Rice Jamf Auto-Enrollment Instructions

I received my new Macintosh in the box. Now what?

Congratulations on getting your new Rice-owned Mac!

Rice Office of Information Technology (OIT) now allows Macintosh users to configure their Rice-owned Macs without direct involvement from OIT.

Macs ordered through the iO Marketplace are sent directly to the end-user's department. Through our Mac enterprise management system (JAMF), Rice OIT can now configure these new Macs automatically and remotely. This Auto-Enrollment process using the JAMF system will begin once the system is turned on and simply requires access to a WiFi Internet connection (on- or off-campus) to complete the device's initial setup by the primary Rice user. Note that very slow connections are not recommended.

While this setup process may seem complicated, it is straightforward. We recommend reading through these instructions first before proceeding.

Deployment Procedure - Step by Step

Allow 2 hours to complete this process: 30 minutes for your part of the setup, followed by 90 minutes for the automated configuration. Data migration will take extra time beyond the 2 hours.

1. Unbox the Mac, connect the power supply, and turn on the computer. Please be sure the Mac is connected to power before proceeding, as losing power during the setup process may cause issues.
2. At the “Hello” screen, click “Get Started” or hit the space bar and then "Continue."
3. Select the language you’d like to use as your primary language on the computer (English in most cases) and click "Continue."
4. Select Your Country or Region (US in most cases) and click "Continue."
5. At “Transfer Your Data to This Mac”, select “Set Up as New” and click "Continue." Do not transfer or migrate your data until after setup has completed.
6. At the Accessibility window, make any choices you wish, or select “Not Now” to continue. You can change these settings later in System Settings.
7. At the “Select Your Wi-Fi Network”, select Rice Visitor (not Rice Owls) if you’re on campus. Otherwise, use your home WiFi network. Please avoid using public networks such as those found in airports or coffee shops.
8. On the “Remote Management” screen, verify that the Mac is owned by Rice University. If so, click the “Enroll” button. If you don’t see the Rice “Remote Management” screen, stop and call the Help Desk at 713-348-4357. Do not create an account. Do not enter credentials unless and until you are responding to directions after seeing the Rice “Remote Management” screen.
9. Enter your Rice credentials (NetID and password) at the “Rice Identity Provider” screen to log in. When presented with the Duo authentication screen, you may wish to select “Other options,” then choose “Duo Push” or “Duo Mobile Passcode.” Selecting “Use Touch ID” is an option as well, but you will need to complete additional steps to continue.
10. At this point, the Mac will begin to download profiles and apps from the server. 
11. The next window to appear is “Data & Privacy”. Click "Continue."
12. At the “Create a Mac Account” window, notice that your Full Name and Account Name are already entered and cannot be changed. If this isn’t the account you wish to use going forward, you may always create another account once setup is complete. You may change the account avatar in this step by clicking on it.
13. On the “Select Your Time Zone” screen, we recommend turning on location services. The system should be able to select your location (usually Houston) and mark it with a red pin. The Closest City may be Chicago or Dallas for the Central Time Zone. Click "Continue."
14. At the “Analytics” screen, you may uncheck the “Share Mac Analytics with Apple” checkbox if you wish. Click "Continue."
15. At the “Screen Time” screen, select “Set Up Later” or make selections and click "Continue."
16. At the “Apple Intelligence” screen, select “Set Up Later” or “Set Up Apple Intelligence”.
17. You may deselect the “Enable Ask Siri” button if you don’t wish to use voice to use Siri on this Mac. Click "Continue."
18. At the “FileVault Disk Encryption” screen, you may wish to make a note of the encryption key that’s shown. JAMF will save that encryption key, and you may call the Help Desk with your Mac's serial number to obtain it later, if necessary. Click "Continue."
19. At the “Touch ID” screen, click “Continue” to set up Touch ID. Click “Continue” when you see “Touch ID is Ready” at the top of the screen. Click “Set Up Touch ID Later” to continue without setting up Touch ID.
20. At the “Choose Your Look” screen, select Light, Dark, or auto-adjust the appearance of your Mac screen. Click "Continue."
21. Click the "Get Started" button to complete the Setup Assistant process.
22. IMPORTANT: At this point, do not interact with the Mac for at least 90 minutes to allow it to download and install all standard software, management policies, and security tools. This will all happen in the background if it's powered on and connected to WiFi. The last thing to install is the Microsoft 365 app suite. Once you see a pop-up from Microsoft with a "Required Data Notice," the entire setup process is complete, and you can begin using your Mac. 

Software installed during deployment includes basic productivity applications such as the Microsoft 365 app suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Teams), Zoom, Firefox, Chrome, and standard Rice endpoint security tools. See more details on endpoint security (login required).  

Data Migration

Migrating your data from an older Mac to the new one can be easy if you already have the right tools in place. These tools may include cloud storage, external hard drives, or network storage, such as servers on storage.rice.edu.

Rice’s cloud storage services include Box, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. Currently, Box and OneDrive offer Rice faculty and staff 2TB of storage space, while Google Drive offers 50GB. Note that much of Google’s 50GB is used by your Gmail data. Cloud services will also let you keep much of your data in the cloud and access it from most devices via a web login. Box, Google Drive, and OneDrive all offer Mac apps that make your data accessible in the macOS Finder app without going through a web interface.

Another easy method for data migration is a current Time Machine backup from your previous Mac on an external drive *and* for the macOS on that older Mac to be within one or two major releases of the new Mac. For example, if the new Mac has macOS 26 (Tahoe), then the old one should have at least macOS 15 (Sequoia) or macOS 14 (Sonoma). If possible, run any pending updates (not macOS version upgrades) on the old Mac, then let Time Machine run another backup. Once that's done, connect the Time Machine drive to the new Mac and use the Migration Assistant app (Applications > Utilities) to transfer only the user data (not Applications) to the new Mac. You may need to set a new admin password for the transferred account when you do this - be sure to make a note or remember that new password! If you don’t have a recent version of macOS on the older Mac, work with the Help Desk to manually migrate your data.

If you need further assistance with migrating data or configuring/installing additional software on a Rice-owned Mac, contact the Rice OIT Help Desk.