Intune: How to Force Sync on Intune Devices

Hi it’s Souhaiel and today will show you 2 ways on how to Sync Devices on Intune as you know, there are times when waiting for the default sync cycle just so boring when you have to test or push settings. Maybe you’ve pushed a critical security policy, need to troubleshoot a device issue, or ensure compliance immediately. Whatever the reason, forcing a sync lets you take control and gain a lot of time, ensuring devices update right when you need them to.

i’ll show you how to use PowerShell & Intune Admin Center to trigger quick and effective syncs whether it’s one device or thousands.

How to Force Devices to be Sync Using PowerShell:

Invoke Sync Using PowerShell

You’ll need the Microsoft Graph Intune PowerShell module.

1. Install and Connect to Microsoft Graph

Install the module and connect to Microsoft Graph:

Install-Module Microsoft.Graph.Intune -Force  
Connect-MSGraph  

2. Check Last Sync Status

To verify when a device last synced:

Get-IntuneManagedDevice | Where {$_.DeviceName -eq "LAPTOP-Win10-NW"} | fl LastSyncDateTime

3. Invoke Sync on a Single Device

Trigger a sync for a specific device:

Get-IntuneManagedDevice -Filter "contains(DeviceName, 'LAPTOP-Win10-NW')" | Invoke-IntuneManagedDeviceSyncDevice

Invoke Sync for All Devices or Specific OS

Sync All Windows Devices

To sync all Windows devices managed by Intune:

1. Collect the devices: $devices = Get-IntuneManagedDevice -Filter "contains(OperatingSystem, 'Windows')"
2. Loop through and sync: foreach ($device in $devices) { Invoke-IntuneManagedDeviceSyncDevice -ManagedDeviceId $device.ManagedDeviceId Write-Host "Sending Intune Sync request to $($device.DeviceName)" }

Sync Over 1000 Devices

For environments with more than 1000 devices, use Get-MSGraphAllPages:

$devices = Get-IntuneManagedDevice -Filter "contains(OperatingSystem, 'Windows')" | Get-MSGraphAllPages  
foreach ($device in $devices) {  
    Invoke-IntuneManagedDeviceSyncDevice -ManagedDeviceId $device.ManagedDeviceId  
    Write-Host "Sending Intune Sync request to $($device.DeviceName)"  
}

Use Bulk Device Actions on Intune Admin Center

Intune also provides bulk device actions to manage multiple devices simultaneously, saving time and effort for large deployments.

Invoke Sync using Bulk Device Actions

Default Intune Policy Refresh Cycles

To understand when devices automatically refresh policies, refer to the table below:

For more informative Skills, check out my blogs section.