Adding Existing Apple TV's to Jamf

[tcarlson]

Hi,

I would like to manage existing apple TV's (Gen 4) that we had installed previous to JAMF. Is there any way to force enroll them remotely. I'm not seeing anything online about this.

[crbeck]

Not that I'm aware of. The only methods to enroll Apple TV's are to use Apple Configurator 2 on Apple TV's 4th Gen and older, or to use DEP on models 4th Gen and newer. Both require the Apple TV to be wiped or still new from the box.

[Bill_Hofius]

DEP?

[Bill_Hofius]

I have tried to set up two AppleTVs in JAMF. The first took several hours and ultimately, while the device shows up in JAMF, it does not respond to any commands sent from JAMF. The second was a success with much less effort. I will try this with additional AppleTVs soon, fingers crossed that this is the procedure:

1. Connect the AppleTV to the local network via Ethernet.
2. Use the Reset and Update option to erase the AppleTV and update it to the most recent version of tvOS (15.1.1. as of this writing).
3. When finished, connect the AppleTV to a Mac via Ethernet. Make sure that your Mac can still reach the Internet in this configuration. (Set WiFi as the main network connection in Network preferences and your Ethernet connection is second or third connection option.)
4. Fire up Apple Configurator 2. Go to app's main menu and select Paired Devices. If you do not see the AppleTV appear in the list, make sure that your Ethernet is connected directly to the Mac and not through a hub or docking station. If it still not there, restart the Mac.
5. If Paired Devices tells you pairing failed, try it a few more times. If unsuccessful, restart the Mac and launch AC2 again and see if the AppleTV shows up in AC2. (In my case, despite all of the "failures," the devices actually paired. After the reboot the device showed up in AC2 and I was able to continue on.)
6. In AC2, go to the Prepare menu and choose Automated Enrollment. I tried using Manual Enrollment over and over again and it kept failing. I switched to Automated Enrollment. and it worked without issue. I went through the AppleTV setup process after this and got to a setup screen stating the AppleTV was a managed device and to confirm this. I selected Manage Device and low-and-behold the AppleTV showed up in JAMF!

So far this AppleTV has been responding to all JAMF commands sent to it.

Wh00t!!

[Bill_Hofius]

NOTE: This did not add the AppleTV to Apple Business Manager.