Deploying a Device

Once you have content, a task sequence, and boot media, deploying a device is straightforward.

Deployment steps

1. Insert the CloudImage USB and power on the device; boot from USB (you may need to enable USB boot and, for Surface / modern devices, temporarily allow booting external media in firmware).
2. The device boots into the CloudImage deployment console.
3. Pick a Task Sequence for this build.
4. Enter a computer name - this becomes the device's Windows name.
5. Choose an Autopilot group tag - only appears if you've set tags up; see Autopilot group tags. This decides which Autopilot profile the device gets at OOBE. A name prefix can pre-select the right tag from the computer name; the operator can always override it.
6. Confirm - check the summary (task sequence, computer name, group tag), acknowledge that the local disk will be wiped, then start.
7. Watch progress on-screen. The WinPE phase partitions, applies the image, and injects drivers; the device reboots and completes the first-boot phase automatically.
8. When it finishes, the device is on the new build and, if configured, joined to Entra ID and enrolled in Intune.

Watching progress

You can also follow live progress from the portal - see Monitoring deployments.

Skip the USB (PXE / Network Boot)

On sites with a Site Server running Network Boot, devices can boot straight into CloudImage over the LAN - no USB required. Ideal for mass recovery.