How to Enroll a Linux device in Intune: Step-by-Step Guide

This step-by-step guide covers the steps to enroll a Linux device in Intune. You can sign up your personal Linux device for Microsoft Intune and use Microsoft Edge to get secure access to work or school resources.

Starting with the Intune Service Release 2210, Microsoft added the capability to enroll Linux devices in Intune. Adding the Linux devices to Intune increases security and enables quality collaboration for Linux desktops.

A quick note on managing Linux devices using SCCM. The support for managing Linux devices using Configuration Manager ended long ago. For anyone looking to manage Linux devices in the cloud, Intune is currently the best option available.

Let’s get started with the Intune Linux enrollment guide that covers the system requirements and describes how to enroll and register a work or school-provided device on your organization’s network.

System Requirements

The following are the system requirements for enrolling a Linux device Intune:

Operating Systems

• Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 or 20.04 LTS (physical or Hyper-V machine with x86/64 CPUs)
• RedHat Enterprise Linux 8
• RedHat Enterprise Linux 9

Devices must be configured with a GNOME graphical desktop environment, which is automatically included with Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 and 20.04 LTS.

Encryption

Microsoft recommends enabling encryption when you first install Ubuntu Desktop on your device. Your organization may require your device to be encrypted, and it’s easiest to encrypt the device during OS installation.

Enrollment

Linux devices enrolled with Microsoft Intune are considered corporate-owned devices. Device enrollment isn’t supported with personal devices.

Prerequisites

You must install the following apps on your Linux device before enrollment:

• Microsoft Edge web browser, version 102.x or later: On Ubuntu, you will find the Firefox browser pre-installed. However, the Edge browser needs to be installed for enrollment as it is used to access your organization’s websites and other online resources.
• Microsoft Intune app: Unlike for Windows and Mac, there is no dedicated Intune company portal app for Linux devices. The Linux version of the Microsoft Intune app must be manually installed for the device enrollment. The Intune app registers your device with your organization and enrolls it in Intune.

Enrolling Linux devices in Microsoft Intune

Linux enrollment is automatically enabled in the Microsoft Intune admin center. We’ll now go through the steps for enrolling Linux devices in Intune. To demonstrate, I will be enrolling an Ubuntu Linux in Intune.

Step 1: Download and Install Ubuntu Desktop

Before you install the Ubuntu, you must first download the Ubuntu Desktop ISO file by visiting the downloads section. As per Microsoft, Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 or 20.04 LTS OS are supported for Enrollment.

You can set up a virtual machine for installing the Ubuntu, or create a linux VM in Azure for enrollment. Mount the Ubuntu desktop ISO file and wait for the setup screen. On the Install page, select the desired keyboard layout and click Continue.

The best part about the Ubuntu desktop is it lets you download the updates while installing the operating system. This ensures the OS is patched with latest updates. You must also enable the option “Install third-part software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media formats“. Click Continue.

On the Installation Type page, select Erase disk and install Ubuntu. Click “Install Now.”

Enter the account name, computer name, and username and enter a complex password. Click Next.

The Ubuntu installation begins and takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete. You must restart the computer to complete the installation.

Step 2: Install Microsoft Edge for Linux

As mentioned earlier, to add Linux devices to Intune, Microsoft Edge should be installed on the device and used as the browser to access company resources. On the Ubuntu desktop, you will find the Firefox browser pre-installed, and you can use the same to download the Microsoft Edge browser.

To install Edge browser on Ubuntu, open the Firefox browser and go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge and download the Debian/Ubuntu (.deb) installation. When prompted, click the Accept and Download button.

We see the Microsoft Edge .deb install file will download to a default location on Linux. Open the .deb file and choose whether you want to open it with Archive Manager or Software Install. I am going to select the Software Install option here.

Click on the “Install” button to get the latest version of Microsoft Edge browser on Ubuntu Desktop.

