Will a Lightning Ethernet adapter work for sending MDM commands to an iPad?

[DanJ_LRSFC]

We've got an iPad which for some reason has lost its WiFi settings and is stuck on the passcode screen as the user does not remember the passcode. Obviously we could wipe and restore it to get the user back in, but the user reports there's data on there that they want to keep. Will acquiring a Lightning to Ethernet adapter and plugging this in to our wired network allow us to send the Clear Passcode MDM command from Jamf Pro?

[FutureFacinLuke]

Yes, I use these in Kiosk Mode iPads.

[Fluffy]

I would keep in mind that if that is the first unlock since it was booted, it will not connect to wifi until it is unlocked. It may be possible it won't connect to ethernet either until it is unlocked.

[DanJ_LRSFC]

@Fluffy that's less than ideal, what good even is the Clear Passcode command if the situations where you'd want to send it don't allow network access? The device was enrolled with DEP into Jamf Pro, does that relax those restrictions at all?

[Fluffy]

I believe the intention of the feature is security, but I can't say for certain.

I'm not well-versed in Jamf Pro PreStages, but as far as I know there is no way to change that behavior.

[FutureFacinLuke]

So long as the device has been told to Trust the controller (i.e. it's unlocked when connected to ethernet).

You cannot do this with an ethernet adapter in the example of a forgotten passcode unless it's one that has already been used on the device since it activated.

[DanJ_LRSFC]

@FutureFacinLuke so what you're saying is, for every iPad we deploy, we need to have already plugged an Ethernet adaptor into it to be able to use Clear Passcode? We didn't even own an Ethernet adaptor for iPad until today.

[FutureFacinLuke]

Yes, I ran into this hurdle when we started ramping up with iPads. Ethernet is only used for. It's really not worth plugging them all in just train your staff/users not to save stuff on their iPads.

Federated Apple IDs with 200GB help for Edu.

[rebecca_latimer]

This works reliably for us. The only caveat is that the iPad has to have USB Restricted Mode turned off. You can do this with a profile proactively, but that won't help you much now. You may get lucky and the user has turned it off themselves, but it's on by default.

[DanJ_LRSFC]

@rebecca_latimer the new configuration profile settings screen is a bit confusing, this is what it's currently set to in our Restrictions configuration profile:

Is this setting set correctly, or does it need to be set the other way?

[RLR]

The wording on this setting doesn't explain it very well. If you have it set to allow then it won't allow new USB connections. If you have it set to Restrict then it will allow USB connections. So for your issue, you need it set to Restrict but this won't help for the current iPad as it's not getting any new commands due to being offline. You can always try the Ethernet trick but there's a good chance it won't work.

[rebecca_latimer]

It would need to be set the other way, to restricted. This will prevent users from being able to able to toggle USB Restricted Mode to on.