Can we restore a back up after DEP enrollment?

[trunolimit]

I want to prevent MDM from being removed from a phone. I understand that DEP has to be set up at activation. These devices are already in use however. Can I back up the device to iTunes, wipe then, enroll them in DEP, and then restore from a back up? will this negate the DEP enrollment or will the DEP enrollment survive the restore?  

[BlakeRichardson]

As long as you haven't selected to hide "Restore from Backup" under your DEP settings you shouldn't have any problems restoring the device from a backup.

[trunolimit]

And after I restore from back up the phone will still be in Supervised mode?

[BlakeRichardson]

@trunolimit you would have to restore the device during the setup process. If you restore it by just plugging it into iTunes then it wont be supervised. 

You need to restore it via this screen, the device gets its DEP profile installed directly after you connect it to a wireless network during the setup procedure. 

[PhilipDAth]

Check out this post:

https://community.meraki.com/t5/Endpoint-Management-Systems/NEW-Meraki-MDM-Deployment-iTunes-and-iCl...

Take particular note of the comments by @jared_f.

[jared_f]

In summary (that thread was long):

Device A needs to be put in DEP?

Make a backup of Device A and restore it on Device B then make a backup of Device B and restore it on Device A

The following will NOT work: 

Backing up Device A, erasing Device A, restoring Device A 

DEP enrollment will not come down.

[trunolimit]

So I'd need 2 iphone's and ipads to do this?

[BlakeRichardson]

Or backup the device to iCloud and restore the device during the setup process after you have erased it.

It is possible to do it without needing a second piece of hardware. 

[jared_f]

@BlakeRichardson I tried making an iCloud backup on a non-dep device, added the device to DEP and went through setup. After restoring from the iCloud backup during settings, DEP does not come down. 

[BlakeRichardson]

@jared_f I managed to do this with my iPhone although I made a backup using configurator. Most iPhone retailers in NZ aren't able to register devices in DEP so its a real minefield. 

[jared_f]

@BlakeRichardson I have tried doing a single device (not using another to restore and backup) for months and can never get it to work. Luckily ALL new shipped devices are DEP. From my understanding, in order to enroll a non-DEP device the user has to do the 2 device backup method or be moving to a new device (iCloud backup works there). Apple has never really clarified the problem.

[BlakeRichardson]

@jared_f Yes the problem of not being enrolled in DEP will slowly go away as you mentioned. I have managed to get most of my historical purchases enrolled which has been nice. Having the iOS 11 restriction for enrolling using configurator2 seems pointless as well.