Upon the completion of Edge browser installation, click Show Applications and in the search box type “Edge” and this should list Microsoft Edge in the search results.

This completes the steps to install the Microsoft Edge browser on Ubuntu Linux.

Step 3: Install Microsoft Intune app for Ubuntu Desktop

The Microsoft Intune app lets you enroll your Linux device in Intune. However, there is a set of commands that you need to run on a Linux device before you could install the Intune app on it. To execute these commands, ensure you use an account that has the privileges to install the programs on your Linux distro.

The Microsoft Intune app source files are available at https://packages.microsoft.com/.

You must use the Terminal app to run the below commands during the installation of the Intune app for Linux. Click on Show Applications and launch the Terminal app.

Install Curl

The first step you need to do is install curl. In the Terminal window, enter the below command to install Curl.

$ sudo apt install curl gpg

When installing Curl, if you are asked for the password, enter it and continue with the installation. From the terminal output, we see that Curl is installed on the Linux machine.

Check the Ubuntu version

You can check the version of your Ubuntu Desktop by running the following command:

lsb_release -a

In the below screenshot, you see that the release version is 22.04.

Install Microsoft Package Signing Key

Once you’ve determined the version of Ubuntu desktop, run the below commands to install the Microsoft package signing key.

Ubuntu 20.04

For Ubuntu 20.04, install the Microsoft package signing key using the following commands.

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 microsoft.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/20.04/prod focal main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-ubuntu-focal-prod.list'
sudo rm microsoft.gpg

Ubuntu 22.04

For Ubuntu 22.04, install the Microsoft package signing key running the below commands.

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 microsoft.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/ 
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/prod jammy main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-ubuntu-jammy-prod.list' 
sudo rm microsoft.gpg

Install Intune App on Linux

It’s time to install the Intune app on our Ubuntu machine. Run the below command to install the Intune app for Linux.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install intune-portal

Reboot your Linux device

After running the above commands, you must reboot your Ubuntu desktop. This is an important step because in some cases the Intune app doesn’t show up in the list of installed apps on Ubuntu.

Verify Intune app installation on Ubuntu

In this step, we will show you how to check if the Intune app is installed on your Ubuntu desktop. Sign in to your Linux device, click Show Applications and type “Intune” in the search box. If the Microsoft Intune app shows up in the list of installed programs, it means that the app was installed on your Linux device successfully.

Step 4: Enroll Linux device in Intune

In this section, we will describe the steps for enrolling the Ubuntu device in Intune. Sign in to the Linux device and launch the Microsoft Intune app.

The Intune Agent requires signing in to get access to work or school resources and keep them secure. Click on the Sign-in button to begin the enrollment process.

Sign in with your work or school account.

You will now be asked to register the device. Click the Register button.

Click the Begin button to start the device registration process.

On the next screen, you will see what all your organization can see or do when you enroll Linux devices in Intune.

The following details are collected by Intune agent and sent to Microsoft during the device registration.

• View Model, serial number, and operating system.
• Names of the apps you’ve installed.
• Identify the device name.
• View the information collected by work apps and networks.

Click Begin to continue with the device enrollment.

Once your Linux device is registered, the device will automatically check for compliance. In the below screenshot, we see the status of the Linux device shows as Compliant. The status shows as “Compliant” because we haven’t configured any compliance policies for Linux devices.

That completes the Linux enrollment procedure for Intune.

Step 5: View the Registered Linux Devices in Intune Portal

To view registered Linux devices in the Microsoft Intune portal:

• Open the Microsoft Intune admin center.
• Select Devices > By Platform > Linux.
• The list of all Linux devices that have been enrolled is displayed here.

Conclusion

We hope the steps covered in this guide helped you to enroll your Linux devices in Intune. As long as your devices meet your organization’s requirements, they will continue to have work access. We have to wait and watch to see if Microsoft introduces automated enrollment to onboard the Linux devices into Intune and adds more manageability features such as deploying updates, apps, etc. in the coming months.