220-1102 Question 37
Single answerZero-touch deploymentA company is opening a small remote office and needs to provision 40 new Windows 11 laptops for employees who will receive the devices directly at home. The IT team wants each user to turn on the laptop, connect to Wi-Fi, sign in with a company account, and have required settings and applications applied automatically without a technician touching the device first. Which deployment approach best meets this requirement?
- A
Use Windows Autopilot with a cloud-based MDM such as Microsoft Intune to pre-register devices and apply policies during first sign-in
- B
Create a standard user account on each laptop in advance and instruct employees to join the devices to the domain after delivery
- C
Use a PXE boot deployment at the users' homes so each laptop can image itself from the corporate deployment server over the internet
- D
Ship laptops with a cloned local image and have users manually install applications from a USB drive during setup
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The best answer is Windows Autopilot with cloud-based device management. In real-world zero-touch deployment, the goal is for the OEM or distributor to ship devices directly to end users while the organization applies identity, enrollment, configuration, and application deployment during the initial setup process. For Windows environments, Microsoft documents Windows Autopilot as a method to provision devices with minimal IT involvement, especially when integrated with Microsoft Intune or another supported MDM platform. By contrast, domain joins performed manually, PXE imaging for remote users, or USB-based installation workflows all require more technician or user intervention and do not align with zero-touch deployment best practices.
- A. Correct.
Correct. Windows Autopilot is designed for zero-touch or near-zero-touch provisioning of Windows devices. Devices can be registered with the organization's tenant and automatically configured during the out-of-box experience (OOBE). When paired with a cloud management platform such as Microsoft Intune, users can sign in with organizational credentials and receive policies, configuration profiles, and application deployments without IT imaging the device first.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Pre-creating local or standard user accounts on each laptop requires hands-on setup and does not provide true zero-touch deployment. It also creates additional administrative overhead and does not automatically deliver centralized configuration and application deployment in the way modern cloud-based provisioning does.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. PXE boot is commonly used for network-based imaging on a local network, not as a practical internet-based deployment method for remote home users. It generally depends on access to a deployment server on the same network segment or through carefully managed enterprise infrastructure, so it does not fit this remote zero-touch scenario.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Shipping a cloned image and requiring users to install apps manually from USB is the opposite of zero-touch deployment. It increases user effort, introduces inconsistency, and makes compliance and application version control harder to manage.