We manage a fleet of corporate laptops and mobile devices across different regions. One challenge we keep facing is ensuring that devices stay on supported OS versions without relying on users to manually install updates.
Is there a way to automate OS updates so devices update themselves when needed? Also curious to know in what scenarios organizations typically automate OS updates instead of manually triggering them.
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We had a similar requirement in our environment. Our devices are used by field employees, and they rarely connect with IT for maintenance. Because of this, devices sometimes remain several versions behind.
We are exploring ways to automate OS updates so that devices install updates during off-hours without user intervention. This would reduce manual effort from our side and keep devices aligned with the supported OS versions required for our internal applications.
Another scenario for us is during device lifecycle refresh cycles.
When employees return devices after a project, we usually redeploy them to another team. Before reassigning the device, we want it updated to the latest OS version to ensure compatibility with the latest corporate apps and system configurations.
Instead of manually updating each device, we are considering automating the Update OS action so that the device installs updates as soon as it reconnects to the network.
In our case, the concern is patch compliance. Some internal tools we use require a minimum OS version to function properly. If a device falls behind on updates, those applications start failing or behave unpredictably.
You can automate the Update OS action in Hexnode using Automations so the update is triggered automatically instead of manually running the action each time.
For example, you could configure an automation that triggers the Update OS action when a device enters a specific device group.
A common setup looks like this:
Create a dynamic device group that collects devices meeting certain conditions (for example, devices running an older OS version or devices added to a staging group).
Go to the Automate tab and create a new automation.
Select the action Update OS.
Set the Trigger option as Time and Initiate as Once, ASAP.
Select the target filter as the dynamic group created earlier.
With this setup, whenever a device enters that group, Hexnode automatically triggers the Update OS action on the device.
This is often used to automatically update devices that fall behind on OS versions or devices that are being prepared for redeployment.
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