How I Feature Update Windows

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It’s been a few weeks since 22H2 has been released for both Windows 10 and Window 11, and after validation by both my Windows Insiders and my early adopters, I am ready to deploy this Feature Update to all of my managed Windows devices at work. I thought it could be useful to blog about how I do Feature Updates using Intune and Windows Update for Business Deployment Services taking advantage of the Intelligent Rollout feature. I can cover how I set up my Windows Insider for Business rings in a later blog post if that also interests anyone. For…

Configuring the Windows 11 Start Menu Layout and Taskbar with Intune

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The Windows 11 Start Menu Layout is one of the most noticeable features that is different from its Windows 10 predecessor, so therefore it would also make sense that configurations set in in Intune for the Windows 10 Start layout will not work on Windows 11 Microsoft have released some information on how to configure the Windows 11 start layout using Intune, so I thought that I would detail what I have done with configuring both the Windows 11 Start Layout and Windows 11 Taskbar using Intune. Windows 11 Start Layout To create a Windows 11 Start Layout and deploy…

Windows 11 Azure AD Groups and Filters – An update

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The more I think about managing Windows 11 in Azure AD and Intune, the more I want to refine some of the configurations I have done. The recent Windows 11 Dev Channel build had me thinking about the Azure AD and Intune Filter blog posts and the configurations done there. Now if you are not doing any Windows Insidering at your company (first thing I’d ask is why not, but that’s a conversation for another time), then the configurations for Windows 11 in those blog posts should be perfectly fine until the next release of Windows 11 in 2022 (Remember,…

Windows 10, 11 and Intune Filters

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In a previous post I wrote about a way to create an Azure AD dynamic device group to identify Windows 11 devices. But what if you don’t want to add an additional group or groups, or do a bit of rework with your Intune configuration, or have Intune profiles and policies targeted at groups that only contain users? Fortunately a recent Intune feature (currently in preview) may be able to help here. Filters are a way to deploy Intune profiles and policies to user and/or device groups where there maybe (for example) both Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices, but…

Windows 11 and Intune – A Windows 11 Dynamic Device Group

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I’ve recently started working on validating Windows 11 in my organisation. We manage our devices primarily with Intune now so I need a quick and easy way to identify these devices. I’m a big fan of using Azure AD Dynamic Groups to reduce admin overhead, and I use these a lot (both Device and User) to help me manage my environment. I have a standard Windows 10 Dynamic group The Query used here (device.managementType -eq “MDM”) -and (device.deviceOSType -contains “Windows”) will look for all Windows devices that are Intune managed and add them to this Azure AD group. However, at…

WaaS, WIP4Biz and Service Providers

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So, this is the scenario – A company out there has started an RFP process around Digital Transformation. A number of parties have responded, but a shockingly low number have not mentioned Windows as a Service (WaaS) or Windows Insider for Business (WIP4Biz). Many still look to do the SOE Image with little to zero thought around how to service the Image going forward, as well as a continual improvement process leveraging Windows Insider for Business. Essentially, let’s just keep doing what we did with Windows XP, 7, 8.1 and apply it to Windows 10, collect the cheque and get…

The Road to Microsoft Ignite

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It’s Sunday evening… Normally I would be preparing for the week ahead, contemplating challenging tasks that lie ahead and making sure I have everything I need to be “the best I can be”.  Starting the week on the right foot for me is something I take pride in. I find tonight my mind drifting to the near future… 13 sleeps into the future to be precise. In 13 days, I depart these shores of Aotearoa on the journey of a lifetime. My destination – The Microsoft Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida. Not just an attendee, but a speaker! I still…

Deploying Office 365 ProPlus Insider in the Enterprise

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Recently, I’ve been thinking about how I can help people in my organisation with the journey to Office 365 ProPlus (Monthly Channel), while still having confidence that their legacy applications that use the Office apps would still work, or at the very least, give them a little bit more time for our Business Systems teams to identify work arounds or contact application vendors for resolution. Enter the Office Insider program. As an active Windows Insider for many years, and an Office Insider on my home MacBook (Shhh, don’t tell the Microsoft gang I have a Mac too), it was time…

Windows Insider for Business – Doing the thing (Finally)

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Late last week, I achieved the final two pieces of the #WIP4Biz puzzle at my org – Management Buy In and a meeting with the Infrastructure Team Lead and his Azure Engineer. The management buy in was reasonably easy due to my participation on the insider program in the org (more specifically the contacts made at Microsoft both here in Auckland and in Redmond). The combination of the recent two-year countdown to end of life for Window 7, and the greater awareness and understanding of what Windows as a Service also helped.  With Windows 10 now my orgs “standard” OS,…

Back in the Fast Ring!!

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After three weeks… I’m back in the fast ring!! Truth be told, I never really left and my other work machines, including the “Frank-in-800”, a seriously modified HP Z820 that was put together by stripping down and combining two HP Z800 and two HP Z820 workstations.  The “Frank-in-800” hosts my multiple lab environments.  Yes, even my lab runs on Windows Insider Fast Ring. The trouble all started just before Christmas.  A stack of new gear had just arrived as part of a small initiative – a tech refresh where a small group of people would be able to chose from a…