Can Autopilot be used with Windows 365 Business?

Copper Contributor

Just as the subject says. Can Autopilot be used with Windows 365 Business when you already have Microsoft 365 Business Premium for your company? Already have Azure Active Directory P1 with the Microsoft 365 licenses. So it should work???

16 Replies
We are using autopilot in our tenant with it. It halfway works. It inventories but doesn't change the device name. Config profiles and app deployments work but I'm still fine tuning it. Message me if you want to collaborate on what we're doing
I'm just trying to use autopilot to setup basically a single image with everything already installed and all I have to do is deploy the VM to the user and all of the needed applications are pre-installed and ready to go.
I'm still stuck on it installing apps after they sign in as well which is a non starter. Until I can get it to pre-deploy all apps on setup, I might have to wait for W365 E. Have you tried created a dynamic group to contain the w365 machines and use device based deployment for the apps?
I haven't even started on anything yet. I was hoping that someone would know if it worked or not. That's the toughest thing. Having Microsoft 365 Business Premium gives you Azure Premium P1 and Endpoint Manager but it's like it's gimped. It's almost like a trial with limited capabilities.

@astansbery1010 

My approach would be to build a custom image, put it in the Shared Image Gallery and then choose that for your W365 machines (basically follow the same process as for AVD custom image development, remembering to take a snapshot before sysprep so you can then spin up a new VM from that snapshot for monthly updates etc.).

@David Bubb Does that work with W365 Business though? That's the million dollar question. It should work with W365 Enterprise but the fact that there is no real documentation for W365 yet makes it harder to do.

@astansbery1010 Ah, sorry, you are right; custom image is not supported in "Business" :crying_face:

I just wish there was some real documentation on W365 instead of those of us trying to figure it out on our own.

@Pernille-Eskebo
What's even more annoying is the fact that if you don't need W365 Enterprise but have Microsoft 365 Business Premium and can/will use Endpoint Manager for device policies on your W365 Business VM's. Then give us actual outlined documentation foe W365 Business. They created a page for Enterprise with all the needed documentation??!! Then create one for W365 Business. That way we know what we can do and what we can't do!
Not everyone with less than 300 employees needs the full W365 Enterprise experience but still needs W365 cloud PC's that they can pre-provision with the installed applications they use on a daily basis.
How are people expected to configure anything without logging into each individual users VM and doing it manually?

@astansbery1010 , great points, a new doc will be published very soon comparing Business and Enterprise.  Meantime, a few top level points are; when a business Cloud PC gets Intune enrolled it gets treated exactly like a physical PC, when an Enterprise Cloud PC gets provisioned then Intune (MEM) has enlightenment that this is a Cloud PC providing specialized capabilities for remote actions like resize and reprovision, access two special Endpoint Analytic reports specific to Windows 365, ability to monitor failed connections are a few differences.   

Does that mean when a W365 Business Cloud PC gets Intune enrolled it can use a pre-determined image with all needed business applications installed? Kind of like white glove autopilot. So it is ready for the user it is provisioned for without any need to do any setup?
No, the image is generic, you'll have to deploy apps, settings, etc via Intune or have the user that is assigned the Business Cloud PC manually install since they are also have local Admin rights.

@Eric Orman but you can set the user up as just a user these days. What would be the procedure if they only have user rights?  company portal? is there a way to automate it on the first login like autopilot?

@EpicRobM, it would be the same as if physical device were enrolled using Self Deploying Autopilot and or bulk enrollment (usb method).  Neither of these two enrollment methods are user driven, they are both device enrollments just like Windows 365.  Intune cannot install anything user targeted until user logs in for the first time, leverage ESP to block user accessing the desktop until all apps, settings, etc are installed.  

I dont believe you can use Autopilot with W365. The enrollment of the device is not initiated from the user. When you look in Intune/Azure AD you will see none at enrolled by. The enrollment process is something Microsoft takes care of.
If you want to have your applications ready to go you will need a custom image but that is only supported in Enterprise
Like I said earlier.
W365 Business is seriously gimped from the start.
It's essentially like giving a user a new PC and telling them that they have to install all of their own applications.
Do you know how many users that can't even follow a installer along there are?
Probably billion/s!
It's all because they are either too afraid of what is displayed on a screen or have reading comprehension issues that they can ignore by doing most things verbally.