Same configuration on multiple macs

Hi there!


Which would be the best way to install the same installation/configuration in multiple computers?


What we need to do is set up three new machines for our business, and we would like them to have the exact same apps, configuration, visualization etc. But different user. Can we do that with Migration Assistant? Do we have to install the same apps and plugins three times in the same way? I know you can use Time Machine or Migraion Assistant but we are worried about creating new users for each and how will it affect for example documents folder or application support if these folders are within user folder.


thanks!!

Posted on Jul 11, 2019 11:36 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 15, 2019 7:43 AM

BobTheFisherman's comment about license is an important one, related to that some software has installation methods that make it harder to install as part of a standard 'build' on multiple machines. If it uses a USB dongle I would think/hope that would be less of a problem here.


Getting back to the issue of 'building' multiple mostly identical Macs then this historically was done via an 'Imaging' process and workflow using tools like either Apple's own System Imaging Server or DeployStudio.


These days Apple prefer you to use 'DEP' - Device Enrolment Program and this involves registering your Macs with Apple Business Manager portal and linking to your companies MDM - Mobile Device Management server. Example MDM servers are Apple's Profile Manager and JAMFs Jamf-Pro.


Via these you define a series of steps which configure your computers after they are enrolled and because each would follow the same steps you would get the same results. (In reality as always there is a lot more work involved to do the first setup but thereafter repeating it is easier.)


For just three computers a full-blown DEP/MDM setup is massive overkill. You could however look at using DeployStudio locally or perhaps even easier for this small quantity would be to build a single Mac by hand and then 'clone' it to an external drive and then use that external drive to clone on to the other Macs.


CarbonCopyCloner would be perfect for this. See - https://bombich.com/

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 15, 2019 7:43 AM in response to pablogomez14

BobTheFisherman's comment about license is an important one, related to that some software has installation methods that make it harder to install as part of a standard 'build' on multiple machines. If it uses a USB dongle I would think/hope that would be less of a problem here.


Getting back to the issue of 'building' multiple mostly identical Macs then this historically was done via an 'Imaging' process and workflow using tools like either Apple's own System Imaging Server or DeployStudio.


These days Apple prefer you to use 'DEP' - Device Enrolment Program and this involves registering your Macs with Apple Business Manager portal and linking to your companies MDM - Mobile Device Management server. Example MDM servers are Apple's Profile Manager and JAMFs Jamf-Pro.


Via these you define a series of steps which configure your computers after they are enrolled and because each would follow the same steps you would get the same results. (In reality as always there is a lot more work involved to do the first setup but thereafter repeating it is easier.)


For just three computers a full-blown DEP/MDM setup is massive overkill. You could however look at using DeployStudio locally or perhaps even easier for this small quantity would be to build a single Mac by hand and then 'clone' it to an external drive and then use that external drive to clone on to the other Macs.


CarbonCopyCloner would be perfect for this. See - https://bombich.com/

Jul 19, 2019 5:22 PM in response to pablogomez14

Your original message said there would be different users on each Mac.


If you create one Mac with a single admin account then clone it to the other Macs you would create the individual users on each Mac after cloning. So each Mac would have different users.


If your desire is to let any user log in on any Mac this historically was done by having a server to hold the user accounts and home directories and each Mac would access these over the network, this was called network logins with network home directories. Unfortunately years ago Apple effectively broke the ability to do this.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Same configuration on multiple macs

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.