Assistance regarding laptop tracking software


aidan gamble
 

Hello to everyone

Please kindly let me know if there is any free software that is used to track the location of laptops / desktops I need to load this for a non-profit organisation

They would like to monitor their machines and see where their staff members are at certain times

Regards

Aidan


 

"Find My Device" functionality is built in under Windows 10 and Windows 11 under Settings, Update & Security, Find My Device pane.

However, and it's a critical however that so many mess up, having the ability to monitor the device's location and to lock it is dependent on having access to the Microsoft Account to which the device is linked.  That means that for an organization, they need to have created a Microsoft Account for the organization, and when the devices are initially set up, creating a Microsoft Account linked user account to associate the device with the Microsoft Account.

You can only use Find My Device capability to find devices that you own, and ownership is usually established is by linking the Microsoft Account to the device at setup time.  Based on Microsoft's own article cited below, you can apparently get around this just by creating an account with admin privileges that's associated with the Microsoft Account from which you wish to do the tracking, even if it's not the "official owner" of the device.  All of this is free, and works well, and you can play with it with your own laptop (or desktop, for that matter) if you turn on location tracking in the Find My Device Pane and then use the site, https://account.microsoft.com/devices, to monitor their locations afterward.

This functionality is off by default, and location tracking happens on some interval set by Microsoft, so after you turn it on, the result is not shown instantly.  It has to have a chance to send location data for the first time prior to being trackable.

See the PC World article: Microsoft’s ‘Find My Device’ is the PC management tool you didn’t know you needed
as well as the Microsoft article: Find and lock a lost Windows device

Other options exist, but since this one is free, and built-in to Windows 10 & 11, it's a good option.
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Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 19045

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.  One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

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