Best workflow for wiping a large number of MacBooks?

[SMG2009]

What's the best workflow for wiping a large number of MacBooks using JAMF?

Is the wipe code an absolute requirement or is there a way around that?

We would be selling these on the secondary market after the wipe if that matters.

Thank you.

[DBrowning]

If they are APFS formatted and still in Jamf, throw them in a group and then push a Mojave installer and then run "$installer"/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --nointeraction --eraseinstall

[mconners]

I agree with @ddcdennisb as this is what we are doing. My goal is to do a large batch of systems over night and then come in the next morning to finish things up.

[jcline]

Yeah, that would probably be the best way to do it.

[ImAMacGuy]

we use this to do a wipe and reload

[SMG2009]

Are you pulling Mojave or the OSx from your caching server?

And is it absolute that they're running High Sierra or Mojave?

Thank you.

[ImAMacGuy]

We are doing mojave

[SMG2009]

From what I'm reading, if we're running Sierra, we must upgrade before we can do this?

Or can we upgrade when we run the code/script?

Thank you.

[DBrowning]

@johnnyg08 Yes, you must be on 10.13.4 or Higher with the drives formatted in APFS for this to work.

So a workflow would look like Run command to upgrade and then another running what I said.

[SMG2009]

Thank you @ddcdennisb How would we know if our drives are formatted in APFS?

If they aren't are we stuck? Or is there a way we can do it?

Also, do you happen to have access to a 10.13.4 High Sierra .dmg?

[DBrowning]

Hey @johnnyg08 , If you are on High Sierra or Mojave, you are likely on APFS. Mojave Requires APFS. If I remember correctly you stated earlier that you are on Sierra. This is what a workflow would look like for you then:

1) Policy that copies HS or Mojave installer to computer
2) Policy to run OS upgrade (/path/To/OS/Installer.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --nointeraction --converttoapfs YES 3) Policy to Copy Mojave Installer back to the computer
4) Policy to run /path/To/OS/Installer.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --nointeraction --eraseinstall

Here is a link to a HS (10.13.6) installer I had. The link will expire at the end of today.

[SMG2009]

What code/policy are you using to copy the 10.13.6 to a large number of computers?

I'm testing it on one computer and I'm not able to get it to work. Gotta be an issue on my end. I appreciate all of your help. Thank you!!

[DBrowning]

You can do 1 of 2 ways: 1) drop the .app file into Jamf Admin and it will auto extract the InstallESD.dmg or create a DMG in Composer that only has the .app file in it. Then deploy out via a Policy.

[SMG2009]

Thanks for the file.

It downloaded 5.3 GB, but it's not extracting.

Any reason why it's not extracting?

Thanks!

[waltnerc]

In order to upgrade our aging MacBook Air fleet, I created Installer USB drives. Booted to them, ran the disk utility first and erased the drive to bring it up to APFS. Then Install Mojave. I opt to delete the record from my Jamfcloud and enroll the system fresh which kicks off the mandatory app downloads.

Apple has told me booting from Installer USB wouldn't be allowed on the new T2 chips. And in the next breath indicated there was already a workaround to their new security measures.

[wildfrog]

Check out MDS (Mac Deploy Stick) from TwoCanoes.

https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/mac-deploy-stick/

[SMG2009]

If at all possible, we don't want to use the USB drives.

We'd like to automate the process as best we can. (if possible)

We have to wipe A LOT of them.

Thanks to everybody for your feedback so far

[JustDeWon]

@johnnyg08 , use this as a template.. I've made ALOT of adjustments on the script, but the link itself will give you what you want. The script shows you what parameters are needed for the erase and install.. Currently used this guideline for our wipe computer/reinstall.. And upgrade process..

You're basically caching the OS install in a separate(master) policy, and placing the script in SS to run the trigger and do whatever else you need.. Like I said, I made some major changes to this script for preference purposes, however, this by itself will do the job

[SMG2009]

We are pushing a 10.13.6 update and our logs on failed devices keep showing a consistent messaging of:

1. Executing Policy High Sierra
2. Mounting FSDP master
3. Could not mount distribution point "FSDP master"