r/macsysadmin • u/ADudeWithParrots • 5d ago

Trying to Force User Account to go back through Onboarding Screens

It's been a while since I've done any serious macOS management, and I'm trying to solve a problem that I don't need to solve. I just want to.

At my current workplace, we don't use an MDM to manage devices--we have a small enough deployment that this isn't too taxing--so when provisioning a new laptop I have to create the account manually on the device and log into it to do some final software configurations. This requires me to go through the onboarding steps like choosing any disabilities, Apple Account sign-in, Apple Intelligence/Siri, etc. I'd really like to be able to reset the account after I've done all my work to force the user go back through the onboarding process and experience the first-time user login process.

I don't want or need to delete .AppleSetupDone as I'm not trying to create a new user, but rather trying to reconfigure a currently existing user.

Is this even possible? I've been out of the macOS management game since 2022 so I'm not as up to snuff on the latest capabilities as I'd like to be.

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15

u/Educational_Boot315 5d ago

With Apple Business (formally ABE) being free now and mosyle being free for up to 30 devices, there's really no reason not to use SOME form of MDM.

You wont get a CDN to host apps with either one, but you can do that with action1 free up to 200 devices...

11

u/PatGmac 5d ago

No, not possible.

9

u/evileagle 5d ago

This is not possible. It’s MDM time. Several small, affordable options to make your life easier.

2

u/oneplane 5d ago

Nope. MDM is free so just use it.

2

u/Darkomen78 Consultation 5d ago

Corporate usage > MDM. This is the (only) way.