Two days ago I received a new work computer, an M4 Mac Mini with 32GB memory and 1 TB storage. Yay me. Getting it setup and configured as been surprisingly difficult.
My employer is using remote management software on all computers. This is the only sane way to ensure that devices are kept up-to-date, and that unwanted or unsafe software and configurations aren’t employed.
Getting the policies fine tuned is the tricky part.
During the initial boot of the Mac Mini, I created a user account for myself.
Since it was the only account on the machine, by default, is was an Admin
account. During the initial startup following that there was a notification
about Intune running. Intune
is the remote management software being used. Unbeknownst to me, one of the
policies it applied converted my account from Admin to Standard. More on this later.
Another policy blocks using iCloud, in particular the syncing of the Passwords app. Without iCloud, Passwords won’t work. The answer from our help desk was to use the officially supported LastPass.
In order to not have to copy and paste passwords all day, I’d need to either (a) install the LastPass extension in Safari (my browser of choice), or (2) use a different browser, like Firefox.
After downloading Firefox I tried to install it and was blocked. When I put my
password in I wasn’t allowed to add the program. After trying a couple times,
and even re-downloading the app in case it was corrupt, I stated poking around.
Eventually I looked at my user account and saw that it was set to Standard.
With a call from my boss, and a trouble ticket I was given an id and password I
could use to elevate my account to Admin. Once I did that I could install
Firefox.
The mistake I made many, many years ago, was not creating a separate AppleID for work. Instead, I, like I suspect many people, simply used my personal AppleID for work. This has not been an issue.
The issue now is not wanting to have the LastPass extension in Safari on my personal machines. Thanks to my AppleID that’s exactly what will happen if I add the extension on my work computer.
So I created a new AppleID. At first I tried to resurrect an old, unused
AppleID created with my work email address years ago, that I never did anything
with. Unfortunately it doesn’t have two-factor authorization setup and I
wasn’t able to authenticate it. So a new AppleID. I work for (perhaps) the only
University that has two .edu domains. Normally I use the shorter one, but by
using the other one, I could create a new AppleID that still used my work
email.
After creating the AppleID I was able to sign in to my account inside the Settings app. However, when I tried to apply app updates via the AppStore, I needed to sign in again, and provide an optional payment method, a shipping address, and a phone number.
Every time I filled in the form and hit submit it would highlight the address fields, and the phone number field and tell me to fill them in. Which they were already.
This led to the first of several Apple Support Chats. We tried signing into music.apple.com and into icloud.com. The iCloud sign in worked, but music.apple.com just displays a blank dialog with a spinner that never completes.
I was told to clear the cache and cookies, and erase the browser history. Which killed that chat session. I was told to try from a different WiFi access point. I said, “Really? How many access points do you think I have at home? And, by the way, I’m connected via Ethernet.”
After being passed around to different advisers, I was told to try updating my shipping address and phone number through icloud.com. That dialog gave an error message that said it couldn’t verify that phone number as it was already in use. Which is true. It’s my only phone number and is associated with my personal AppleID.
While the adviser was talking to someone else about this, I pulled up Google Voice and created a new phone number. Entering that phone number did not solve the issue. The phone number is updated in icloud.com, but trying to update apps via the AppStore still pulls up the account review dialog, which still insists I haven’t filled in the address and phone number fields.
Maybe it’s a timing issue. That not enough time as elapsed from changing the phone number in iCloud to accessing the AppStore. The fact that iCloud had a shipping address previously, and the AppStore didn’t pick up on it, makes me think it’s not a timing issue. But who knows?
The Apple support adviser wants me to make a screen capture of my trying to update apps, and send that to them. They are also going to contact me to capture some diagnostics. Apparently the diagnostic level of support could take up to 5 business day. Effectively a week from today. Which is nuts. And unacceptable.
The whole thing is now in a pending state. I can setup and install software that dos not come via the AppStore. But there are several apps I need from that source.
In the past my Apple “out of box” experiences have been far superior to this. Some of the issue is on Apple (why doesn’t their form work?) and some of it is on me (does separation of my personal AppleID and work AppleID really matter?). I know (hope) it will all be resolved, and soon.
If I could send a message to me in 1993, I’d say, “Create a separation between your computing and your employer’s. Don’t reuse accounts or share resources.” Sounds like common sense, but not having to create separate accounts for the same resources is that path of less resistance.
The epilogue to all this is my work laptop. Until now it has used my personal AppleID. Once I get the Mini sorted out, and the new work AppleID is working, I’ll sign out of the personal account and into the work one on that machine. Fingers crossed that this doesn’t result in another day and a half of frustration.