Table of Contents

• Before you Begin
• Setup
• Notes for employee new hires
• Transferring Data from Your Old Laptop

Before you Begin

This guide will walk you through setting up your Samsara laptop with Windows. 

** Note, if you are a new hire reading this who was sent a Macbook - your department has been provisioned that as the standard model. This article is meant for Finance and specific teams only **

Important: These steps should only be followed on devices owned by Samsara. Running this process on a personal or non-Samsara device may result in all files and data on that device being erased without notice.

If you are a new hire and need help, email biztech@samsara.com with as much detail as possible and mention you are a new hire that is about to start with Samsara. The team will respond within one business day. 

Setup

1. Open your laptop

   Open your laptop. You should see a screen that says “Welcome to Samsara”.

   • If you do not see this screen, skip down to the Alternate setup process section later in this article.

2. Connect to the internet

   We recommend connecting directly with an Ethernet cable if possible.

   If you need to connect to Wi‑Fi instead:

   • Press Shift + F10 (you may also need to press Fn, depending on your keyboard).

   • In the Command Prompt window that appears, type:

     start ms-availablenetworks:
     

   • Press Enter, then choose your Wi‑Fi network and connect.

3. Sign in with Okta

   • When prompted, sign in with your Okta account.

   • Your laptop will run some setup tasks and may prompt you to sign in again. This is expected.

4. Set up Windows Hello (fingerprint and PIN)

   • You’ll be prompted to set up Windows Hello. Follow the on‑screen steps to enroll your fingerprint for quick and secure login.

   • You’ll also be asked to set up a PIN in case your fingerprint cannot be read. 

5. Finish initial setup

   • When the setup is complete, select OK. You should be taken to your Windows desktop.

6. Open Okta Verify app from the Start menu or by searching for it in the taskbar search.If you don't see it, open Company Portal, search for Okta Verify, and install it. 
7. Click Get Started. Your browser will open to samsara.okta.com.
8. If it does not open directly, type the organization Sign-In URL as https://samsara.okta.com and hit Next.
9. Complete Incode verification to add this new factor.
   • NOTE: For those in Quebec, EU, and UK, sign into Okta with your username and password.
10. When prompted, approve the request to link your device. This registers your device in Okta for FastPass.

Enable Windows Hello (fingerprint, face, or PIN) when directed.

1. Sign in to Zscaler

   • After you reach the desktop, you should see an Okta login prompt from Zscaler.

   • Sign in using your Okta credentials.

   • If Zscaler says you have timed out:

     • Click the back arrow (<) in the upper left, or

     • Re‑open Zscaler from the system tray (the Zscaler icon in the bottom right of your screen) and sign in again.

2. Run Windows Update

   Keeping Windows updated is required to prevent being blocked from Samsara systems.

   • Right‑click the Windows/Start menu.

   • Select Settings.

   • Go to Windows Update.

   • Select Check for updates and install all available updates.

3. Restart and re-check for updates

   • Restart your computer if Windows Update requires it.

   • After the restart, go back to Settings > Windows Update and make sure there are no remaining updates. Install any additional updates if needed and restart again.

If you experience any errors or something doesn’t look right:

• Email biztech@samsara.com.

• Include:

  • A screenshot or photo of the issue.

  • A short description of what you were doing when the problem occurred.

Check Point

Ensure your laptop locks the screen after closing the lid and reopening - this is important for security. If it does not, you will need to manually set it via the following steps:

1. Right click the Battery Icon on the bottom of the desktop (on the right usually)
2. Select Power Options
3. Click on Choose what closing the lid does
4. Next to When I close the lid, choose sleep for both when device is on battery and when plugged in
5. Click Save Changes

Require sign‑in after sleep

1. Open the search bar in Windows and type:
   Sign-in options

2. Select Sign-in options from the search results.

3. Under Require sign-in, choose When PC wakes up from sleep.

This ensures the laptop will always require your credentials after it wakes up.

Notes for employee new hires

Access to systems and applications will unlock on your first day of work at Samsara. Until then, your Okta apps will show a lock icon, and access to most tools will be restricted. Your IT Onboarding session on your first day will walk you through how to access your email and other core tools. Once you’ve completed the setup steps in this guide, you’re all set—there are no further action items required from the Biztech team unless you run into issues.

Note: if you are stuck with any of the steps above please reach out to biztech@samsara.com for assistance. 

Transferring Data from Your Old Laptop

When setting up a replacement Samsara laptop, you should use Google Drive to back up files from your old computer and access them on your new one. Do not use a USB drive or any other cloud service (such as iCloud, Dropbox, or OneDrive) to transfer your data.

To get started:

1. On your old laptop, make sure all important files (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.) are saved to Google Drive.
2. On your new laptop, download the Google Drive app from Company Portal. Company Portal is an app on your Windows PC — you can find it by searching for it in the Start menu or taskbar search.
3. Sign into the Google Drive desktop app with your Samsara Google account to access all of your files directly from Google Drive on your new computer. We recommend accessing your files directly via the cloud rather than downloading everything to your new laptop.