Can we add Macs to DEP?

[howie_isaacks]

I know we can add iOS devices to DEP that were not originally assigned to DEP at the time of purchase, but can we also do the same with Macs? I have done a lot of searching, and I can't get a clear answer to this.

[chris_kemp]

No, not possible at this time. I'm told Apple is considering it though. If you purchased through a DEP-enabled reseller in the past you might be able to get them to back-fill older machines.

[howie_isaacks]

@chris.kemp Thanks for the info! We just brought on a new client who has a DEP account, but none of their Macs were assigned to it at the time of purchase. They asked me if we could utilize the DEP now that we have it assigned to a new Jamf Pro server that I finished setting up yesterday. They did not have an MDM solution setup with their DEP account before I linked it to their new Jamf Pro server yesterday. I really hope Apple allows this soon. It would make my life a lot easier since this new client is a remote client. Their users are scattered across the country. It's easy to train people to use the user initiated enrollment, and I have several policies that run right after enrollment that will install software, but DEP would make setting things up a lot easier. Since I have no DEP assigned Macs, I can't test the prestage enrollments.

[m_donovan]

You can add devices as old as 2011 to DEP. As long as they were purchased by the same account(s) that is connected to your DEP account. I know I have added a 2011 iMac to our DEP and use it for testing changes to our Prestage enrollments.

[IanStark]

We have done the same as m.donovan. We purchased the macs a few years back but didn’t add them to our DEP account at the time. I just emailed our resellers and they added all the macs onto our DEP account in a couple of days. All because of the new User Approved from Apple and DEP is the easiest from now on instead of imaging.

[howie_isaacks]

@m.donovan @IanStark Thanks for the info. I will find out how they bought these Macs, and give this a try. I don't like imaging. It had its uses in some of the companies I have worked in, but I really don't feel like dealing with the imaging process. I would prefer to start with a newly reinstalled system, or one fresh out of the box, and allow a set of enrollment policies to do the work.

[KSchroeder]

Agree with above, we have also added many Macs (and I think, iOS devices bought via carriers and resellers). Not sure why Apple indicated they can't do that. You need to work through your reseller though to get it them submitted to Apple (i.e. you can't submit them yourself, that may be what they meant).

[Volker]

You may also want to read about provisional DEP:

http://www.enterpriseios.com/story/2017/09/14/iOS_11_Provisional_DEP_Questions_and_Answers

[chris_kemp]

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but what I was saying was that we - as end users - can't add Macs to DEP. Yes, you can have your reseller do it for you, we also had them back-fill machines for us for testing purposes.