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TrevorWWW Author

Level 1

1 points

Apple Configurator 2 and restoring backups

Hi. Like everyone else I have been forced to Apple Configurator 2 through no choice of my own and now I am about ready to burst with frustration! Ok thats my vent..now onto my problem. 🙂

My previous workflow involved supervising a master iPad, installing apps and profiles, rearranging all the apps into various groups and folders etc then backing up the master iPad and restoring that backup to all other supervised devices. This worked just fine in Apple Configurator v1.x. Sadly I have not been able to do this with v2. I really need to know whetherv2 has this functionality or no. It would seem that I can prepare an iPad either manually or via a blueprint but as soon as I restore from backup the device is no longer supervised! If you know of a way to make this work I will be most appreciative of your input. If you know for a fact its not possible any more I would also appreciate you telling me that bad news as well so I can stop hitting my head up against this computer screen...please be kind...I'm a bit fragile atm. 😕

iPad Mini, iOS 9.1, Apple Configurator 2

Posted on Oct 24, 2015 10:02 PM

Top-ranking reply

Andreas Schenk

Level 1

5 points

Posted on Jan 4, 2016 7:55 AM

I have followed the various steps as zoranp3 and I came to a different conclusion. What zoranp3 describes, does indeed work, if you restore onto the same iPad that you used to create the backup. It does not work on any other iPad.

I just tried it out myself with 2 iPads.

I supervised my Master iPad, installed Apps, created Folders and (the thing I always do in such tests) created a note in the Notes.app.

I created the backup of my Master iPad.

Also the new Blueprint. I added Apps, Profiles etc to the blueprint. Also the restore of my Master iPad Backup.

Now I reset both my iPads to factory settings, to have a clean start.

When I apply my blueprint to both iPads, I get the following result:

1) The first iPad (which was physically my master) restores and works flawlessly. It comes up supervised. The iPad is ready to use as expected, showing the lock screen.

2) The second iPad restores but throws an error, that installing the WiFi-Profile requires User interaction as its not supervised (error can be skipped). AC shows that this iPad is not supervised. It shows the Setup-Assistant. Apps are installed, but no Profiles.

What I can do, is now select the second iPad in Apple Configurator and supervise it using the Prepare button. This will NOT wipe the device, as it has not yet been used (Setup Assistant not done). I can then see, that my WiFi Profile did indeed not install (as it was skipped before - now it would install flawlessly, as the iPad is now supervised).

The summary is:

- The goal of restoring data (App placement in folders, also App Data) to many supervised iPads can be achieved, but not in one step

- It does matter, if you restore on the same iPad or on a different one (as a side note: if an iPad is MDM enrolled, the MDM enrollment works if restored to the same iPad while it breaks when being restored to a different iPad). Reading Apples Security Whitepaper on iOS might help understand the background. (Keybags, Backup etc.) Read here:

https://www.apple.com/euro/privacy/d/generic/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf

The way to do it is to restore the backup, then supervise. As long as you do not touch the Setup Assistant, supervision wont wipe the iPad.

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100 replies

Adjman

Level 1

4 points

May 20, 2016 6:26 AM in response to ccsdtech

Thank you for all your information on this - and thank you to the other folks on here proving I wasn't mad! The order of things is SO critical in Configurator 2!

This is my workflow to restore iPads, for reference:

1. Wipe iPad using the Restore option in Configurator 2

2. Restore from backup - my master iPad

3. Prepare

4. Configuration = Manual

5. Server = Do not enroll in MDM

6. Supervise devices, Allow devices to pair with other computers

7. Organisation = Mill Ford School

8. Setup Assistant = Don’t show any of these steps

9. Click Prepare

10. Add > Profiles > SchoolWiFi

11. Add > Profiles > Meraki_sm_mdm (This is the Meraki management profile exported from the Meraki dashboard under Systems Manager > Add devices)

12. Add > Profiles > School 2016

13. Push apps from Meraki by adding to “pupils” group

Jun 19, 2016 4:07 PM in response to ccsdtech

Thanks so much for this! Super helpful. I have an odd issue that I'm wondering if you have had before?

I have successfully finished about 20 ipads using your instructions. Although now when I try, after restoring iPads, applying restore cart X blueprint. I try and prepare the device so I can add restriction blueprint and it is saying it's already prepared. Any ideas? Is it something simple that I have messed up?

Thanks,

Josh

Jun 30, 2016 1:55 PM in response to samachee

I had this happen when I had inadvertently logged on to iTunes under a non MDM account. My recommendation is to log out of and close iTunes, log out of Apple Configurator 2, and then log in to your Apple Configurator 2 VPP account using the MDM account. That should prevent the apps from being tagged with the non-VPP/MDM account.

Jun 30, 2016 2:01 PM in response to Boondall SS

I've had this occur as well and found some inconsistencies in the way Apple Configurator 2 is functioning. As soon as I closed completely out of Apple Configurator 2, restarted the deployment Mac, and then re-ran the device wipes and builds the issue went away. On some occasions all it has taken was re-running the device wipe, blueprint, and preparation. Sometimes the process will fail for no reason and at different stages which leads me to believe there are some bugs/stability issues with Apples coding. Now when I go to set up a new device blueprint and deploy to several devices I make sure to close out of everything and reboot to eliminate any memory leaks or other issues remaining if the system has been up and running for a long period of time. This appears to reduce the inconsistencies.

Jul 21, 2016 9:56 PM in response to weinsteinbevit

This doesn't work for me. In Meraki I go to the password setting and I am unable to change the password (when I change it just changes it back). Furthermore, it doesn't stop me from deleting the Meraki profile from any of the iPads.

Also, Meraki has an option to lock the iPads to particular apps. I've tried this and it works but getting the iPad to *unlock* takes *ages* - like 30 minutes or more, even though the initial request to lock them takes effect quite quickly.

Worse still, once the iPads return to their unlocked state, most of the app layout has changed and apps have been moved around and all the apps on the taskbar have been moved off.

Aug 1, 2016 2:58 PM in response to Pizzy

Hey Pizzy: Your workflow actually worked for me. I was able to essentially image multiple iPads with their apps plus - and this is crucial - their data with at least one app, GoodReader. Though, not all apps appear to respond to your method as well as others. For example, we use PDF Expert to distribute materials for monthly meetings. They all need the same set of files which are synced to Dropbox. Unfortunately, no method I have tried has worked, even yours, to successfully reimage and iPad while retaining the Dropbox settings and the associated files. But when I switched to GoodReader, which had failed to retain data and settings in other workflows (methods for reimaging), and tried your method, it worked! That is, I was able to successfully reimage an iPad (that wasn't the backup iPad) while retaining the Dropbox settings and their files; pretty cool. Thanks!

rccharles

Level 6

12,969 points

Aug 1, 2016 4:05 PM in response to pdxcoltrane

Unfortunately, no method I have tried has worked, even yours, to successfully reimage and iPad while retaining the Dropbox settings and the associated files.

It may be that dropbox.com isn't keeping a copy of the files on the ipad, but downloading them as needed.

Sep 9, 2016 1:53 PM in response to ccsdtech

Thanks for this. So much time messing around with this stuff.

aime1837

Level 1

4 points

Sep 3, 2017 2:04 PM in response to aime1837

and it was TrevorWWW's outline that I followed in the end!

Sep 27, 2017 1:43 PM in response to DeanSol

I created a blueprint that only performs the "Update iOS and Apps" function. I use that on my cart of 30 iPads with no problems.

Sorry that I don't know about remote updates.

Apple Configurator 2 and restoring backups