Changing Configuration Profiles without Losing Wifi

[anhernandez]

Is there a way to remove a configuration profile that has a wifi configuration without forcibly removing the device from that network? We're a school district, and each teacher has a MacBook Air, so they're all over the place, making physical access difficult.

I'm breaking a configuration profile down into its parts to make it more modular. One of these new parts is a wifi profile, which I've deployed to a guinea pig while I was there in person. I added that device to the wifi profile's scope and made sure it applied. However, upon removing the old profile, the device was kicked off of wifi and didn't reconnect.

Restarting the wifi doesn't fix it, and neither does restarting the computer, despite the new wifi profile's presence. I could easily physically enter the wifi password, but these devices are everywhere, literally miles apart. It seems odd to me that Jamf forcibly removes the credentials for the wifi when the configuration profile is disabled, regardless of the other wifi profile.

Maybe I can add an entry to keychain? I would prefer not getting the users involved, if at all possible.

[sdagley · Accepted solution]

@anhernandez Welcome to the fun world of WI-Fi Configuration Profiles. In a previous role in K-12 what I arranged with the network team when I needed to replace a the primary SSID 802.1x configuration was a temporary SSID using WPA2 that the Mac could connect to when the primary SSID configuration was removed. That allowed the Mac to re-connect to the network to download & install the new primary configuration.

[sdagley · Accepted solution]

@anhernandez Welcome to the fun world of WI-Fi Configuration Profiles. In a previous role in K-12 what I arranged with the network team when I needed to replace a the primary SSID 802.1x configuration was a temporary SSID using WPA2 that the Mac could connect to when the primary SSID configuration was removed. That allowed the Mac to re-connect to the network to download & install the new primary configuration.

[cdenesha · Accepted solution]

It is not anything Jamf is doing - the device is having the credentials removed from the matching WiFi. You need to remove the old profile before you add the new one, or this will happen. You definitely need a backup network using WPA2 that you can roll out so there is WiFi to receive the new profile.

[anhernandez]

Ha. I was afraid of this answer. Thanks for the help.

[NOVELLUS]

sorry for re activate this thread, but I have to to just right this: I have to delete an existing firewall configuration profile and replace it with another one.

my suggestion is, that it would be a good practice to upload the new configuration profile to the client, before deleting the old one.

With this way, the client will not loose the settings for the wifi connection.

Are I am right or do I have a mistake in thinking?