An MS rep on another board posted an announcement regarding a new configuration tool called Windows Autopilot. 
(MS Linky)

It looks like it could be decent in certain use cases, but he got really, really miffed when I asked a question. Per the demo video, it shows how a Win 10 box asks MS for a configuration as soon as it gets a network connection. This is pre- user login, pre- user configuration. I asked if this meant that EVERY win10 box would now be contacting MS to (if it exists) pull a configuration for it as soon as they were hooked up, and that if the answer was yes, it could get some people's panties royally bunched.

I signed up for a Live Web Demo Q&A on it... I wonder if they'll accept my questions? I hate to sound like a tin foil malcontent, but if there's a mechanism where my computers are automatically asking an external entity how they should autoconfigure themselves, I'm not 100% comfortable with this. 

I'm not familiar with the product, but it seems like that functionality could be dictated by the image you're installing.  I know LTE-capable devices have an internet connection by default, so they're also trying to ping for updates before setup is complete.

The rep didn't have an answer about what triggered the check - A specific WinPro sku, a specific configuration setting, any Win10 after the impending bi-annual refresh, etc. I have no problem with this if it has to be manually allowed, either by vendor customization or user configuration, but if it's automatically enabled across the board... That will make a lot of difference in perception of this feature. 

 I expect the presentation Thursday will provide answers. 

Tag for follow up info.


ByteTheBullet  (-:

Sounds like it could be prevented by a FW rule.

Yes - a FW rule could prevent it, but that's only likely to happen in a corp environment.

As best I recall, starting with the newest Win 10 upgrade, this will happen with all Win10 SKUs. A question I didn't think to ask - is this only once during setup (reimage or restage counts) or on a periodic basis during use?