After Autopilot

Last updated: January 30, 2023
Audience: All UW

After your Windows 10 computer has been setup via Autopilot, you have a decision to make, and there are some expectations you will want to know about.

The decision: who will manage this computer?

You have three options:

  1. UW-IT’s Managed Workstation can manage it,
  2. your local IT unit can manage it via a delegated OU,
  3. it can be unmanaged by IT

If you want UW-IT to manage it, but don’t yet have a relationship with Managed Workstation, you can request a MWS customer account to get things started. You’ll then want to enable the computer for MWS. MWS will move your computer to their delegated OU.

If your local IT unit will manage the computer, then you’ll need to contact them. The delegated OU admin can move your computer to your delegated OU, then can implement any special settings required by your department.

If you do not plan to have IT manage your computer, you should be aware of the following practices for computers left in the Autopilot OU.

What should I expect if I leave my computer in the Autopilot OU?

UW-IT provides very minimal support, limited to interventions that have left you locked out of your computer. This includes:

  • not being able to sign in,
  • needing the bitlocker recovery key,
  • needing the built-in local administrator password, and
  • other scenarios we haven’t anticipated.

UW-IT will charge you time and materials on a cost-recovery basis to provide this assistance at the same rate we charge Managed Workstation customers (see Pricing at that link).

UW-IT may not be able to assist–you are managing your own computer and we may not be able to assist after you’ve done something that is not recoverable. The Managed Workstation service provides a higher level of support on a continuous basis so you aren’t left in this position.

For computers which have no contact to the NETID AD for 90 days, we will remove them. To keep your computer in good standing, you should regularly connect to the UW network either by being on the network at the UW campus or by using a UW VPN like Husky On Net. Computers which are removed from the domain but which are still in use will result in user lock out. MWS and other delegated OUs have different policies.

Setting customization is limited to what you can do locally. We will not provide custom group policy objects; what you get via the single group policy object is all you get. If your computer if left in the Autopilot OU, you should not rename your computer, if you do so, you should expect it to have significant problems, including loss of authentication and access. If you want customization, better support or a computer rename, choose one of the other IT support options.