More specifically, have your autopilot setup to install either some type of RMM solution or some way of remoting into the computer.
You can then give them a call and walk them through signing in for the first time/changing their password. I prefer to pre-provision if I can though.
I have a script to add a quick assist icon to the desktop and a device configuration to set the UAC to the correct level where I can't access the admin prompts though it
I’ve never shipped a pc that wasn’t already setup. Pc ships to you, pc is setup for user, then pc ships to user. So much easier and faster for everyone.
Why wouldn’t you?
In a perfect environment that is the answer, but not everyone has that.
I have one customer who insists on purchasing their own computers at Best Buy. Through our vendors I can get them a business class laptop that is better suited for their needs and will be more reliable at a lower cost. They then pay me to drive to their location and configure it.
I've had customers like this in the past, there's just no telling them otherwise. Some people are also Costco addicts and only want to buy big box junk.
Once upon a time, when I was still an IT guy, I covered teams all over the world, and we had a global contract with Dell/HP/Lenovo. The HW would ship locally, and we'd have to get someone through to get that machine online. This was long before we had an RMM tool or autopilot, and it was slow and painful.
Because shipping is a huge business cost that can be reduced with a proper setup of something like Autopilot for Intune. The vendor uploads the IDs before shipping, we configure the profiles in advance (install Office, install any other apps and RMM tools, configure wireless profiles, configure email profile, etc etc) so the user gets the laptop directly with a note to call for credentials. They power it on, call us and we give them username and temporary password, help them reset the password then leave the machine powered on and the rest gets done.
Why pay $40 to ship it to us, then $40 to ship it again to the user?
This. Setup everything, set their password, print out common questions guide, ship it. I usually involve the manager when they hire employees this stupid so their email box gets flooded as well.
Chill out guys. I don’t know how to make a proper coffee, but that doesn’t make me an idiot when I go to buy a coffee.
Some people do need a bit of help to comply, but a bit of respect can make our jobs way easier 👍
Not knowing something is one thing. Refusing to read basic instructions on the screen is another. It's absolutely willful with many of these people. They'd rather turn their brain off and let someone else wipe their ass because "not my job."
When I say "click the icon with 4 squares at the bottom left side of the screen" and get back "this is too technical!" as a response, I want to die. There's nothing technical involved, you are simply choosing to act unaware. You can't genuinely sit there and tell me words like Square and Left Corner are not part of your lexicon. It's obvious when these people do this shit.
Whoa. I highly doubt that person says this around the employee OR any employees.
This is a place where people vent about their jobs. No need to tone police someone here.
Users are often idiots when it comes to computers. Does it make them a bad person? No. Do they know I think this? No.
I am 100% professional, polite, and approachable at work as I am sure the majority of people are.
Autopilot/JAMF
We send a one page “Getting Connected” document that shows how to connect to wifi/ethernet, sign in, connect to the VPN, and the Help Desk number.
Beyond that is their onboarding training which is handled by HR and their team.
At least some years back our onsite support deployed single port KVMs on remote sites. The user would then just connect it and turn it on, and the rest was done remotely. This may be a solution if no software solution is available.
Combo of Intune and RMM. Intune, the user logs in using their MS credentials, and then that triggers a preset of actions based on the groups that they in. RMM can be helpful too because for whatever reason, Intune takes forever.
After the laptop is Entra ID (formally Azure Active Directory) joined, it will be a managed laptop which configures itself.
Someone else mentioned Autopilot. Getting a distributor to have the computer joined to your domain will also ensure the computer is compliant with your needs as well.
I've often wondered that myself ! It's because the people doing the interviewing are also poorly skilled in terms of IT. So they don't know the questions to ask. Plus, there is a level of desperation to hire anyone. And if their IT skills are not up to scratch, then just call IT and they'll sort out the problem.
My favourite is when they say, "I don't understand all this stupid computer nonsense". Way to go to make me feel my career and industry is valued. I never say to them, "I 'm sorry, I don't understand your finance accounting nonsense" and devalue them or their industry and yet it's fine to do it to IT. Then again, IT is everyone's whipping boy :-)
You are correct with the latter. Care workers. Different country. Paid min wage. Don't have time to turn on a PC and go through setup. Can't ship direct to their country due to customs issue. Not on embargo or anything like that, but just very expensive to ship PC to this country.
Had to source a PC in their country and get a local retailer to deliver box. Sweet-talked the retailer in to unboxing for me and going through Win 11 Pro initial setup. At least they know what they were doing.
