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Apple Configurator 2: App Installation hangs/loops during placeholder Transfer

I have been trying to set up a cart with Apple Configurator 2. I am running iOS 9.2, iPad Air 2's, and El Capitan. I attempted to set them up following the blue print instructions, but that as an abject failure as it resulted in 16 of the 20 iPads being bricked. So I have been setting them up as a group of 20, first installing a profile and now installing apps. I tried to en masse install my apps, but that resulted in looping and errors that have no definition. So now I'm installing apps in small groups of 3-5 apps. The problem I'm running into is sporadic looping/hanging when I install certain apps. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. When I attempt to install the application on its own, the problem persists. It hangs in the "installing placeholder" step. So far, this has happened with: Garage Band, Pic Collage, and Socrative Teacher Edition. To fix the issue, I have to "remove" the partially installed apps and then forgo installing the particular application. Even if I try to install the application on its own, the problem persists. Any suggestions on how to fix this issue? I'm banging my head against the wall here. I'm going on hour 25+ (not including overnights where i Hit a button, go home, and come back to some random error).


Thanks!

Posted on Jan 7, 2016 12:37 PM

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28 replies

Aug 28, 2017 6:09 AM in response to stllibrary

Hi stllibrary. This is just a user forum, so Apple isn't listening. You can request improvements at this link: Feedback - iPad - Apple. But Config 1 is probably dead. I wonder if you're missing something in your MDM solution. You should try asking this question in the other forum, link: iPad in Business and Education which is followed by users like yourself.

Mar 6, 2017 3:42 AM in response to lacoeur

I have the same problem and have joined this community to try and find a solution. Where are the Apple staff replies/support to this problem? AC2 should work, as all Apple stuff is supposed to be so carefully built and tested before release, or so we are led to believe. The use of AC2 has been the bane of my life and as an Infant School in the UK only, thankfully, have 30 iPads to manage (or not! 🙂 ).

Come on Apple do something about this appalling software, PLEASE!

Mar 14, 2017 1:42 PM in response to j.bowden

I have been trying different options for about a year now, and the one thing that I have discovered that works well is to apply your profile LAST. I don't put profiles in Blueprints either...


Once an iPad has been restored/wiped/etc... I add all the apps I need (or apply a Blueprint with apps and settings) and then add the profiles last. Also, when you want to update apps or the OS, or do anything to the iPads, you must remove the profile with AC2 before doing anything. The profiles are what seem to cause problems regardless of how I set up the profile.


Lastly, sometimes restoring the iPad doesn't even work if there is a profile still applied to an iPad. Wether you are installing apps, updating the OS, or even restoring the iPad, you MUST remove the profile first, and then add profiles last. That's the only solution I have found to fix the "bricking" the OP was talking about.

Aug 27, 2017 2:24 PM in response to lacoeur

The only adequate solution for carts of shared iPads that we have found was to stick to Configurator 1 and find a work around to keep iPads resetting and setting up with it BUT in each version of iOS it becomes harder.

Configurator 2 completely throws away the function we needed to use our cart of shared iPads. Configurator 2 forces an employee to think about and spend an hour on every iPad every time you reset and reconfigure it an we have to do that every time a student touches one to conform to our privacy/security standards. It is entirely useless for carts.

APPLE PLEASE COME OUT WITH AN UPDATE TO CONFIGURATOR 1 THAT HANDLES NEWER iOS ON NEWER MAC OS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Configurator 1 is the only working option.

Jan 8, 2016 12:17 PM in response to lacoeur

I am having the exact same problems, described to a T. I'm also trying to update/ prepare several carts and Config 2 has been the utter bane of my job recently. I love the interface and believe I have a solid understanding of how to use the program, but the processes never complete. I thought the whole point of the program was to be able to add/remove/update/manage iPads en masse, yet it seems that to be able to get anything done I can only work with 2-3 iPads at a time. Even then I also get problems with partially installed or removed apps, or leftover place holders. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to allow this program to run more smoothly.

Jan 11, 2016 8:35 AM in response to TechSppt123

Similarly, I have experienced the same problem with my own set up at the company I work with. I have had to resort to the inefficient solution of erasing and restarting the procedure. I've noticed slightly better results from erasing all content, starting from ground zero, and then going on to install the blueprint, reinstall the profile, then manually delete the apps off the device, and finally reinstall the apps on the device individually.


Given that this is marketed as a mechanism for mass remote management, there appear to be some significant bugs or some unstated procedural conflicts that I suspect are hindering the program from effectively distributing templates. I would love to know what we can do to make this work better, or else if there is no hope for improvement, perhaps the names of some MDM solutions that manage app add/removal, security settings, updates, and device tracking better than the Apple Configurator 2.

Jan 12, 2016 10:58 AM in response to lacoeur

Not using blueprint is a good idea- I will have to try it. I have been fighting with AC2 for the last 24 hours and Apple really didn't do a good job QA'ing this thing. I've had this and other problems and it has turned into a hair-pulling situation, lol!

