Run remote actions on devices with Microsoft Intune (2024)

In Microsoft Intune, you can remotely run and execute commands on devices.

For example:

• If a device is lost or stolen, you can reset or wipe the device.
• Your help desk can reset a password, lock the device, or collect diagnostic data.
• You can synchronize devices that haven't checked-in to Intune for a while.
• Do a quick scan or full scan of a device using Microsoft Defender Antivirus.
• And more

Use remote device actions to help you manage your devices remotely, without having to physically touch the device. This feature is available for devices that are enrolled in Intune and devices that are enrolled in other mobile device management (MDM) services.

This feature applies to:

• Android
• iOS/iPadOS
• macOS
• Windows

This article shows you how to see the available remote actions, and lists some of the common remote actions you can run on your devices.

Prerequisites

• To run remote actions, at a minimum, sign into the Intune admin center with an account that has the Help Desk Operator role. For more information on the different roles, go to Role-based access control (RBAC) with Microsoft Intune.

• To receive the remote action, the device must be connected to the internet and powered on.

Get to your devices

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center.

2. Select Devices. This view shows detailed information about the individual devices, and what you can do with them, including:

   • Overview: Shows a visual snapshot of the enrolled devices, how many devices are using the different platforms, and more.

   • All devices: Shows a list of the enrolled devices you manage.

     Use the Export feature to create a `.zip`` list of all the devices, in increments of 10,000 (Internet Explorer) or 30,000 (Microsoft Edge, Chrome).

     Select any device to view more details about that device, like hardware details, installed apps, policies, which remote actions are available for the device, and more.

   • By platform: View lists of devices by the specific platform.

     See Also

     Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) VS. Corporate-Owned: Which Policy Is Better for Your Needs? - ModeOne

   • Enrollment: Opens the enrollment page and lists the different enrollment options for each platform.

   • Configuration, Compliance, Conditional access: These options let you create new policies and view & update existing policies.

   • Device cleanup rules: Automatically removes inactive devices from Intune. For more information, go to Automatically delete devices with cleanup rules.

   • Device categories: Create device categories to help organize devices and build dynamic device groups.

   • Help and Support provides a shortcut on troubleshooting tips, requesting support, or checking the status of Intune.

Available remote actions

The available device actions depend on the device platform and the device configuration. Not all actions are available for all devices.

For a complete list of what can be done on your devices, in the Intune admin center, select Devices > All devices, and select a specific device. The available device actions are shown at the top.

The following list includes some common device actions:

You can also:

• See a full device inventory of all the devices (Devices > All devices).
• Run bulk device actions on multiple devices at the same time (Devices > All devices > Bulk Device Actions).

Resources

• Bulk device actions
• Troubleshoot device actions