Set up the missing naming convention to increment your AutoPilot device names

The purpose of this blog post is to inform you how to configure your AutoPilot naming convention with new variables like incrementing the device number.

I recently had a workshop about the design of AutoPilot. The naming convention of the device came up. By default, AutoPilot can only use the variables %SERIAL% and %RAND:x%. Some customers want to use other naming conventions than Microsoft supports with AutoPilot, for example, increase the device number like LPT-1 and LPT-2, etc. I decided to fix that missing feature. I have created a Microsoft List to inventory the AutoPilot device and a Logic app to automate the process.

Requirements:

Cloud Application Administrator
Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator

License Requirements:

Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft Intune

Graph API Requirements:

DeviceManagementServiceConfig.Read.All
DeviceManagementServiceConfig.ReadWrite.All

What is Microsoft AutoPilot?

Windows Autopilot is a collection of technologies used to set up and pre-configure new devices or devices that have been reinstalled or reset and get ready for productive use. AutoPilot automates, changes, and adds screens in the OOBE phase and together with Microsoft Intune, you can give your devices directly to your end-users without the need to do manual tasks, build, maintain, or apply custom operating system images.

More information can be found here

What is Microsoft List?

Microsoft Lists is a Microsoft 365 application that allows you to create simple, intelligent, and flexible lists to help you to organize your work more effectively. Microsoft List is stored on a SharePoint Site and can also be included in Microsoft Teams. Microsoft List can also be used as a data source for automation. With ready-made templates, it is an easy and handy tool to use.

More information can be found here

What is an Azure Logic App?

Azure Logic Apps is a cloud service that helps you schedule, automate, and orchestrate tasks, business processes, and workflows when you need to integrate apps, data, systems, and services across enterprises or organizations. The UI of Azure Logic apps looks similar to PowerAutomate. But PowerAutomate and Azure Logic apps are not the same.

Check out the blog post of Thijs Lecomte to decide what you should use

More information about Azure Logic apps can be found here

How to configure the missing naming convention to increment your AutoPilot device names

Disclaimer

Don’t just use it in production environments. Please test it first in a test environment. The way it is configured is not officially supported!

Part 1 – Create App Registration

Open Portal.azure.com
Click on Azure Active Directory
Click on App Registration in the left menu
Or use the following link Active Directory | App Registration

Click on + New registration

Configure an app name e.g., Naming Convention AutoPilot Devices

Click on the Register button, the app will be created and automatically opened.
In the menu click on API Permissions

Click on + Add a permission

Select Microsoft Graph and select Application permissions

Search and add the following permissions

DeviceManagementServiceConfig.Read.All
DeviceManagementServiceConfig.ReadWrite.All

Grant admin consent for your organization

In the menu click on Certificates & Secrets
Click on + New Client secret

Set a description and the expiry of the secret and click on Add

Copy the value of the secret, this is required in part 3
Go to the overview page and copy the Client ID and Tenant ID, those are also required in part 3

Part 2 – Create Microsoft List

Open portal.office.com
Click on the menu button
Click on SharePoint (if you are missing the SharePoint button click on all apps)
Open an existing SharePoint Site (if you do not have a site, create a site via the creating site button)
Click on + new button

Open the Asset Manager Template

Click on the Use Template button
Fill in a name and a Description for the Microsoft list.

Click on Create and your new Microsoft List is created.

Scroll to the last column and click on the + Add column.
(If you want to hide columns click on Show/hide columns)
Click on Single line of text

Create the following columns

Name	AutoPilot ID
Description
Type	Single line of text
Default Value

Name	GroupTag
Description
Type	Single line of text
Default Value

Part 3 – Create Azure Logic App

Note. Rename every Azure Logic App action to match the screenshots!

Open portal.azure.com
Search for Logic App

Click on + Add
Select an existing Resource Group or create a new Resource Group
Select the instance Type (I have chosen for Consumption because it is cheaper to use and it’s only one flow. See Azure Calculator)
Select your region and click on Review + Create

Check the details on the Review + Create page and click on Create
After the deployment is completed, go to your new Logic App via Go to Resource button
The first step of the workflow is the Recurrence trigger, based on the desired interval

The next four steps of the workflow are to initialize variables.

