Installing Intune Portal on Ubuntu

Introduction

Microsoft Intune now supports Linux device management, allowing organizations to extend their endpoint management capabilities to Ubuntu devices. This guide walks through the installation process and highlights important prerequisites.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or later
• An active Microsoft Intune license
• Important: The appropriate role assignment to enroll Linux devices in your tenant

Required Roles

To enroll Linux devices in Microsoft Intune, you need one of the following roles assigned in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD):

• Global Administrator
• Intune Administrator
• A custom role with the Managed devices permission set

Without the proper role assignment, you won’t be able to complete the device enrollment process, even if the Intune Portal is successfully installed.

Installing Intune Portal on Ubuntu

Step 1: Add the Microsoft Package Repository

First, download and install the Microsoft package signing key:

curl -sSL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.asc
 
# Add the Microsoft Intune repository
curl -sSL https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/$(lsb_release -rs)/prod.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-prod.list

Step 2: Update Package Lists

sudo apt update

Step 3: Install Intune Portal

sudo apt install intune-portal

Step 4: Enroll Your Device

After installation, launch the Intune Portal:

intune-portal

Follow the on-screen prompts to:

1. Sign in with your organizational account
2. Accept the terms and conditions
3. Complete the device enrollment process

Verification

To verify that your device is successfully enrolled:

1. Navigate to the Microsoft Intune admin center
2. Go to Devices > All devices
3. Look for your Ubuntu device in the list

Troubleshooting

White Screen During Login

If you encounter a white screen when the Intune login window appears, this is typically related to a WebKit rendering issue. To fix this:

export WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1
intune-portal

To make this permanent, add the environment variable to your shell profile:

echo 'export WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Enrollment Fails

If enrollment fails, verify:

• You have the correct role assignments (see Required Roles section above)
• Your organization allows Linux device enrollment
• Your device meets the minimum requirements
• Network connectivity to Microsoft services is available

Package Not Found

If the intune-portal package cannot be found:

• Ensure you’ve added the correct repository for your Ubuntu version
• Run sudo apt update again
• Verify your Ubuntu version with lsb_release -a

Additional Resources

For more detailed information, refer to the official Microsoft documentation:

• Microsoft Intune support for Linux
• Enroll Linux desktop devices in Microsoft Intune
• Role-based access control (RBAC) with Microsoft Intune

Community Resources

For advanced troubleshooting and Arch Linux users:

• Microsoft Intune on Arch Linux - Community-maintained guide with extensive troubleshooting for Linux distributions

Conclusion

Managing Linux devices with Microsoft Intune provides a unified approach to endpoint management across your organization. By ensuring you have the proper role assignments before starting the enrollment process, you can avoid common pitfalls and successfully integrate your Ubuntu devices into your Intune-managed environment.