What is the the importance of Intune Primary user?

DoBongSoon 526 Reputation points
2021-08-04T17:19:52.973+00:00

Hi,

Could someone please help me clarify this, and the importance of Intune's "Primary user" based on our environment (Windows 10 devices on Intune and G3 licenses)? I noticed that some policies and apps from Intune and Azure (don't have exactly written down what they are but I came across this experience over time) respect only the Primary user of the laptop in Intune. I remember that some things either don't get installed or apply to the second user. We are concerned about how things are when we frequently swap laptops on Intune.

What happens if we remove the Primary User on a laptop?
Why is Primary user important on Intune?
Why do we have or do we have to keep the Primary user up-to-date if the laptop is being shared by multiple staff? We have a G3 license.
What happens if the Primary user account is deleted? Does it automatically clear the Primary User field and become a shared device until I assign a user to it?

Thank you.

Microsoft Intune Enrollment
Microsoft Intune Enrollment
Microsoft Intune: A Microsoft cloud-based management solution that offers mobile device management, mobile application management, and PC management capabilities.Enrollment: The process of requesting, receiving, and installing a certificate.
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  1. Lu Dai-MSFT 28,386 Reputation points
    2021-08-05T02:26:40.893+00:00

    @DoBongSoon Thanks for posting in our Q&A.

    Generally, we can deploy policies and apps to any users, the user doesn't need to be the Primary user. If you met this the situation that you said, we need to deal with it on a case-by-case basis to find the cause.

    For these questions, I will share you some information that I know:
    For Q1&2: Based on my understanding, the primary user can distinguish if the device is a "Shared Device". When there's no primary user assigned, the device is referred to as a "Shared Device".
    For Q3: With the limitation resource, I didn't find any information about this.
    For Q4: I have done the test in my lab. When I deleted the Primary user account, the Primary user field show none . When I use the account to login the Company Portal app, the action for the device greyed out.

    Before:
    120538-image.png

    After:
    120645-image.png

    120662-image.png

    Hope the above information will help.

    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
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  1. Jason Sandys 31,286 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2021-08-05T14:24:34.79+00:00
    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. DoBongSoon 526 Reputation points
    2021-08-05T15:13:31.73+00:00

    Thanks to both of you. It sounds like the laptop would still maintain the majority of its functions (security groups, apps deployment, configuration profiles) if a device is shared but with limited features *ex. Company Portal may not work well if there's no assigned user, user device affinity for inventory, reports, troubleshooting, and support that relies on the primary user).

    2 people found this answer helpful.

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