Wi-Fi Profile is Lost/Disconnects

[JP83]

Hi!

I have a question for you that I"m hoping your can help me with.

We have been using DEP and Apple Configurator (and GroundControl) with Meraki MDM to manage all of our iPads for some time now.

We always upload a Wi-Fi profile in Apple Configurator/GroundControl so that all of the iPads go through the DEP process successfully.

We are having this issue that occurs after the iPads finish going through the DEP process. When get to the iPads home screen, all of the apps that we have added in Meraki start downloading. After a few seconds in the process of apps downloading, the Wi-Fi network disconnects by itself and the Wi-Fi settings are wiped out.

1. can you explain to me why the Wi-Fi settings are erased/wiped out?

2. is there a way to prevent this from happening and leaving the Wi-Fi settings intact?

Thank you.

[BlakeRichardson]

@JP83 You need to make sure that you have a wifi profile in the MDM as well, wifi profiles loaded using configurator to enrol a device in DEP will uninstall after setup is complete.

It's also best practise to have wifi settings in their own profile and not combined with any other settings.

[JP83]

@BlakeRichardsonI forgot to mention that we already have a Wi-Fi profile in the MDM. It is separate profile from the main restrictions profile.  The only other items included in the Wi-Fi profile are the security certs necessary to connect to the Wi-Fi.

Even with the Wi-Fi profile in place in the MDM, the Wi-Fi still disconnects and is removed.  As soon as "built-in" iPad apps finish downloading and the apps from the MDM start downloading, this occurs.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[ekramer]

It sounds like your Wifi config should be in your enrollment profile with your restrictions, and not in an additional (later) configuration profile.  Or switch your restrictions and Wifi profiles (instead of combining them) so Wifi comes first, and then restrictions.

[JP83]

@ekramerRight now, we have a Wi-Fi profile that is included with Apple Configurator when we supervise iPads.  Then we have a restrictions profile and a wi-fi profile in Meraki that gets downloaded onto the iPads after they've been supervised.  Is this the way it should be?

Are you saying that I should have the Wi-fi profile and restrictions profile as on in Apple Configurator or are you saying I should have the wi-fi profile and restrictions profile combined into one?  If it's the latter, then we already tried that and the same thing occurs.

[ekramer]

Respectfully, I will bow out of this discussion because I have no knowledge of Ground Control and how it integrates with Meraki as you MDM.  I don't see a direct reference to them in the Ground Control > Integration page.  There may be a conflict there.  I'm used to DEP enrollment (https://documentation.meraki.com/SM/Device_Enrollment/Apple_Device_Enrollment_Program_(DEP)) which is a little more automatic.

[JP83]

@ekramerAt the moment we are not using GroundControl. We are using Apple Configurator with DEP and Meraki.

[JP83]

Update:

See images below.

screenshot1 is the screenshot of General > VPN & Device Management > Meraki System Manager > More Details.  As you can see, after a freshly-supervised iPad, the iPad successfully downloads the Meraki profile and it included the Wi-Fi settings and the SSL certificates.

After a few minutes, when the apps start downloading from Meraki, the Wi-Fi settings and the Certificates disappear:

I am not sure what else to do or check.  Does anyone have any ideas what to try next?

[BlakeRichardson]

Are you 100% sure you have scoped the wifi profile to the devices, if you go to the settings and scroll down you should see a list of devices included in the scope. 

[JP83]

@BlakeRichardsonYes, I'm 100% sure. I just checked now and all of our iPads are included in the scope.

[RAJartech]

Hi @JP83 ,

We are having exactly the same issue following enrollment to DEP / Meraki via apple configurator - the iPad disconnects from the WiFi and does not pick up the WiFi settings we configured within Meraki.  If we manually reconnect it, it is fine but this is, as you know, inconvenient.  Did you ever get to the bottom of the issue by any chance?

[JP83]

Hi @RAJartech ,

I'm afraid not. We never found a fix for this issue.  We are doing what we can go "get by" or around this issue.

If you do find a resolution to this issue, please let me know!

[RAJartech]

Thanks for the reply. How frustrating. This should be more straight forward surely. I will keep you posted if I get to the bottom of it. 

[BlakeRichardson]

@JP83  If you try manually connecting the device to wifi and leave it a few minutes does it then obtain the correct settings?

[PaulF]

Hello all. I have been plagued by this since, well.... Forever. And it seems this is a problem with iOS removing the Apple Configurator installed WiFi profile as the device unrolls into MDM (not just Systems Manager but any MDM)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253842614?sortBy=best

So, how can you avoid this

The issue is a race condition: Because so many things are going on (apps, profiles, restrictions, etc) at the time of enrollment (and this is exacerbated if you have a profile that has multiple payloads (don't do this!)), the wifi config is removed before the new one is installed. So, there's several things you can do

1. Do NOT embed your wifi payload within a profile that has multiple payloads. Keep your WiFi profile separate

2. Consider a staged approach to enrollment: as you're using a manual process to enroll devices already, have your wifi profile set to ALL Devices, but for everything else (apps, other profiles), have them set to a tag that is either added to the device manually after enrollment, or using web hooks and some coding, automatically

But, the issue is that Apple remove the profile, and there's so much going on, the WiFi settings are removed before the new one is installed

Hope that helps

[vassallon]

@JP83 I know I'm a bit late to this party but I'm curious if you are using the same or different wireless networks and the iPads drop.

My experience has been to utilize two different wireless networks which seems to help the iPads not forget the wireless password. I use a network for setup and then Meraki pushes the iPad on the network I want the iPads to use which seems to resolve the iPads dropping off.

[Ms_Rempel]

I know this is well after the fact from your original post, but this is something I have been struggling with for years, too.  I believe I now have a working solution.

Like you, I set our iPads up initially in Apple Configurator, and apply a wifi profile, and prepare them to enrol in Meraki MDM.  Every device that enrols in Meraki automatically gets the system manager app, but everything else is tied to a profile.

I have a grade level profile applied to each class's iPads.  Originally I had embedded the wifi settings in each profile, and every year when I removed the profile (the quickest way to refresh/sign out of the apps), the wifi would disconnect after the apps were removed, necessitating a hands-on log in.

A couple of years ago, I had a brainwave that the wifi profile should be separate, and I created a wifi only profile, tied to a different tag that all classroom iPads get.  This still did not work properly, and while a couple of iPads remained connected (for some reason?), the majority still lost wifi when the grade profile was removed.

FINALLY, I discovered that I had to remove the wifi embedded in the grade profile, and re-push the no-wifi grade profile - which of course meant re-connecting manually to the wifi again, BUT now it does work as expected!  I am able to remove the grade profile, and the wifi stays because it is connected to another tag and is not included in the grade profile.

I'm a much happier iPad coordinator now!

[Gelo]

The Wi-Fi settings might be wiped due to a conflict between Configurator and Meraki profiles. Try skipping the Wi-Fi setup in Configurator and let Meraki handle it after DEP.