Win 11 23H2 SE

[TotalRecall]

Hi,

First post so please advise if there is something I'm missing.

 

I am reaching out for advice and assistance regarding the deployment of Windows 11 SE 23H2 on Microsoft Surface SE laptops managed by Intune. Our organization is facing challenges with installing specific applications, such as Securus, on these devices, especially when they are initially running on the older version of Windows 11 (21H1) out of the box.

 

We have observed that after 'pre-provisioning', even though we have configured the devices, we still need to manually log in and update each laptop to Windows 11 version 23H2. Once updated to 23H2, the applications seem to install without any issues. However, the main hurdle we are encountering is the lack of installation media for Windows 11 SE (As an up-to-date fresh install would resolve this issue). With over 50 laptops of the same kind, its going to be a major ball ache to get these updated to 23H2.

 

tl;dr:

Running devices on Windows 11 SE and want to find out how to:

 

• Automate the update process from Windows 11 21H1 to 23H2 on Microsoft Surface SE laptops managed by Intune.
  
  
• Explore alternative methods for deploying Windows 11 SE 23H2 without relying solely on manual updates.
  
  

Any insights, suggestions, or experiences shared by the community would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help and support in resolving this issue.

Mark

[mjhardisty]

Feature update should be the Intune policy to use to force OSes to specific versions:

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/protect/windows-10-feature-updates

 

Whether this deploys quickly enough though is another matter ...

[PhilWessell]

We have just over 300 of these devices. Annoyingly they're now end of line and only around 150 left in stock in the UK with no direct replacement.

 

However, the images can be downloaded from Microsoft here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface-recovery-image, they only have 21H2 and 22H2 and no 23H2. It did take them 6 months to create the 22H2 after it was released, so I'm not hold my breath that it'll be released at all!

 

We're now looking at putting full Windows 11 on them with some tweaks to make it run smoother.

 

Phil

[TotalRecall]

Thank you for this response, we did have feature updates on but I was personally under the assumption it would've updated during the pre-provisioning process which to me made sense instead of having to get a user to log in to continue updating the device. And so, whilst this does work its not the resolution were looking for; as you referred to the deployment times, definitely not quick enough.

Thanks though!

[TotalRecall]

We have just over 300 of these devices. Annoyingly they're now end of line and only around 150 left in stock in the UK with no direct replacement.

 

However, the images can be downloaded from Microsoft here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface-recovery-image, they only have 21H2 and 22H2 and no 23H2. It did take them 6 months to create the 22H2 after it was released, so I'm not hold my breath that it'll be released at all!

 

We're now looking at putting full Windows 11 on them with some tweaks to make it run smoother.

 

Phil

 

This insight has helped a lot, thank you for your response. Sucks that they have yet to release 23H2, Installing full windows 11 was a thought I had myself but I cant imagine it would run the best and of course, I wasn't sure I would be able to revert back to SE. Let me know how it goes!

Thanks

[PotNoodleTech]

We have just over 300 of these devices. Annoyingly they're now end of line and only around 150 left in stock in the UK with no direct replacement.

 

How old are they if you don't mind me asking.

[PhilWessell]

By using the recovery image, you're in essence wiping the hard disk and starting fresh with SE again.

[PhilWessell]

The 1st batch of 120 is 18 months old. The 2nd batch of 180 is 6 months old.

 

We've got a time and date issue with some of them too which they claim to have recently acknowledge and have rolled out an update to fix.

[PotNoodleTech]

The 1st batch of 120 is 18 months old. The 2nd batch of 180 is 6 months old.

 

We've got a time and date issue with some of them too which they claim to have recently acknowledge and have rolled out an update to fix.

 

Wow I would be extremely annoyed if those devices couldn't be updated after only 6 or 18 months that's outrageous!!!

[PhilWessell]

From my compliance reports in Intune admin center, I can see they are all running 22H2. I'll see if I can grab one and force it to 23H2 locally or via an update policy.

 

They still receive security updates from Microsoft as normal so they're still Cyber Essentials compliant.

[TotalRecall]

From my compliance reports in Intune admin center, I can see they are all running 22H2. I'll see if I can grab one and force it to 23H2 locally or via an update policy.

 

They still receive security updates from Microsoft as normal so they're still Cyber Essentials compliant.

 

You can force the devices to search for windows updates using Configure feature updates policy for Windows 10 Windows 11 devices in Intune | Microsoft Learn feature updates in intune. However, this seems to only happen after the device has been provisioned and logged into, at which point in my instance its not fast enough as I needed 23H2 for the software I wanted to correctly install prior to giving it to the end user. We have streamlined the process by getting rid of one of the pieces of software that was not essential for our use case.

[KK20]

We use surface GO, I created a new update ring and away Intune went. Seems to work for us.