AC2 and newer iOS on old mac mini

[Planehazza]

So I'm still being given old ipads that were on the old IT support's MDM. They were not purchased via DEP etc and finding out where they were purchased is not possible now.

 

I have managed to enrol circa 500 devices using AC2 up to DEP but it's getting more difficult as iOS updates and this 2010 mac mini gets older.

 

Getting work to purchase a new mac mini is very unlikely

 

Has anyone had this issue where mac mini and AC2 is too old to update/be supported thus stopping you from restoring ipads to iOS 17 or 18? I thought about a VM but I haven't got time to hackintosh nor is it legal as I understand it.

 

Anyone been here and found a solution, or do I just have to beg my boss to cough up for a new mac mini?

[lparry]

What version of OSX are you currently using? We have a 2012 iMac that we use for ASM enrollment which seems to still work without issue* so it would be interesting to know if ours is just on the cusp.

 

What error do you get when it fails - its not 33007 is it?

 

(*there are a handful of devices which will not enroll that we are currently speaking to Apple about and going through troubleshooting)

[3s-gtech]

My old Mac Mini from 2010 was still updating them with AC2 up to iOS 15, before I managed to get a replacement Mac for the job. It seemed to have a very long working lifespan. I didn't upgrade because AC2 stopped working, but because it was running OSX 10.11 which has been unsupported for years.

[Norphy]

You might be able to use something like OpenCore Legacy Patcher to bodge a newer version of macOS than it officially supports onto it, but that comes with its own risks in that there may be features that don't work properly, or driver support for the older model has been dropped. It's worth a go, but the days of updates for Intel Mac hardware are numbered.

 

You're better asking for a new Mac, imo. Say something along the lines of "You either spend thousands of pounds in terms of my time on configuring each iPad manually because they're too new for my management hardware, or you spend £500 on a new Mac now".

Edited October 24, 2024 by Norphy

[Planehazza]

My old Mac Mini from 2010 was still updating them with AC2 up to iOS 15, before I managed to get a replacement Mac for the job. It seemed to have a very long working lifespan. I didn't upgrade because AC2 stopped working, but because it was running OSX 10.11 which has been unsupported for years.

This is also very much the case I'm trying to raise with above too. The mac mini is only ever used for me to enrol devices and is only on for a few hours a month, often months will pass before it's removed from storage. But still... same reason the fact we have 100+ iPads in circulation on iOS 12.5.7... realistically, kids using them to play drawing games, what risk to the network do they pose? But the second Lightspeed filtering ceases to work I will be pulling them out of the schools even if I have to go to HR.

 

Guess I'm going to that school ASAP to test said devices:

 

[h=2]Minimum OS Versions[/h]Before deploying Lightspeed Filter to any devices on your network, ensure that the device(s) is running this version of the operating system.

Please note that the versions below reflect the minimums for our latest agents only and reflect which versions and platforms our software is tested against for official support.

 

• Chrome - Lightspeed Systems supports Chrome OS version 116 and above
   
  
• Windows - Windows 10+ (x64- builds 1909+) currently supports x86 cpu architecture only. (Please use SmartShield or CloudDNS for ARM)
   
  
• macOS - Monterey (12+) x64
   
  
• iOS - 16+
  Note: iOS 15+ requires a minimum agent version of 1.2.22. Otherwise, you may experience complete connectivity loss.
  

Edited October 24, 2024 by Planehazza

[Planehazza]

You might be able to use something like OpenCore Legacy Patcher to bodge a newer version of macOS than it officially supports onto it, but that comes with its own risks in that there may be features that don't work properly, or driver support for the older model has been dropped. It's worth a go, but the days of updates for Intel Mac hardware are numbered.

 

You're better asking for a new Mac, imo. Say something along the lines of "You either spend thousands of pounds in terms of my time on configuring each iPad manually because they're too new for my management hardware, or you spend £500 on a new Mac now".

 

The device is incredibly slow, to the point that when it's extracting an ispw the whole thing pretty much grinds to a halt until it's done. I agree; bodging an update would probably be too risky, but thanks for the suggestion.

