not a universal finished configuration. Test and adapt them to your organization’s security standards, operational needs, and risk tolerance. Configuring settings simply because they are available can add complexity, create policy conflicts, and cause user disruption without necessarily improving your security posture.