How to get a Free Developer Tenant with 25 x E5 licenses and a free Top Level domain name

This step by step tutorial shows you how to create a FREE 12 month Microsoft Endpoint Manager Intune environment as well as how to get a free top level Internet routable domain name.

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The best way to learn Intune / Endpoint Manager is to actually fire up a tenant and configure one from scratch.
So how do you do this if you don't actually work anywhere with Intune already implemented?
Easy, just follow this step by step / how to / tutorial on creating a FREE Microsoft Endpoint Manager Intune environment.

This tutorial will take you through creating a developer tenant with Microsoft that comes with 25 E5 licenses. It initially starts with a three month free subscription, but then it automatically renews giving you up to 12 months free development tenant.

Note - I usually create a new Chrome profile to make sure the browser doesn't get confused with my existing Microsoft account.
Here is the step by step process to create that - Link

Creating the developer tenant
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/dev-program

This link will take you to the Office 365 login portal.
You can most likely use your existing Microsoft account, but as I have several tenants for testing, I usually create a new Microsoft account -

Create a new Office 365 email account
Get a new email address with an @outlook.com domain

After creation, you will be prompted to add your first and last name to the Microsoft account

Update details with first name and last name - https://account.microsoft.com/profile

Use Edge - InPrivate if needed

Once you have updated with your first and last name, go back to the Developer portal

Log in again - https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/dev-program

Sign in -

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/dev-program

Note - I have sometimes had to use Shift-F5 to force the page to load.

Sign up to the program

Complete the fields for the subscription
Enter choices for Products, Technologies, Codes and Languages


Be patient as there is a lot happening in the background.
I have had to do a force refresh here as well to get to the E5 subscription


Setup the E5 Subscription

Add your mobile / cell for MFA -
Respond to the challenges -

You can get the tenant to create sample users if desired.

Select go to subscription


You can now log into your E5 Developer tenant.

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Free internet routable domain name -
Before adding a domain, you can follow the steps below to get a fully internet routable domain for free which can be used for testing.

I use the free service from Freenom for test domain names -

Create an account with Freenom and sign in - freenom.com -
Select - Services - Register a new domain


Enter the domain name you want -
Note that there are five free top level domains available
- .tk
- .ml
- .ga
- .cf
- .gq

I am registering the domain - intuneadmin.tk
Note - If you leave off the tk, and then select it, it advises the domain is not available.


Use the drop down to select 12 months free.





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Add the domain to the tenant

Log into the Office 365 Admin portal.
Select - Setup - Guided setup -


Ignore Install Office - Select Continue to progress to add the domain -


Add the domain -

Verify domain -
Add the TXT record -


Follow the guide to add the txt file to the domain records at Freenom
Log into Freenom -
Services - My Domains - Select your domain - Manage Domain


Manage Freenom DNS


Select the drop down arrow - Select TXT record

In Target - add the value that the setup advises.
Save changes -



In the Office 365 Portal - Guided Setup -
Wait a few minutes and select - Verify - (This may take up to ten minutes or longer to apply)

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Create some users and license them



Share sign in information -


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Check out all my tutorials - Link 

Highlights include - 
13 part series on how to perform the initial Tenant and Intune Configuration - Link 

1. Configure DNS and CNAME
2. Company Branding - Self Service Password Reset (SSPR) - Enable Enterprise State Roaming
3. Enable Conditional Access and MFA (Multi factor authentication)
4. Configure Conditional Access Terms of Use
5. Company Terms and Conditions
6. User and Device Groups, and Device Categories
7. Set-up Autopilot profile and configure MAM and MDM scope for automatic enrollment
7a. More information regarding options for configuring the MDM and MAM user scopes
8. Enrollment Status Page
9. Enrollment Restrictions
10. Deploying Microsoft 365 apps (Office apps)
11. Enable Microsoft Store for Business and publish the Company Portal app
12. Assign Company Portal app
13. Test autopilot via register online

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About the author -
Terry Munro is an IT specialist based in Brisbane, Australia.
He draws upon over 20 years experience designing and delivering technical solutions to a variety of enterprise clients in the private, Government and Education sectors, to revolutionise client businesses through collaboration and getting the most value from a variety of cloud solutions.
He is passionate about learning new technologies and is a firm believer in sharing knowledge to provide a better experience for all.

You can connect with Terry
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-munro/
Facebook - @IntuneAdmin - https://www.facebook.com/IntuneAdmin/
Facebook Community Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/intuneadmin/ 
GitHub Repository - https://github.com/TeamTerry