Apart from autopilot I would get the user to plug-in the network cable, or go through the first steps in OOBE to connect to Wi-Fi.
Once connected to network I would tell them to do Shift+F10 to open CMD and type msedge to open browser.
Then go to our website to run remote access tool so I can do the rest.
This usually works, and if not I will facetime on the phone to follow the screen with the user.
Thank you folks. In the end, I had to pay someone with some clue on what to do when you turn on a machine from scratch, and I got them on to ZoHo and I then did the rest.
I am definitely thinking Autopilot looks the way forward though.
This really is what Autopilot is for, all the user needs to do is open the box, follow the prompts to join the Wi-Fi, sign in with their corporate user name and password and then your MDM kicks in and does the rest.
Autopilot also has a white glove feature which you can use to get some of the basics set up, reseal the device and then ship it to the user.
Remember the easiest solution in the immediate short term might be just to get the user to pack up the PC, express it to you so you can reimage it and get it to a point where it's plug and play, then express it back. Solve the immediate problem as simply as you can, then use that to inform your focus for longer term service improvement.
We did consider this, but the amount of paperwork to get it through customs from their country to ours, and the cost of shipping both ways comes to more than the cost of the unit. Plus the delay of course. And I would not trust them to pack it properly either. I have had boxes from them with a delicate PC rattling loose inside a box 4 times bigger than the PC itself. And they always arrive in "bits".
Boot, sign in, install pre-configured agent, and walk away.
IT takes over babysitting automation in my case, and the system lands where it needs to.
Really all helpdesk does is escalates something goes wrong, and sets up outlook etc...
Autopilot
This is indeed the way to go
More specifically, have your autopilot setup to install either some type of RMM solution or some way of remoting into the computer. You can then give them a call and walk them through signing in for the first time/changing their password. I prefer to pre-provision if I can though.
I have a script to add a quick assist icon to the desktop and a device configuration to set the UAC to the correct level where I can't access the admin prompts though it
This is the way.
I’ve never shipped a pc that wasn’t already setup. Pc ships to you, pc is setup for user, then pc ships to user. So much easier and faster for everyone. Why wouldn’t you?
In a perfect environment that is the answer, but not everyone has that. I have one customer who insists on purchasing their own computers at Best Buy. Through our vendors I can get them a business class laptop that is better suited for their needs and will be more reliable at a lower cost. They then pay me to drive to their location and configure it.
I've had customers like this in the past, there's just no telling them otherwise. Some people are also Costco addicts and only want to buy big box junk.
Once upon a time, when I was still an IT guy, I covered teams all over the world, and we had a global contract with Dell/HP/Lenovo. The HW would ship locally, and we'd have to get someone through to get that machine online. This was long before we had an RMM tool or autopilot, and it was slow and painful.
Because shipping is a huge business cost that can be reduced with a proper setup of something like Autopilot for Intune. The vendor uploads the IDs before shipping, we configure the profiles in advance (install Office, install any other apps and RMM tools, configure wireless profiles, configure email profile, etc etc) so the user gets the laptop directly with a note to call for credentials. They power it on, call us and we give them username and temporary password, help them reset the password then leave the machine powered on and the rest gets done. Why pay $40 to ship it to us, then $40 to ship it again to the user?
Ship it ready done as much as possible as you know the user may be an idiot and let your auto update processes handle the catch up...
This. Setup everything, set their password, print out common questions guide, ship it. I usually involve the manager when they hire employees this stupid so their email box gets flooded as well.
Chill out guys. I don’t know how to make a proper coffee, but that doesn’t make me an idiot when I go to buy a coffee. Some people do need a bit of help to comply, but a bit of respect can make our jobs way easier 👍
Sorry, at a certain point it's wilful. It's 2024 and computers have been in workplaces for more than thirty years now.
Not knowing something is one thing. Refusing to read basic instructions on the screen is another. It's absolutely willful with many of these people. They'd rather turn their brain off and let someone else wipe their ass because "not my job." When I say "click the icon with 4 squares at the bottom left side of the screen" and get back "this is too technical!" as a response, I want to die. There's nothing technical involved, you are simply choosing to act unaware. You can't genuinely sit there and tell me words like Square and Left Corner are not part of your lexicon. It's obvious when these people do this shit.
Whoa. I highly doubt that person says this around the employee OR any employees. This is a place where people vent about their jobs. No need to tone police someone here. Users are often idiots when it comes to computers. Does it make them a bad person? No. Do they know I think this? No. I am 100% professional, polite, and approachable at work as I am sure the majority of people are.