What version of OSX are you currently using? We have a 2012 iMac that we use for ASM enrollment which seems to still work without issue* so it would be interesting to know if ours is just on the cusp.

 

What error do you get when it fails - its not 33007 is it?

 

(*there are a handful of devices which will not enroll that we are currently speaking to Apple about and going through troubleshooting)

 

I can't recall, but I think it's EOL with Catalina installed. I can't update AC2 because it requires newer OSX and obviously newer OSX is a no go. I think I may have just found a work around. I've put iOS18 on via iTunes in recovery mode, and this time when I plugged the iPad into AC2 it said it needed an update to manage this device which it's actually managed to install... It's currently restoring, so see how it goes.

 

 

EDIT: Yep, seems to be progressing now that it has entered AC2 with iOS18 already installed. Thankfully, I don't foresee many devices left to sort, but honestly it could be 5 or 50.

 

This doesn't negate the security implications nor the iOS versions implications of the old devices.

Edited October 24, 2024 by Planehazza

[DalekSec]

So I'm still being given old ipads that were on the old IT support's MDM. They were not purchased via DEP etc and finding out where they were purchased is not possible now.

 

I have managed to enrol circa 500 devices using AC2 up to DEP but it's getting more difficult as iOS updates and this 2010 mac mini gets older.

 

Getting work to purchase a new mac mini is very unlikely

 

Has anyone had this issue where mac mini and AC2 is too old to update/be supported thus stopping you from restoring ipads to iOS 17 or 18? I thought about a VM but I haven't got time to hackintosh nor is it legal as I understand it.

 

Anyone been here and found a solution, or do I just have to beg my boss to cough up for a new mac mini?

 

We use a Mac mini M1, you can get them for under £400 on refurb sites.

 

If you explain clearly why you need one, currently using a 14 year old machine should be proof enough! on top of how many iPads you have. Throw in data protection issues if not as wont be able to manage new devices!

[DavR]

We managed to get a Mac Mini M2 for under £400 earlier this year. It was six months old and open box, but for our needs (pretty much just iPad management) that was more than enough. Worth asking what your suppliers can lay their hands on.

 

I spent a few years running ours off a Hackintosh, which was OK, but I always lived in fear of it breaking. An up to date basic Mac is a legitimate business need.

[andy_b]

The device is incredibly slow, to the point that when it's extracting an ispw the whole thing pretty much grinds to a halt until it's done. I agree; bodging an update would probably be too risky, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

 

Best thing we ever did with our old Mac Mini was upgrade the HDD for a SSD -truely was night and day. So if yours has a HDD I would look at doing this.

[Davit2005]

If you can get educational discount you could look at a new MAC mini M2.

[Planehazza]

Best thing we ever did with our old Mac Mini was upgrade the HDD for a SSD -truely was night and day. So if yours has a HDD I would look at doing this.

 

Did that day 1 of iPad handover. Believe me I know how bad they run on standard spinny disks ha.

 

It's just an old device now, needs replacing. I'm just lucky that I've managed to get 550 devices up to DEP now and that I don't actually use the mac for anything except migrating existing devices up to DEP 'retrospectively'. A very nice feature since iOS 11 (?) I must say.

[Chrisbf1]

Anyone on the team got an iPhone. You can use the Apple Configurator for iPad app. Works well

[MrEprise]

You might be able to use something like OpenCore Legacy Patcher to bodge a newer version of macOS than it officially supports onto it, but that comes with its own risks in that there may be features that don't work properly, or driver support for the older model has been dropped. It's worth a go, but the days of updates for Intel Mac hardware are numbered.

 

You're better asking for a new Mac, imo. Say something along the lines of "You either spend thousands of pounds in terms of my time on configuring each iPad manually because they're too new for my management hardware, or you spend £500 on a new Mac now".

 

I did this fairly recently on an old Late-2009 iMac which allowed me to upgrade it to macOS 13 Ventura. It works well enough without issue (I've not run into any yet) and since I only use it to manage our iPads, it's absolutely fine for that.

[3s-gtech]

I'm going to give it a shot with some (10) 2011 era Mac Minis and Macbooks, to bump them up to Monterey. Worth a go, and will allow me to shortly ditch 10.13.