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Test macOS ADE (DEP) Enrolments with a Virtual Machine

Description

A virtual machine can reduce the time needed to repeat macOS enrollment tests by restoring a snapshot instead of rebuilding the test installation each time. This procedure describes a legacy Intel Mac lab using VMware Fusion 10, 11 or 12. Its VMX settings and snapshot sequence are not a general procedure for every hypervisor; if you use another product, such as Parallels, validate its own macOS guest and enrollment workflow separately.

Apple Silicon: Do not use these Fusion steps on an Apple Silicon Mac. Broadcom documents that Fusion on Apple Silicon cannot run x86 guest operating systems and does not support Arm macOS guests. See Fusion guest compatibility on Apple Silicon. For Intel Macs, check the guest OS against the Fusion release you use; support for a macOS host does not establish support for that macOS version as a guest.

Requirements

  • An Intel Mac with a VMware Fusion version and macOS guest combination supported by that Fusion release; this procedure was tested with Fusion 10, 11 and 12
  • macOS installer, e.g. Install macOS High Sierra.app or a VMware Fusion installed on a relevant macOS device
  • A registered macOS device serial number and optionally a Model Identifier, e.g. MacBookPro15,1

Obtain an authorized test serial for a Mac registered in ABM or ASM. Registration alone is not enough: confirm that the serial is assigned to the intended FileWave management service, synchronize it into FileWave, and assign and synchronize the ADE profile you intend to test. Follow Apple ADE Enrollment for the APNs/ADE prerequisites and profile-assignment checks before starting the VM.

Any one serial number of a device should only occur once in FileWave.  Therefore, if there is an old or broken device which is registered in ABM/ASM, consider using the serial number from this device otherwise a serial number from a usable, physical device will need to be taken, meaning that physical device cannot be used within FileWave otherwise.

Mactracker may be used to show the Model Identifier of devices, since ASM/ABM only provides the Model Name

Directions

  1. Use VMware Fusion to create a new image from disc and use the macOS installer app or choose to create an image from the recovery partition
  2. Once completed, do no hit play.  Instead, locate the virtual machine in Finder.  If the VM starts, shut it down before continuing.
  3. From Virtual Machine Library, right click and choose show in Finder.
  4. From Finder, right click the highlighted VM and choose 'Show Package Contents' or use Terminal to navigate inside this VM
  5. Locate the file with a .vmx extension and choose an editor to edit this .vmx file
  6. Two lines need to be added as below.  Replace Serial Number and Model Identifier as appropriate (remove brackets, but keep quotes):

    serialNumber = "[Serial Number]"
hw.model = "[Model Identifier]"
  1. Now Play the VM
  2. Select language and once the option to re-instal the operating system is shown, choose utilities and Terminal
  3. Type the following line to confirm that the VM has the appropriate serial number:

    ioreg -l | grep "IOPlatformSerialNumber"
  1. Quit Terminal and choose to re-instal the operating system
  2. Have a cup of tea!
  3. Disable network settings at the earliest, allowable moment, before the device comes back up and finalises the installation
  4. Snapshot the VM when the Choose Language prompt is shown

A device receives an associated ADE profile before the option to select the language appears after installing the operating system. Once in place, the device will maintain this profile across reboots.  If the network is not disabled before receiving the Enrolment profile, then changes to the Enrolment profile associated or assigning a new ADE profile subsequently, will have zero impact on a fresh Enrolment; the original Enrolment settings will continue to apply.

By disabling the network before the Enrolment profile is in place and then taking the snapshot, multiple Enrolment profiles or changes may be tested with each restore of the snapshot.  On each restore, the network should require enabling.

Tested on VMware Fusion 10, 11 and 12

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