	Set Prefix	Set Azure Tenant ID	Set Authentication Client ID	Set Authentication Secret
Name	Prefix	TenantID	ClientID	Secret
Type	String	String	String	String
Value	E.G., LPT	{Paste the Tenant ID that you have copied in part 1}	{Paste the Client ID that you have copied in part 1}	{Paste the secret that you have copied in part 1}

The next step is to get all AutoPilot devices via a HTTP Get request

Method	Get
Authentication Type	Active Directory OAuth
Tenant	@{variables(‘TenantID’)}
Audience	https://graph.microsoft.com
Client ID	@{variables(‘ClientID’)}
Credential Type	Secret
Secret	@{variables(‘Secret’)}

URI:

https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/deviceManagement/windowsAutopilotDeviceIdentities/

Now we must parse the returned Autopilot devices info into separate outputs via Parse JSON function

Content: @{body(‘HTTP_Get_AutoPilot_Devices’)}

Schema:

{
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "@@odata.context": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "@@odata.count": {
            "type": "integer"
        },
        "value": {
            "type": "array",
            "items": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "id": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "deploymentProfileAssignmentStatus": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "deploymentProfileAssignmentDetailedStatus": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "deploymentProfileAssignedDateTime": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "groupTag": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "purchaseOrderIdentifier": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "serialNumber": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "productKey": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "manufacturer": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "model": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "enrollmentState": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "lastContactedDateTime": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "addressableUserName": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "userPrincipalName": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "resourceName": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "skuNumber": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "systemFamily": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "azureActiveDirectoryDeviceId": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "azureAdDeviceId": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "managedDeviceId": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "displayName": {
                        "type": "string"
                    }
                },
                "required": [
                    "id",
                    "deploymentProfileAssignmentStatus",
                    "deploymentProfileAssignmentDetailedStatus",
                    "deploymentProfileAssignedDateTime",
                    "groupTag",
                    "purchaseOrderIdentifier",
                    "serialNumber",
                    "productKey",
                    "manufacturer",
                    "model",
                    "enrollmentState",
                    "lastContactedDateTime",
                    "addressableUserName",
                    "userPrincipalName",
                    "resourceName",
                    "skuNumber",
                    "systemFamily",
                    "azureActiveDirectoryDeviceId",
                    "azureAdDeviceId",
                    "managedDeviceId",
                    "displayName"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

The next step is to create an array variable via Initialize variable operation

	Initialize Microsoft List Serial Number Variable
Name	SerialNumberMicrosoftList
Type	Array

The next step is to get the Microsoft List items via Get items.
Click on the Sign in button and login with an account that has read/write access to the Microsoft List you had created in Part 1.
I have selected my admin account
Select the SharePoint List Site Address and the Microsoft List you have created in Part 1

Create again a For each loop and select the value output of the Get Microsoft List Device Items
Now it is time to fill the last array variable SerialNumberMicrosoftList with the Serial number value of the Microsoft List via an Append to array variable

Time to do some magic and compare both data sources.
Create a new step with a For each action, and select the value of the Parse JSON Autopilot devices action

Add the Condition action to the Apply to each AutoPilot Serial Number Variable loop.
Set the condition: variable SerialNumberMicrosoftList contains serialNumber

Add Create Item action in the False part of the condition
Select the correct SharePoint Site Address and list name
Click on Add new parameter button and add the following parameters:

- Manufacturer Value
- Model
- Serial Number
- AutoPilot ID
- GroupTag

Set per parameter the following dynamic Apply to each AutoPilot Device content:

Title: 
@{items('Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device')?['displayName']}

Manufacturer: 
@items('Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device')?['manufacturer']

Model: 
@{items('Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device')?['model']}

Serial number:
@{items('Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device')?['serialNumber']}

AutoPilot ID:
@{items('Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device')?['id']}

