There seems to be a fair amount of confusion around getting existing devices into the Apple Device Enrollment Program(DEP) or Apple Business Manager (ABM) portal. The official documentation seems to indicate that using Apple Configurator is a requirement, but it is just one way to achieve this. The problem with using Apple Configurator is that it only runs on OS X and there are a lot of organizations that do not have an Apple computer that they can use for this.

The next bit of confusion is due to the fact that once you’ve gotten your Apple reseller to add your existing devices into DEP, they don’t actually show up in the portal. Newly purchased devices will show up, but devices purchased prior to setting up DEP with your reseller will not.

Before you get started with this guide you must first contact your Apple reseller and provide them with your Apple organization ID. This can be found in the ABM portal under settings > enrollment information. Your reseller will then provide you with their reseller ID which you must enter into ABM under settings > device management settings > customer numbers > reseller IDs. Once this has been configured it typically takes about 24 hours for the resellers to add your existing devices. Most resellers will add devices purchased anytime after 2011 but this can vary.

Once you have confirmed that your reseller has added the devices simply follow the steps below to import devices into ABM.

 

  1. Connect the iOS device to a Windows computer
  2. Open Windows Explorer and locate the iOS device in the left pane.
  3. Right click the iOS device and select properties

 

  1. Copy the serial number from the properties window then click OK.

 

 

  1. Create a new Excel spreadsheet.
    1. In column A paste the serial number of the iOS device.
    2. In column B enter a descriptor for the device This can be anything as it will not be used later.
    3. Save the spreadsheet as a .csv file.

  1. Log in to business.apple.com
  2. Select Device Assignments
  3. Under Choose Devices select Upload File.
  4. Browse to your .csv file and select it.
  5. Under Choose Action set the following:
    1. Perform Action: Assign to Server
    2. MDM Server: Microsoft Intune
  1. Click Done

 

 

(note: If you receive an error during the import click View in activity and download the error log. If the message below operation_substatus is INVALID_INPUT it is highly likely that your Apple reseller did not upload this device to DEP. Contact your reseller. Alternatively, contact Apple Enterprise Support at 1-866-752-7753 and ask them to lookup the serial number. They will tell you exactly what went wrong.)

 

  1. While still in the Apple Business Portal within the Assign Devices node click Search Devices.

 

  1. Enter the serial number of the device which was imported and click Search.

 

 

  1. Confirm that the device was successfully assigned to Microsoft Intune. If not select Microsoft Intune from the drop-down and click Done. Otherwise, just click Done.

 

  1. Login to the Intune portal > Device Enrollment > Apple Enrollment > Enrollment program tokens.

 

 

  1. Select the Microsoft Intune token.

  1. Under Manage select Devices.
  2. Click Sync.
  3. Wait 1-2 min and then search for the device that was imported into the Apple Business portal.
  4. If the device is successfully found, you have confirmed that the device was properly imported into DEP and assigned to Intune. You may now factory reset the device. Upon starting back up the device will be automatically enrolled into Intune and the Intune Company Portal will be installed without the need to enter an Apple ID.

 

Hopefully this helps to clear any confusion on adding devices to Apple Business Manager without Apple Configurator. If you have any questions about managing your deployments, please contact us here.