3 min read

Autopilot Device Preparation Tutorial | Is it better than v1?

Picture of Nick Ross Nick Ross : Nov 17, 2025 10:40:24 AM

New Features Microsoft 365

Autopilot Device Preparation Tutorial | Is it better than v1?

Windows Autopilot has been around for years, and many admins have built entire deployment processes around what we now call “Autopilot V1.” But recently, there’s been a ton of buzz around Autopilot Device Preparation—also known as Autopilot V2.

On the surface, V1 and V2 look nearly identical:

A new device is purchased,
Windows boots into OOBE,
The user signs in,
Intune policies and apps deploy,
And the end user gets to work.

But under the hood, V2 makes big changes, especially around device registration, policy handling, app installation, reporting, and how fast your deployments actually go.

In this post, I’ll walk through the real differences between Autopilot V1 and Device Preparation (V2), show how each works, highlight the pros and cons, and share live-demo insights from running both side-by-side.

What V2 hoped to start solving for

Autopilot V1 works well but it comes with some pain points such as:

Hardware-hash collection (time-consuming)
Slow app installs or outright failures
Limited reporting
No pre-user PowerShell script execution
Dependency/order issues with Win32 apps
A lack of meaningful diagnostic feedback

Device Preparation (V2) aims to fix most of that with:

Dynamic enrollment (no more hardware hash requirements)
A new deployment profile (combines OOBE + ESP into one flow)
A dedicated staging group (the “Device Prep” group)
Script execution during provisioning
Faster app installation sequencing
New near-real-time reporting

Autopilot V1 vs. V2: Side-by-Side Comparison

blog_autopilot_v2_1

Device Registration

Feature	V1	V2
Hardware hash required	Yes	No
Dynamic registration	No	Yes
Corporate ownership detection	Auto when hash uploaded	Auto after recent fixes, OR via corporate identifiers
BYOD filtering	Yes (via hash)	Must upload corporate identifiers

App Installation

Feature	V1	V2
App install order	Unpredictable	More structured (MSI → Win32 → others)
Multiple apps install at once	Yes (causes failures)	Better sequencing
Blocking apps honored	Often unreliable	Much more reliable
Script support	Post-enrollment only	Pre-desktop + during provisioning

Policy/ESP Experience

Feature	V1	V2
ESP available	Yes	Integrated into V2 profile
OOBE customization	More options	Fewer options
Device naming	Yes	Not supported
Self-deploying mode	Yes	Not supported
White glove	Yes	Not supported

Reporting

Feature	V1	V2
Deployment status	Barely works	Near–real-time reporting
Phase tracking	No	Yes
Script results	No	Yes
App installation detail	Limited	Good (but not perfect)

Performance: Is V2 Actually Faster?

I ran a simple test:

Same device model
Same policies
Same two apps (Microsoft 365 Apps + Chrome)
Same network

Results:

Autopilot V1: ~30 minutes
Device Preparation (V2): ~10 minutes

So yes, it can be significantly faster, but there are caveats:

Large apps may vary
Apps requiring reboots can delay provisioning
Slow Wi-Fi can still break the experience
Dependency-heavy Win32 packages won’t magically fix themselves
Microsoft’s “dynamic grouping” process can lag 2–5 minutes

But overall, V2 feels cleaner and more predictable.

Michael Niehaus’ blog is one of the best for all things autopilot. He talks about this in more depth:

Windows Autopilot v2: Is it faster? It depends… – Out of Office Hours

Configuration

Microsoft has the steps to configure device prep here which is outlined well: Overview for Windows Autopilot device preparation user-driven Microsoft Entra join in Intune | Microsoft Learn

Highlights:

Enrollment Time Grouping: when a user authenticates into a device, the device is added to a pre-defined device security group during enrollment. This is what allows us to add an autopilot device without having to upload a hardware hash
Corporate Identifiers for Windows: allows pre-uploading of Windows device identifiers (serial number, manufacturer, model) and ensures only trusted devices go through Windows Autopilot device preparation.

The End-User Experience

blog_autopilot_v2_2

The above image shows the device preparation page comparison of v1 vs V2 that the user will see. I personally like V2 as its a basic progress bar for a UI vs more of the technical jargon that end users won’t care about.

Users will go through:

Keyboard layout selection
Language selection
Sign-in (choosing work vs personal—this screen cannot be skipped)
Device Preparation page (new UI)
App/script installation
Success screen → Desktop

If provisioning fails, they’ll see the now-infamous upside-down ice cream cone error screen with options:

Reset device
Export logs (if enabled)

Reporting

While reporting is certainly better in v2, i still think we will continue to use open-source repositories with the log data such as Andrew Taylors community tool: PowerShell Gallery | Get-AutopilotDiagnosticsCommunity 6.3

In Intune, you can go to Devices>Monitor and there will be a new report you can see which is what they are claiming is “near real-time”.

blog_autopilot_v2_4

Here you will be able to see live deployment status and if anything fails. This still breaks down on getting actually helpful log info if things fail. EXs:

So… Is Autopilot Device Preparation (V2) Better?

The honest answer: “It depends.” This is certainly not an all inclusive list but…

V2 is better if you want:

✔ Faster deployments (in most cases)
✔ Dynamic enrollment (no hardware hash pain)
✔ Better sequencing of apps
✔ Pre-desktop PowerShell scripts
✔ Better reporting and monitoring
✔ Simpler setup for small environments

V1 is better if you need:

✔ Hybrid join
✔ Self-deploying mode
✔ White glove provisioning
✔ Heavily customized OOBE
✔ Device naming automation
✔ Mature/enterprise workflows

My verdict:

V2 is the future, but not the present for everyone.

It still feels like a “1.0 release of a V2 product.” If you run a simple cloud-only environment, V2 is absolutely worth testing today. If you rely on enterprise-level features or complex deployments, stick with V1 for now.