Grouptag:
@{items('Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device')?['groupTag']}

Now it is time to set the correct name for the AutoPilot device based on the SharePoint List ID. Create an Update item
Select the same Site Address and List name.
Configure the ID property of the Create AutoPilot Device Item in Microsoft List action:

@{body('Create_AutoPilot_Device_Item_In_Microsoft_List')?['ID']}

Configure the Title with:

@{variables('Prefix')}@{body('Create_AutoPilot_Device_Item_In_Microsoft_List')?['ID']}

The name is set correctly within Microsoft List and will be increased by one if a new device is added.
Let’s synchronize the Microsoft List with AutoPilot. Create a new HTTP action with following settings

Method	POST
Body	{ “displayName”: @{body(‘Set_Device_Name_For_New_AutoPilot_Device’)[‘Title’]} }
Authentication Type	Active Directory OAuth
Tenant	@{variables(‘TenantID’)}
Audience	https://graph.microsoft.com
Client ID	@{variables(‘ClientID’)}
Credential Type	Secret
Secret	@{variables(‘Secret’)}

URI:

https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/deviceManagement/windowsAutopilotDeviceIdentities/@{body('Set_Device_Name_For_New_AutoPilot_Device')?['AutoPilotID']}/updateDeviceProperties

Save the Logic App and Click on Run Trigger

Entire Azure Logic App flow

Results

21 replies

Christian says:
18/10/2023 at 09:16

Hi René. Excellent blog post! I’ve already implemented the solution in my environment. Thank you so much for sharing this!

I’ve tried to enhance the solution to include renaming Intune devices as well but unfortunately with no success as it seems I’m both very inexperienced with Logic Apps and API calls as a whole. I read your reply to Chris on 03/12/2022 and tried to work my way from there. The way I understand it, I need to have an additional column in the list e.g. ‘Intune ID’ as the Intune id and autopilot id are different and thus I can’t use the autopilot id to look up the device in Intune. Is this correct?
Also I tried in Microsoft Graph Explorer to manually edit the the device name of a test device in Intune by using POST https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/deviceManagement/managedDevices/{3bd92234-15ca-4c3a-be1a-78bc55cc916f}/ but the updateDeviceProperties doesn’t seem to exist here, so maybe I’ve completely lost track here?

In my perfect world, this guide would be updated to include Intune as well :-), but of course, any hints or further guidance would be very much appreciated. In any case thank you so much for this post! Even though I haven’t succeeded yet, I’ve already still learned a lot from this.

Kind regards
Christian
Reply
Jason Armitage says:
22/06/2023 at 21:05

Is it possible to get into higher numbers, 5 or 6 digits?

Is there logic to tie the computer to a location and apply a naming scheme like XYZ-#####?
Reply
- René Laas says:
  25/06/2023 at 10:01
  
  Hi Jason,
  
  Yes it is possible, you can set the naming convention to 5 or 6 digests with the Formatnumber expression. So set the following code in the Title field of the Set Device Name For New AutoPilot Device action
  
  @{variables(‘Prefix’)}@{formatNumber(body(‘Create_AutoPilot_Device_Item_In_Microsoft_List’)?[‘ID’],’000000′,’en-us’)}
  
  Now you will get for example LPT-000001 or LPT-564895
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rene
  Reply
Chris Knight says:
02/12/2022 at 12:29

René,

Fantastic blog. Thank you for sharing you work with the world. I had some missteps along the way but I’m really close to having the logic app work.

Getting an error at “Apply to each Microsoft List Device.
ActionFailed. An action failed. No dependent actions succeeded.
BadRequest. The value cannot be null. The action type ‘AppendToArrayVariable’ only supports values of types ‘Float, Integer, String, Boolean, Object’.

