Adding iOS devices to Apple Business Manager with Apple Configurator 2

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With the Apple Business Manager, company-owned Apple iOS devices can be automatically deployed and enrolled to Miradore when performing the initial device setup.

Before iOS 11, Apple allowed only the devices purchased from Apple or Apple authorized resellers to be added in Apple Business Manager. In iOS 11 that restriction has been lifted and now it's possible to add any iOS 11+ devices to Apple Business Manager using Apple Configurator, no matter where the devices have been purchased.

Notice that previously purchased macOS devices cannot be added to Apple Business Manager (Apple DEP) with Apple Configurator.

Grace period

The configurator enrollment has a grace period of 30 days. During this time, the device user will see an option to Leave remote management. Once the grace period has passed, the option disappears from the device end.

Requirements

  • You need a Mac with Apple Configurator 2.5 or newer and an USB connection to the device
  • Make sure your device runs iOS 11 or later
  • You should have Device Manager user role in Apple Business Manager
  • Good to know: device reset is required

Steps for enrolling an iOS device to Apple Business Manager with Apple Configurator

It is recommended to reset the device before starting the process. In this way the probability of errors is smaller. You can reset the device through the device's Settings > General > Reset > Erase all content and settings.

  1. Connect the device to the Mac with an USB cable.

  2. Prepare a Wi-Fi profile, which will be pushed to the device later. Start doing this by choosing File > New Profile. Then select Wi-Fi and configure the settings.

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  3. Right-click on the device on and click Prepare.

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  4. In the wizard, select Manual configuration and Add to Device Enrollment Program. Also uncheck Activate and complete enrollment.

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  5. When asked to choose an MDM server, define one by giving the name Miradore and using the URL https://gateway.miradore.com. After hitting next, you'll see the certificates fetched from that site. Continue by hitting Next again.
     
  6. Next you're asked to sign in to the Device Enrollment Program with an Apple ID that has access to the DEP portal.
     
  7. Choose to generate a new supervision identity.

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  8. Next you'll be asked to configure the iOS Setup Assistant, but you can skip this step and proceed with next, because you can later set these settings in Miradore after which they will become effective through Apple DEP.

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  9. Choose the Wi-Fi profile that you created before in the second step, and click Prepare. Before doing that, however, make sure that you don't have any Apple ID defined in the device, because if there is, the preparation will fail, and the device gets locked down.

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  10. The iPad preparation takes a few minutes after which the device should appear into the Apple Business Manager, so wait until the iPad preparation is complete. After this step, you can put the device aside for a moment. You'll need to handle it again on step 17.

  11. Once ready, navigate to https://business.apple.com/ and sign in.

  12. In the portal, go to the Settings > MDM servers. There you should see your MDM servers and the device that you just added. All the devices added to DEP with Apple Configurator will automatically appear under MDM server Apple Configurator 2.

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  13. You can assign the devices to another MDM server in Apple Business Manager. To do this, use the Download link to download the device serial numbers as a CSV file. Then go to Device Assignments and paste the serial numbers to the Serial Numbers field. Select Assign to server and the desired MDM Server where the devices should be assigned to.

    AssignDevicesToAnotherMDMServer.png
  14. Next, login to your Miradore site at: https://login.online.miradore.com/Login and go to the Enrollment > Apple DEP view. Click the Update button and choose whether you want to update all devices or just the new and changes ones. After that, you should be able to see the device listed in the view.

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  15. Select the new device from the view and assign an enrollment profile to the device by choosing Actions > Assign enrollment profile. When doing this, you can add tags for the device if you want to. Dep tag is added automatically.

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  16. If you want, you can check the enrollment profile settings by using the Enrollment profile settings action. There, you can choose how the device is configured during the DEP enrollment. For example, you can enable Supervised mode and deny the MDM profile removal.

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  17. Next, you can start up the device setup wizard on your iOS device from the Hello screen. Enter the requested settings like language, region and Wifi settings.

    The device connects to Apple services and you will soon see the Remote Management screen on the device. Click Next from the top-right corner and follow instructions to complete the device setup.

    In this phase, the device will be enrolled in Miradore which then installs the device automatically as administrators have configured at their Miradore site.

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Soon, you should be taken to the home screen and you can start to use the device. Of course, it still may take some minutes before the device finishes up all the assigned installations. In Miradore, you should be able to see the device in the Devices view. One thing that you still might need to do, is to assing a user for the device on the Device page.

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