Support device authentication using certificate

Policy ID
DevicePKInitEnabled
Scope
Computer Configuration
Supported on
At least Windows Server 2016, Windows 10
Source
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category
System › Kerberos

Description

Support for device authentication using certificate will require connectivity to a DC in the device account domain which supports certificate authentication for computer accounts.

This policy setting allows you to set support for Kerberos to attempt authentication using the certificate for the device to the domain.

If you enable this policy setting, the device’s credentials will be selected based on the following options:

Automatic: Device will attempt to authenticate using its certificate. If the DC does not support computer account authentication using certificates then authentication with password will be attempted.

Force: Device will always authenticate using its certificate. If a DC cannot be found which support computer account authentication using certificates then authentication will fail.

If you disable this policy setting, certificates will never be used.
If you do not configure this policy setting, Automatic will be used.

Follow this guide to configure enterprise PKI: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2340158

Options

  • Device authentication behavior using certificate:
    • Automatic
    • Force

Registry

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • DevicePKInitEnabledREG_DWORD
  • DevicePKInitBehaviorREG_DWORD

Other policies in the same category

View all policies in this category (17)