One consistent issue I am noticing is that if you try to apply changes right after doing a recovery or restore or iOS update it doesn't take. Case in point, I got so wrapped around the axle I put all of the devices in recovery mode, then told AC2 to apply my blueprint to all of them. It didn't complain but neither did it load the profile or the apps. I had to get through the setup screens on all of them and then apply the blueprint again. This time AC2 told me that restrictions on the device were preventing apps from installing (?!!?) which is why I put the dumb things in recovery mode in the first place. However looking at the devices I could see where everything was there, including the apps!!

However the apps are requiring an iTunes store login which I am not going to be passing out. On another thread I found out to get around this, even for free apps, under AC2 you have to load the apps from a VPP account not an iTunes account. So I'm going to be waiting for weeks while I coax the powers that be into getting me a VPP login.

Even WITH the VPP login I am probably going to have to go through recovery mode again, go through the setup screens again, and LASTLY apply the blueprint again.

Feb 3, 2016 7:56 AM in response to lacoeur

Same problems as others here. I work in a large school district with hundreds of iPad carts though I myself have only worked on maybe 20. I like the capabilities of AC2 but it rarely lives up to those capabilities.

Here is how I've been getting by. Once you get the iPads restored and updated to the current iOS is where the fun starts. (I've already updated and downloaded the apps I need in iTunes)

1. If ANYTHING goes wrong, I "Erase all content and Settings" from the advanced menu. This effectively restores the iPads without reinstalling the iOS and puts all the iPads "on the same page"

2. After naming and preparing the iPads wait until all activity is completed before proceeding.

3. We avoid transferring Apple apps (Garageband, iBooks, Pages, Numbers, Keystone). They tend to create a 'overwite' error and fortunately we only ise iMovie.

4. Things move along pretty well through transferring placeholders, but hangs up before moving on. I've found that it can take as much as an hour to proceed to transferring applications. Seems like it depends on how many iPads you are updating (makes sense). If it fails to move on, I cancel, erase content and settings, and go back to step 2. Interestingly, after a failure and I start over, I've always been able to complete the process the second time. I'd say I get about 50% success rate on first try.

5. I left a cart churning last night, and came in to find it stuck on transferring the last app (another tech was actually there). She gave it another hour to complete then cancelled. Like we've found before, several apps were in the waiting state on most of the ipads. Back to step 1.


Blueprints is an awesome idea if we could make it work. It would save so much time.


AC2 looks so easy to use and so very capable that it is very disappointing to have so many problems and waste so many man hours trying to do such basic things. Not to mention having to go through EACH iPad and log into an app to activate all the rest, then log out again. Thanks Apple.

I'm an Apple person in my civilian life, but I really wish we would switch to Surface...

Feb 3, 2016 9:35 AM in response to lacoeur

Definitely same problem here for the past month. Can confirm that the following attempts can make it work, but by no means is a fix. Apple, please!

1) Erasing All Content under Advanced and running the blueprint again eventually works. It still takes several tries though.

2) Doing the blueprint process one iPad at a time is definitely a way to make it work every time. Have fun.
3) Doing less than 20 apps seems to work for me every time when pushed to a whole cart. If I have more than 20 apps, which I always do, it hoses.
4) The thing that does NOT make a difference for me is "Add"ing apps vs using blueprint-ing them. Same results if over 20 apps.


This is really sad, Apple. The bugs in this program should hold their own developers' conference. It's unforgivable how bad this program is. I truly believe with all the bugs we've encountered and helped fix that this was tested with 5 apps for sake of time, and them approved for release. No way did they test this in the typical cart environment.


And what makes it sadder is that the design and features make it so promising! Apple has made it so our company that manages 20,000 iPads among its clients is no longer accepting new iPad customers. We tell them to go Chromebooks all the way. And no one has been disappointed yet. And for all of you on here reading this who share in educational environment tech management, you know the joys of managing Chromebooks vs iPads. SMH for life over this. Why did schools have to be fooled into getting iPads in the first place?


And by the way, I am an Apple fan. I have more Apple in my life than anything else, but Google wins in this contest.

Feb 3, 2016 3:54 PM in response to Pizzy

Sorry. I should have finished my original thought instead of going on that tangent. Haha.


The problem with sending out apps in small clusters to iPads is that they don't install to the folders that were setup on the backup. They start forming on page 2 of the iPads instead. To get around that, this workaround has worked for me every single time:


Warning, this STINKS that this way is even an option, but it works:

1) After restoring the backup, and preparing/supervising the iPad, run a full blueprint with all your apps (in my case, 60+ apps).

2) When and If it freezes on the final placeholder, cancel the process.

3) The gray remnants of the apps remain on the iPad - this is a good thing, because it allows you to now push and overwrite (replace) the apps in small batches.

4) Go to ADD > Apps, and select 10-15 apps to push out and replace the placeholders already there.

5) At the end of 4 cycles, you've got yourself your completed iPads with apps in their proper groupings/folders.


I challenge any Apple engineer to go to any of our schools with whatever configurator they want to bring, and show me how this works without errors? It just cannot be done. Errors every single time on any cart, in any school, with any configuration.

Apple Configurator 2: App Installation hangs/loops during placeholder Transfer

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