PC Buyback for Windows Autopilot devices – part 2

Introduction

In part 1 I showed you how to prepare Azure for the PC Buyback app, in this part we’ll add the Win32 app, deploy it and see how it behaves on a Windows Autopilot registered device.

Step 1. Download the scripts

Download this zip (from windows-noob.com) and extract to C:\Dev\Intune\Win32 apps

Note: you must be a logged on member of windows-noob.com to download the ZIP

PC Buyback – Intune.zip 80.27 kB

Step 2. Get ServiceUI.exe from MDT

You’ll need the ServiceUI.exe executable file to display user interfaces (UI) to end users when operating in SYSTEM context. To get the file, download and install MDT somewhere and navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Templates\Distribution\Tools\x64. To download MDT click here. Copy the 64 bit version of ServiceUI.exe file to your extracted win32app_source folder so it looks like this.

copy serviceui exe to win32app_source.png

 

Step 3. Get 7Zip for compressing files

Download 7Zip and install it. Copy 7z.dll and 7z.exe from the default folder C:\Program Files\7-Zip

copy 7zip files.png

Copy those 2 files to  C:\Dev\Intune\Win32 apps\PC Buyback – Intune\encode

copy files to encode.png

 

In PowerShell ISE run the Encode script..

ecode scripts.png

After it is completed encoding the files, you’ll have a bunch of additional text files in the encode folder.

encoded files.png

Open each text file using notepad, press CTRL+A to mark all the text, then copy using CTRL+C

mark all text.png

and paste the content of each file using CTRL+V into the corresponding section of the PCBuyback.ps1 script as shown below.

encoded files added to script.png

 

Note: The QR code used in this app points to part 1 of this blog series, but you can customize it to point to an internal knowledge base article to assist users with the entire process. One thing to keep in mind, I used https://www.qr-code-generator.com/this site to create the QR code, but you need to resize it to 118×120 pixels (in MS paint or similar).

Step 4. Modify variables

In the PCBuyback.ps1 script, configure the following email related variables:

  • $ToAddress
  • $FromAddress
  • $APIkey

to from sendmail api variables.png

 

 

Next, copy the Function URL for each of the http triggers you created in part 1, below shows you how to do that

get function url.png

paste those URLs into the corresponding variable in the script

triggers added.png

Save the changes to the PCBuyback.ps1 script.

Step 5. Get the Microsoft Win32 content prep tool

Download the Win32 content prep tool from here. Copy the IntuneWinAppUtil.exe file to your Win32 apps root folder, it should look like this.

copy intunewinapputil to win32apps root.png

Open a command prompt and browse to the PCBuyback folder structure. Launch the IntuneWinAppUtil.exe file and answer the following.

  • Please specify the source folder: win32app_source
  • Please specify the setup file: PCBuyback.ps1
  • Please specify the output folder: win32app_target
  • Do you want to specify catalog folder (Y/N)? n

as shown here.

 

intunewinapputil commands.png

Step 6. Add the Win32 app in Intune

Log into Intune and add a new Win32 App. Below are some screenshots showing how I’ve configured the app.

For Select app type, select Windows app (Win32) from the drop down menu

select app type.png

 

Click on Select app package file and point it to the pcbuyback.intunewin file in the win32app_target folder, fill in some info about the app, for the logo, click on Select image and point it to the encode folder where the icon file can be used

logo.png

 

fill in the install commands, point it to install_pcbuyback.cmd

install command.png

fill in the requirements,

requirements.png

and for detection rules point it to the detection script in the root of the PC Buyback – Intune files

detection method.png

 

finally deploy it to an Entra ID group that contains the computers that are targeted for buyback, and deploy it as Available.

Step 7. Test the app on a device

On a test device that is already enrolled into Intune and Windows Autopilot registered, add the device to the azure ad group above and launch Company Portal. The PC Buyback app should appear.

pc buyback in company portal.png

 

Click Install and after a few moments the app should appear.

app showing after launching from company portal.png

 

Clicking OK shows a warning

pc buyback warning.png

and clicking OK to the warning starts the process, after a few moments it will remove the device from Intune, then remove the Windows Autopilot registered device and zip up the logs before emailing them

zipping up the logs.png

After emailing the logs and confirmation that it’s done PC Buyback, it will restart

restarting.png

after the restart it will start resetting Windows removing all apps and settings that were on the device

resetting this pc.png

After the reset, Windows installs itself again…

windows installing.png

and after the reinstallation, it’s back to the first screen of the OOBE, so the user can now setup their device personally

 

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When the user runs PC Buyback an email is sent to the email address you configured…

email sent.png

and the process will store details in Azure tables (coming in Part 3)

Troubleshooting

If the app fails for whatever reason, it will log the details in C:\ProgramData\windowsnoob\PCBuyback\win.ap.pcbuyback.log

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