Intune groups with duplicate devices

Hello Becca Hamilton

This is a known scenario when devices are reset or re‑enrolled in your environment. In Azure AD (and by extension in Intune or similar device management solutions), every time a device is reset and then re‑enrolled, a new device object is created—even if it carries the same serial number or name. Although for many management screens (like the device list in Azure AD) you might see only one "active" entry per serial number, other places (such as the group membership add dialog) can show every historical record.

1. Manual Deletion: Use the Azure AD portal to review your device list and remove the stale records.
   • In the Azure portal, go to Azure Active Directory > Devices.
   • Identify the extra records (often you can sort by "Last seen" or "Enrolled date") and delete the obsolete ones.
2. Automated Cleanup with PowerShell or Graph API: Write a script that queries for duplicate devices (for example, based on serial number or display name), filters out the active record, and then deletes the older/inactive ones.
3. An example PowerShell snippet might start with: powershell

Connect-AzureAD
$devices = Get-AzureADDevice | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -eq "YourDeviceName" }
# Evaluate $devices and decide which ones are stale (e.g., based on CreationDate or LastLogon)
$devices | ForEach-Object { Remove-AzureADDevice -ObjectId $_.ObjectId }

Remember to test any automated deletion in a non‑production environment first.

If possible, consider modifying how devices are re‑enrolled. For instance, a cleanup step can be built into your reset workflow that removes the previous record before re‑enrollment occurs.

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