iPad stuck at "iPad Locked to Owner"

[ASVtechnology]

At our school the most iPads are iPad Air 2 and they have few years yet working.

We didn't remember if we registered the iPads with any iTunes account and now, I restored an iPad with the last IOs version and I get a stuck iPad because it is locked and we didn't remember the account used, as the message didn't show all the account name.

Any idea that we can do, change the iPad to shared and restore again maybe?

Thank you very much

[afnpw]

You will need to work with Apple support in removing the activation lock - typically having them remove activation lock requires proof of ownership. (Working in a school district, showing the device's record in Apple School Manager has always passed for proof of ownership). 

Process can take some time (couple of weeks, perhaps).

[mooler]

If the devices are still enrolled in JAMF Pro then you search for the device and under in the device inventory under the management tab choose "activition lock bypass". Click the show activition lock bypass code.

Use the code in the password field and you will unlock it. The code should be entered without the "-" that will show in Jamf as the activation bypass code.

[curran · Accepted solution]

They are probably Activation Locked.  I had to go through this process a few times and documented the steps as well as notes from speaking with Apple Support. This was recent as of early 2022. As @afnpw noted, it takes awhile for it to be processed, around 3 weeks. It can be hard to locate documentation for purchase if the device is lets say 5 years old. Your purchaser can usually provide you with a purchase number for bulk purchases.

You can prevent this by enabling Prevent user from enabling Activation Lock in Devices > PreStage Enrollments.

• Go to https://al-support.apple.com and under Need Additional Support click Get started.
• Accept agreement and fill in the request with your email address and the serial number of the device.
• Click continue
• Wait for Apples confirmation email to appear in your inbox with the subject “Please verify you Contact Information.” Usually this is instant.
• Click confirmation link to open the Request page.
• Fill out all require fields
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Original Purchase Date YYYY-MM-DD
  • Where did you originally purchase your device (Store Name)
  • Store Country/Region
  • Store Address 1
  • Store Address 2 (optional)
  • Store City
  • Store State
  • Store Postal Code
  • Website (optional)

Please provide your proof of ownership (see note below regarding Proof of ownership) below, such as a photo or screenshot of the original sales receipt. The document must reflect the purchase of an Apple product and show the product’s identifying information, such as a serial number, IMEI, or MEID. Acceptable file types include: PDF, JPEG, PNG, PSD, HEIC, and TIFF.

Proof of ownership: Apple said this could be a Sales receipt or invoice, Bank or credit card statement (with personal information and unrelated transactions made illegible), Wireless carrier contract if it was a cellular iPad or Shipment packing list showing the IMEI or serial number.

• Upon submitting, Apple will email you the 9-digit Apple Support case number for your records.

Things to note

• You cannot bulk submit requests, they must be submitted one by one with required documents/info
• If your email address was used to submit a request and the Apple Support case has not been processed, attempting to submit additional request will give the error “We found an existing case for the email address provided. You can submit only one request per email address.”

[ASVtechnology]

Is curius, I created the case and Apple answer that we have to use the MDM to solve the problem, really it's a joke or something similar. 

Thank you for contacting us.

The device is managed by mobile device management (MDM) software. This is preventing us from turning off Activation Lock. Contact your administrator or the company that manages your institution's devices for assistance.

If you are an administrator, you can enter your Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager administrator credentials on the device. You can also reset the password of the account locking the device.

Could be I'm not explain correctly the situation or whatever, I not understand that answer, really.

Any advice about that?

[GregBobbett]

Might be a silly question, but are the devices in your Jamf School account? If they are, you can go to Devices > devices > click the iPad you're trying to unlock > in the right information window go to Activation Lock section and click Clear Activation Lock. 

You can also check ASM to see what MD it is in. Go to your Apple School Manager account and search under Devices with the S/N and select the device. It will show in the information what MDM they are registered to.

Not sure if this helps any.

[Shirley233]

It's easy to remove the iPad locked to owner when you own the Apple ID password, but if you can't contact the previous Apple ID owner, you may try DNS bypass, and this is the only way to bypass this lock screen. You can follow the specific steps in this article: How to Bypass iPad Locked to Owner? A Full Guide!