VPP : can't Assign Apps to users/AppleID without a device | server 5.0

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Occyss Author

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VPP : can't Assign Apps to users/AppleID without a device | server 5.0

Hi,

I am trying to set up VPP distribution using the profile manager in OSX server 5.0.4 and I find something weird.

What is working :

I have successfully configured my server and linked my VPP token.
I can see the Apps purchased with our VPP account in the profile manager and can add them to our users.
I can send a VPP invite (by email) to a user (from the profile manager) and he can accept the invite and subscribe his Apple ID to our profile manager.

What isn't working :

We assign some Apps to this user in the profile manager but he can't see/install them from the Mac App Store purchase's history.

What is weird :

If the same user enroll one device from the .../mydevices/ server website all the assigned Apps showed up in his purchase's history (and he can install the assigned Apps on any Mac not only the enrolled one)
If we remove the enrolled device, the Apps disappeared from the purchase's history (but we didn't remove the assigned Apps from the user)

In the OS X Deploymentdocumentation I have found :

"Distribute VPP apps and books to users

For users to participate in managed distribution via VPP, they must be invited. Since users are invited directly through email, devices they use aren’t required to enroll in MDM. Organizations where users bring their own devices (BYOD) benefit from this type of distribution"

Does anyone have an idea why this isn't working ?

Thank you and even more if you have a solution ;-)

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 7, 2015 4:42 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 8, 2015 5:12 AM in response to Occyss

Hi, same problem here.

I was wondering

"The user accepts the invitation: After an app is assigned to a user, it appears in that user’s App Store purchase history. You can prompt the user to accept the app, or you can silently install the app on Mac computers enrolled in MDM."

Could this possibly mean that user based distribution is reserved only to Mac apps?

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Answer 2

Occyss Author

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Oct 8, 2015 5:55 AM in response to alessio_ic

"happy" to see that i am not the only one with this problem.

To answer your question, with the Profile Manager :

if you want to assign Apps to an user/AppleID without any enrolled device (if it's working !), you can only distribute Apps or iBooks from the Mac App Store and the iTunes App Store.
if you have an enrolled device, you can push application .apps (like Firefox) but not .pkg (use ARD or other MDM solution instead). For iOS you will be able to push "In-House Apps".

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Answer 3

Oct 8, 2015 6:14 AM in response to Occyss

on a second tough, same document

https://help.apple.com/deployment/osx/?lang=en#/iorab247ae15

Distribute VPP apps and books to users

For users to participate in managed distribution via VPP, they must be invited. Since users are invited directly through email, devices they use aren’t required to enroll in MDM. Organizations where users bring their own devices (BYOD) benefit from this type of distribution:

VPP can be used with non enrolled devices, using an user based distribution

Distribute in-house apps and books

In-house apps are distributed to devices, not users. Devices must be enrolled in an MDM solution to install apps purchased through the VPP and in-house apps.

VPP can not be used for user based distribution, just for (enrolled) devices

Am I missing something? Does this mean VPP and user distrib is ok for apps that are present in the public store, but not for apps privately released to customers VPP accounts? What a mess ...

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Answer 4

Occyss Author

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Nov 2, 2015 2:00 AM in response to Occyss

Update :

I have open a case about this issue and Apple confirm this bug. I hope it would be fixed soon.

The only work around is to use the version 4 of Server and you can push Apps to an Apple ID without any enrolled device.

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Answer 5

Nov 6, 2015 2:11 AM in response to Occyss

Well that's conforting and disconforting at the same time 😐 ... thank you for the update!

ps: where do you open a case with apple? Is a special contract required? Thank you!

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Answer 6

Occyss Author

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Nov 6, 2015 4:44 AM in response to alessio_ic

Now, we can only wait for an update that fix this bug.

To open the case I start here https://getsupport.apple.com/and we don't have any special contract.

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Answer 7

Nov 9, 2015 9:02 PM in response to Occyss

I've also reported this bug and have spent time on the phone with Apple but haven't heard anything about them working on it. They acted like this was a rare use case.

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Answer 8

Occyss Author

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Nov 10, 2015 3:33 AM in response to MatthewHager

Keep hope, when I reported that bug (few weeks ago) Apple told me that they never heard of it but after a few days they call me back and confirm this is bug appeared with Server version 5 (released mid-september) and it should be fix in an futur update (rather sooner than later hopefully). And I know that one of Apple engineer open a bug report as well.

Until then try to find a Server version 4, it works fine (or enroll the user's device...).

If I have any news i will post it here.

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Answer 9

Feb 18, 2016 2:42 AM in response to Occyss

Hi, are there any updates?

I can't get version 4 and enrolling user devices isn't working for me neither.

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Answer 10

Feb 18, 2016 6:45 AM in response to sebastian167

you can use VPP with devices now instead of users which seems to work fine.

So for example, assign an App to a member of staff's iPad (or group of iPads) rather than the individual user. No need to invite or enroll them to VPP as its the device, not the user that is used.

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Answer 11

Feb 18, 2016 7:09 AM in response to Bosco1983

The original problem is, using VPP without devices enrolled should be supported but isn't working. As Occyss stated, Apple acknowledged this as a bug and is working on a fix.

I don't want to enroll devices instead I want to assign Apps directly to users Apple IDs.

I wanted to check if there is a release date for the fix or if it's perhaps already included in the OSX Server 5.1 beta.

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Answer 12

Occyss Author

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Feb 18, 2016 9:31 AM in response to sebastian167

Hi,

Sadly I have no news ... but I haven't try the beta version yet.

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