Dave Herrell

If you manage a stock of Windows laptops for new hires, you’ve probably run into this scenario: a laptop has been sitting on a shelf for a few weeks or months and needs to be shipped to a new employee.

The problem is that you don’t necessarily want to complete the Windows first-time setup, create a temporary user account, install updates, and then clean everything back up before shipping it.

Fortunately, you don’t have to.

Windows allows you to open a command prompt directly from the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) and use PowerShell to install Windows Updates before the user ever completes their initial setup.

This is especially useful for IT teams preparing laptops that will eventually be enrolled through Microsoft Intune, Windows Autopilot, or another endpoint management platform.

The goal is simple:

Open the laptop, connect it to the Internet, install the latest Windows updates, shut it back down, and ship it to the user.

The user still receives the normal Windows first-time setup experience.

Step 1: Start the Laptop

Power on the Windows laptop normally.

Continue through the initial screens far enough to get the laptop connected to an Internet connection.

Once the laptop has Internet access, do not continue through the rest of the Windows setup process.

We’re going to do the updating from here.

Step 2: Open Command Prompt from Windows OOBE

While you’re on the Windows setup screen, press:

Shift + F10

On some laptops, especially those where the function keys control things such as brightness and volume, you may need to use:

Shift + Fn + F10

This should open a Command Prompt window directly on top of the Windows setup screen.

No Windows user account needs to be created.

Step 3: Start PowerShell

From Command Prompt, enter:

powershell

Press Enter.

You should now be running PowerShell.

Step 4: Allow the PowerShell Module to Run

Run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

If prompted to confirm the execution policy change, accept the change.

This allows us to install and use the PowerShell module needed for Windows Update.

Step 5: Install PSWindowsUpdate

Next, install the PSWindowsUpdate PowerShell module:

Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate -Force

The first time you run this, PowerShell may ask you to install or trust additional components or the PowerShell Gallery.

Accept the prompts as needed.

Once installation completes, load the module:

Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate

Step 6: Install All Available Windows Updates

Now for the important part.

Run:

Get-WindowsUpdate -AcceptAll -Install -AutoReboot

This tells PSWindowsUpdate to:

• Search for available Windows updates.

• Accept the available updates.

• Install the updates.

• Automatically reboot the laptop when required.

Depending on how long the laptop has been sitting in inventory, this process could take a while.

Grab some coffee. You’ve earned it.

What Happens After the Reboot?

The laptop should reboot normally and return to the Windows Out-of-Box Experience.

You haven’t created a user account or completed the Windows first-time setup.

At this point, I recommend checking for updates again if the machine has been sitting in inventory for a significant amount of time. Some Windows updates only become available after prerequisite updates have been installed.

If needed, open Command Prompt again:

Shift + F10

Start PowerShell:

powershell

Import the module:

Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate

And run the update command again:

Get-WindowsUpdate -AcceptAll -Install -AutoReboot

Repeat until the laptop is reasonably current.

When You’re Finished

Once the laptop has finished updating and returned to the Windows setup screen, simply shut it down.

The laptop can now be boxed back up and shipped to the employee.

When the employee powers it on, they’ll still receive the normal Windows first-time setup experience and can proceed through your organization’s normal enrollment process.

For organizations using Windows Autopilot and Microsoft Intune, this means the device can continue into your normal Autopilot enrollment and provisioning workflow without IT needing to create a temporary local user just to update Windows.

Why Bother Doing This?

I like this process for laptops that have been sitting in IT inventory because there’s no telling how many Windows updates have been released since the machine was originally received.

Sending an employee a laptop that’s several months behind on Windows updates means their first day can involve downloading and installing a mountain of patches.

Not exactly the best onboarding experience.

Pre-updating the laptop gives you a few advantages:

• The device ships with recent Windows security updates.

• The employee spends less time installing updates on their first day.

• IT doesn’t need to create a temporary Windows account.

• The normal Windows OOBE experience remains intact.

• Autopilot and Intune enrollment can still happen when the actual employee receives the device.

• Less time watching a new employee stare at “Working on updates…”

It’s a simple trick, but a useful one if you’re managing remote employees or keeping Windows laptops in inventory for future hires.

Hope you find this helpful!