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Manual registration overview

Ideally, the OEM, reseller, or distributor from which the device was purchased performs the registration of a device with Windows Autopilot. However it's also possible to register devices manually. You might need to register a device manually if:

  • The device was obtained from a non-participant device manufacturer or reseller.
  • The device is a virtual machine (VM).
  • The device doesn't otherwise qualify for automatic registration, such as an existing legacy device.

The following diagram shows how you might use manual registration and OEM registration to deploy both new and existing devices with Windows Autopilot.

Windows Autopilot device registration process.

For a list of participant device manufacturers and device resellers, see Autopilot device manufacturers and resellers.

To manually register a device, you must first capture its hardware hash. Once this process is completed, the resulting hardware hash can be uploaded to the Windows Autopilot service. Because this process requires booting the device into Windows to obtain the hardware hash, manual registration is intended primarily for testing and evaluation scenarios.

Note

Customers can only register devices with a hardware hash. Other methods (PKID, tuple) are available through OEMs or CSP partners as described in the previous sections.

Platforms for device registration

After the hardware hashes are captured from existing devices, they can be uploaded in any of the following ways:

  • Microsoft Intune - Intune is the preferred mechanism for all customers.

    • The Microsoft Intune admin center is used for Intune device enrollment.

  • Partner Center - Partner Center is used by CSP partners to register devices on behalf of customers.

  • Microsoft 365 Business & Office 365 Admin - Microsoft 365 Business & Office 365 Admin is typically used by small and medium businesses (SMBs) who manage their devices using Microsoft 365 Business.

  • Microsoft Store for Business - Since Microsoft Store for Business is deprecated, use another method instead.

Important

Microsoft Store for Business and Microsoft Store for Education is deprecated. You can continue to use the current capabilities of free apps while they're still available. For more information about this change, see Evolving the Microsoft Store for Business and Education and Microsoft Store for Business and Education.

A summary of each platform's capabilities is provided in the following table:

Platform/Portal Register devices? Create/Assign profile Acceptable Device ID
OEM Direct API YES - 1000 at a time max NO Tuple or PKID
Partner Center YES - 1000 at a time max YES3 Tuple or PKID or 4K HH
Intune YES - 500 at a time max YES12 4K HH
Microsoft Store for Business YES - 1000 at a time max YES4 4K HH
Microsoft 365 Business Premium YES - 1000 at a time max YES3 4K HH
  • 1 Microsoft recommended platform to use
  • 2 Intune license required
  • 3 Feature capabilities are limited
  • 4 Device profile assignment will be retired from Microsoft Store for Business in the coming months

For more information about device IDs, see the following articles: