Hey everyone! I've been setting up some new devices, specifically Surface laptops running Windows 11 Enterprise, and I've run into a frustrating situation during the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE). In the past, I'd set up a user's Temporary Access Pass (TAP) to streamline the onboarding — using it for both the initial login and Windows Hello setup. However, lately, when I try to set up these devices, OOBE seems to be rebooting before it wraps up the Windows Hello for Business (WHfB) setup. This has led me to a login screen that prompts for the user's account password instead of utilizing the TAP.
This has become a hassle, especially for local users who have to remember their credentials, and it's even worse for remote users who can't connect to Wi-Fi and are left to set everything up on their own. I've tried using Web Sign-in and LAPS, but both haven't worked out, and I'd prefer not to reset the user's account password if avoidable. We don't use Autopilot since it didn't seem efficient for our small team. I haven't found any reports about recent OOBE changes from Microsoft, so I'm feeling a bit stuck. Does anyone know of a workaround for this annoying issue?
2 Answers
Since you mentioned not using Autopilot, do you happen to have a device prep policy? Make sure to review any platform or remediation scripts assigned to the devices, as they could be inadvertently triggering reboots. Also, check any Win32 app installers to ensure they're not causing unexpected reboots by passing codes to Intune instead.
It sounds like you might be facing a typical issue with reboots during OOBE. Check if there's any device lock policy in place or something enforcing compliance, as that can interrupt the credential flow and lead to standard login prompts. You might have a system interrupting the process there.
I mentioned this to our Security team, and they don't recall making any new changes or deploying packages lately. However, we might have missed something, so I’ll definitely look into that further.