Intune Device Renaming Using Power Automate

Renaming Intune-enrolled devices in bulk has been an age-old issue. Intune has matured into a great management tool, but companies who have already invested in asset management systems are maintaining device information outside of Intune and Entra, and meeting in-house naming standards still causes friction.

Autopilot's built-in naming templates are limited to %SERIAL% and %RAND%, and Intune's bulk action option only goes so far. What if you want meaningful names linked to asset tags, location codes or user IDs?

IT pros have found creative workarounds — Entra Automation post-enrolment, domain join configuration profiles for hybrid-joined devices, and pre-staging via SCCM/MDT (please migrate to Intune only for simplicity). PowerShell deployed via Intune works too, but has limitations like not being able to reach back-end systems holding the asset data you need.

This blog walks through a better alternative — using Power Automate to inject automation and on-going flexible management. It maximises your investment in Microsoft licensing and makes changes easy to fit company needs.

What you'll need

• An Azure App registration with permissions for Intune device management
• A Power Automate Premium licence (for premium HTTP actions)
• Access to Power Automate at make.powerautomate.com

The flow and Excel template are available on GitHub.

Why Power Automate over PowerShell

Both approaches work, but Power Automate aligns with modern cloud-first IT practices. It's ideal for organisations that want to:

• Delegate tasks to helpdesk teams without giving them elevated PowerShell access
• Integrate with other Microsoft 365 services (Teams, SharePoint, Outlook)
• Build maintainable, visual workflows rather than scripts stored on someone's laptop
• React to events — a SharePoint list update, a Power Apps trigger, an asset system change

Setting up the App Registration

Create an Azure App Registration with the Graph permissions needed to read Entra devices and update Intune-managed devices. Once created, capture the Tenant ID, Client ID and Application secret — and store them somewhere safe. Azure Key Vault is the most secure option; a locked-down SharePoint list or Dataverse table also works. We've used SharePoint here to avoid Dataverse overhead and to make the credentials reusable across flows.

The Power Automate flow

The flow itself is straightforward:

1. Trigger — manual to start (you can later swap this for a Power Apps trigger, a SharePoint update or a scheduled run).
2. Get Automate settings retrieves the App registration details from the SharePoint list.
3. HTTP — Access token uses those details to request an OAuth token from Entra.
4. Parse JSON turns the raw token response into structured data.
5. Set variable stores the access token for use in subsequent Graph calls.

Retrieving rename data

For the source data we use a simple Excel document — DeviceRenameList — stored in a SharePoint document library (so we get version history). In reality this could be an extract from your asset management system, a SharePoint list, or even a custom connector talking to a live system. Wrap your data in a named table so Power Automate can read it.

For every row in the table, the flow:

• Reads the serial number and the new device name
• Calls Entra (HTTP GET) to find the device by serial number
• Retrieves the Entra device ID, operating system and ownerType
• Confirms the device is company-owned and running Windows
• Calls Graph POST /deviceManagement/managedDevices/{id}/setDeviceName with the new name

A Control action filters out personal devices and non-Windows OS — extend this easily for other platforms.

Things to watch

• Error handling. The version on GitHub keeps things readable — add Try/Catch scopes around the HTTP calls for production use.
• Sync lag. The new name appears in Intune fairly quickly, but the device itself only picks it up at the next sync. You can force a sync from Intune or the Company Portal app, or pop a message to the user asking them to reboot.
• Test in isolation first. Always run against test devices in a test tenant before rolling out to your live estate.

From script to business-as-usual process

The point of moving this into Power Automate isn't just one bulk rename — it's the ability to make device naming a maintained, business-as-usual process. Hook it into your asset onboarding workflow, your starter/leaver process, or your refresh programme, and you get a single source of truth that keeps Intune in sync with the rest of the business.

If you'd like help wiring this into your environment or building out broader Power Platform automation, our Power Platform practice can help — get in touch.