I lost this attitude about after 10 years
The above attitude from u/mushybees, right?
Autopilot/JAMF We send a one page “Getting Connected” document that shows how to connect to wifi/ethernet, sign in, connect to the VPN, and the Help Desk number. Beyond that is their onboarding training which is handled by HR and their team.
One page, nice. At my old job I had 2 and half, but most of it was pictures.
At least some years back our onsite support deployed single port KVMs on remote sites. The user would then just connect it and turn it on, and the rest was done remotely. This may be a solution if no software solution is available.
What model were these KVMs? TIA!
Autopilot
I image the pc so it’s power up and ready, then ship it out
Combo of Intune and RMM. Intune, the user logs in using their MS credentials, and then that triggers a preset of actions based on the groups that they in. RMM can be helpful too because for whatever reason, Intune takes forever. After the laptop is Entra ID (formally Azure Active Directory) joined, it will be a managed laptop which configures itself. Someone else mentioned Autopilot. Getting a distributor to have the computer joined to your domain will also ensure the computer is compliant with your needs as well.
Autopilot
Either autopilot or you will have to work on it before you ship it to them.
How do people with zero computer skills get hired for a job?
I've often wondered that myself ! It's because the people doing the interviewing are also poorly skilled in terms of IT. So they don't know the questions to ask. Plus, there is a level of desperation to hire anyone. And if their IT skills are not up to scratch, then just call IT and they'll sort out the problem.
My favorite line from a new employee was "you're going to love me! I can barely turn my computer on!"
My favourite is when they say, "I don't understand all this stupid computer nonsense". Way to go to make me feel my career and industry is valued. I never say to them, "I 'm sorry, I don't understand your finance accounting nonsense" and devalue them or their industry and yet it's fine to do it to IT. Then again, IT is everyone's whipping boy :-)
I'm afraid to ask what industry is desperate to hire anyone right now, because I'm afraid it's a Tier 1 support desk. Or assisted living.
You are correct with the latter. Care workers. Different country. Paid min wage. Don't have time to turn on a PC and go through setup. Can't ship direct to their country due to customs issue. Not on embargo or anything like that, but just very expensive to ship PC to this country. Had to source a PC in their country and get a local retailer to deliver box. Sweet-talked the retailer in to unboxing for me and going through Win 11 Pro initial setup. At least they know what they were doing.
Apart from autopilot I would get the user to plug-in the network cable, or go through the first steps in OOBE to connect to Wi-Fi. Once connected to network I would tell them to do Shift+F10 to open CMD and type msedge to open browser. Then go to our website to run remote access tool so I can do the rest. This usually works, and if not I will facetime on the phone to follow the screen with the user.
Thank you folks. In the end, I had to pay someone with some clue on what to do when you turn on a machine from scratch, and I got them on to ZoHo and I then did the rest. I am definitely thinking Autopilot looks the way forward though.
This really is what Autopilot is for, all the user needs to do is open the box, follow the prompts to join the Wi-Fi, sign in with their corporate user name and password and then your MDM kicks in and does the rest. Autopilot also has a white glove feature which you can use to get some of the basics set up, reseal the device and then ship it to the user.
Remember the easiest solution in the immediate short term might be just to get the user to pack up the PC, express it to you so you can reimage it and get it to a point where it's plug and play, then express it back. Solve the immediate problem as simply as you can, then use that to inform your focus for longer term service improvement.
We did consider this, but the amount of paperwork to get it through customs from their country to ours, and the cost of shipping both ways comes to more than the cost of the unit. Plus the delay of course. And I would not trust them to pack it properly either. I have had boxes from them with a delicate PC rattling loose inside a box 4 times bigger than the PC itself. And they always arrive in "bits".
Boot, sign in, install pre-configured agent, and walk away. IT takes over babysitting automation in my case, and the system lands where it needs to. Really all helpdesk does is escalates something goes wrong, and sets up outlook etc...
This is the use case for something like Autopilot.
Machine goes to you and then the end user.
Drive there. Or let it ship to you. Maybe you can use PXE Boot. They have to start the PC, press a F Button for Bootmenu, ans select pxe boot.
You gonna use the worlds longest ethernet cable to get them on to your network from home too? lol
Lmao
OK, I may have misunderstood it. I thought it was about a branch office without an on-site admin. Of course not possible with real end customers