Error:
https://prnt.sc/7lrQ8u-XQiJz

Screen shot of workflow
https://prnt.sc/KbAtUz5jIg7q

We have AutoPilot devices in out tenant and my MS was blank. I think the issue is around or in the Apply to each Microsoft List Device the value.I changed it to variablesSerialNumber(‘SerialNumberMicrosoftList’).It populated my Asset Manager List. Manufacturer,and GroupTag didn’t populate but those aren’t important. The last run stated “ActionFailed. An action failed. No dependent actions succeeded.” All my current devices are in numeric order. I’m hoping it will work on the next device.

I won’t know till Tuesday if it worked when I enroll a new device.

Thanks again.
Reply
- Chris Knight says:
  02/12/2022 at 23:30
  
  René,
  
  My numbers are sequential but some devices are no longer in the tenant list (retired/dead). If my format is LPT### and 000 – 007 are missing and 010-024 as well etc. Will it recognize LPT167 as the last in the series? So when the new laptop is turned on and AutoPilot does it’s thing, the Logic app set to run every 3 minutes will recognize DESKTOP-5A1V5E3 and rename it to LPT168?
  
  Thanks.
  Reply
  - René Laas says:
    03/12/2022 at 13:59
    
    Hi Chris, the logic app will use the Microsoft List ID. So, if a device is deleted or retired and removed from the Microsoft list it will continue to increase the ID. So, if the MS list ID is 167, the next device will be LPT168.
    
    If you delete the object 095 to 110. The logic app will not start at 095.
    
    After a device is registered in Autopilot (not enrollment started) it will be renamed in Autopilot after the run of the logic app.
    
    Kind regards,
    
    Rene
    Reply
- René Laas says:
  03/12/2022 at 13:49
  
  Hi Chris,
  
  The action “append to array variable” in the for Apply to each Microsoft List Device loop should be @{items(‘Apply_to_each_Microsoft_List_Device’)?[‘SerialNumber’]} as described in my blogpost.
  
  Can you tell me how you configure the condition in the Apply to each Intune Managed Device loop? this should be the following:
  
  @variables(‘SerialNumberMicrosoftList’) Contains @items(‘Apply_to_each_Intune_Managed_Device’)?[‘serialNumber’]
  
  in the false part of the condition, you need to create a SharePoint create item action with the following settings:
  
  Title: @{items(‘Apply_to_each_Intune_Managed_Device’)?[‘displayName’]}
  Manufacture value: @items(‘Apply_to_each_Intune_Managed_Device’)?[‘manufacturer’]
  Model: @{items(‘Apply_to_each_Intune_Managed_Device’)?[‘model’]}
  Serial number: @{items(‘Apply_to_each_Intune_Managed_Device’)?[‘serialNumber’]}
  
  In this action the serial number is the most important value because that will be used the next run in the Append to array variable action.
  
  If you don’t get the right information, can you please share your HTTP action?
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rene
  Reply
Maccoy says:
29/09/2022 at 05:53

Great blog you have here! Can I check with you does this support Hybrid azure ad joined devices?
Reply
- René Laas says:
  01/10/2022 at 11:06
  
  Hi Maccoy,
  
  First, my advice is switch to AAD joined device. With the right setup you can reach your onprem resources. but I don’t know your configuration. But most of the time it is possible.
  
  Let’s go to the answer of your question.
  
  Hybrid AD Joined is using another method to enroll, it is not using the AutoPilot profile but a device configuration profile. so this means it is not possible via that way.
  
  But their are other ways to fix your problem, If all your device are listed in MS list, you are able to built a flow that renames the device to the name in SP List.
  
  If needed I can spend some time to figure it out and write a blog post about it. please let me know.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rene
  Reply
  - Maccoy says:
    02/10/2022 at 13:27
    
    Hi Rene,
    I understand that most SCCM/Intune professionals also recommends moving to AAD only, however our company still pushing the hybrid azure ad joined. I’m actually also thinking of putting the device details in MS list and assigning a name on the MS list as well then was thinking if Azure logic apps can actually assist in applying the device name to the client. Sure if you can have some time to test it out and write a blog about it. I would be happy to assist too in any way to test it out.
    
    Kind regards,
    
    Maccoy
    Reply
  - Maccoy says:
    05/10/2022 at 05:38
    
    Hi Rene,
    Sure, if you have the time to figure it out and post it as a blog that would really be great. Really appreciate your time in helping out.
    
    Kind regards,
    
    Maccoy
    Reply
Victor Yana says:
22/09/2022 at 10:29

Hi Rene, great blog you have here. May I know if it is possible to input the names and serial numbers in the sharepoint list and ask the logic apps to use the names provided in the list. Because our current inventory we are assigning name tags to the devices manually.
Reply
Anonymous PillowCase says:
14/09/2022 at 13:52

Hello, René

Thank you from me also for posting the instructions.

But I would like to see the code also.
It’s my very first and I’m having a problem with “Check if AutoPilot Serial Number Exist In Microsoft List”
I think that the problem is over there because it’s always False and I have the same device with different names in Asset Manager.

And can you tell me how to write the prefix if I want the devices be named like this:
Device-001
Device-002
…
Device-010
Device-011
…
Device-100
Device-101
…
Device-112
…
Reply
- René Laas says:
  15/09/2022 at 11:54
  
  Hi,
  
  to get the naming convention with 3 numbers like 101 you could use the Formatnumber expression. So set the following code in the Title field of the Set Device Name For New AutoPilot Device action
  
  @{variables('Prefix')}@{formatNumber(body('Create_AutoPilot_Device_Item_In_Microsoft_List')?['ID'],'000','en-us')}
  
  Did you set the @variables(‘SerialNumberAutoPilotDevice’) as the input for the Apply to each AutoPilot Serial Number Variable loop and set the condition to @variables(‘SerialNumberMicrosoftList’) contains @items(‘Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Serial_Number_Variable’) = [current item].
  
  If the condition is always false, can you create before the condition a compose action with both variables to check if both are filled with data?
  To be sure you don’t have any item listed in your Ms list? and you have an AutoPilot device in your tenant registered?
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rene
  Reply
Richard says:
18/08/2022 at 09:24

Hi.
Your Instructions state.
” Create a For each action with the Value output of the Parse JSON AutoPilot Devices step
Next step is to fill two variables. Create two append to array variable actions in the for each loop.
Name AutoPilot ID Value @{items(‘Apply_to_each_AutoPilot_Device’)?[‘serialNumber’]}

The Array does Not allow selection of AutoPilot ID Value. Dropdown list is only the three previous steps ( SerialNumberMicrosoftList, AutoPilotDeviceInfo, & SerialNumberAutoPilotDevice )

Please help.

Richard
Reply
- René Laas says:
  20/08/2022 at 21:00
  
  Hi Richard,
  
  I am sorry, I changed some actions in my flow and I didn’t update that one. You should use SerialNumberAutoPilotDevice. I have updated my blog and created my Logic app again. I will send you the code via the e-mail and a print screen of all the actions.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rene
  Reply
  - Victor Yana says:
    29/09/2022 at 02:33
    
    can you also share the code via email to me?
    Reply
    - René Laas says:
      01/10/2022 at 11:00
      
      Hi Victor,
      
      sorry. I cannot send you the code, their is a SP connection in the flow and in the code, so you are not able to import.
      
      Kind regards,
      
      Rene
      Reply
Richard says:
16/08/2022 at 05:58

Sorry. Still not clear on the steps. Can you reach out to me via email ? I can send you the screen grabs of the steps where it is confusing Thanks so much for your help
Reply
Richard says:
08/08/2022 at 07:49

Hi. Thanks for taking the effort to posting instructions. I got to the end of the parse json section and it returns the results. However the instructions aren’t that clear for the next steps. Are they out of order ? or could you please post more detailed instructions for each step ? Or a youtube video ? Please & thank you
Reply
- René Laas says:
  08/08/2022 at 17:43
  
  Hi Richard,
  
  Happy to help. Sorry that it was not clear enough. I had changed my flow and forget to update all the actions and images, now it up to date. Hopefully it is now more clear and you can forget the compose action that is not needed anymore.
  
  Please let me know if you need any help.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Rene
  Reply