After updating an iPhone, maybe it’s stuck. Doesn’t happen much, but it can happen. When it does, it’s great if you’ve got a backup of your phone. And those traditional means of restarting, resetting, and restoring don’t work any more. Or at least they do, but they’ve moved. If you need to DFU or restore your device, starts by plugging the phone into a computer running iTunes. Then press and hold the power button down for 3 seconds and press the volume down button while you’re holding that power button. Hold both down for about 10 seconds and let go of the power button, holding the volume down button for…
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Is Imaging Dead In OS X?
I love answering a question with a question. Is asr still in OS X? Is NetInstall still in OS X Server? Can OS X still NetBoot? Does System Image Utility still work? The answer to all of these is yes. Therefore, the answer to “Is imaging dead” is clearly no. Is it on its way out, maybe. Debatable. Is it changing? Of course. When does Apple not evolve? What have we seen recently? Well, the rhetoric would point to the fact that imaging is dying. That seems clear. And this is slowly coming out of people at Apple. The word imaging is becoming a bad thing. But, as a customer…
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Using Apple Configurator 2 Blueprints to Manage iOS Devices
Blueprints are a new option in Apple Configurator 2. Blueprints allow you setup a template of settings, options, apps, and restore data, and then apply those Blueprints on iOS devices. For example, if you have 1,000 iOS devices, you can create a Blueprint with a restore item, an enrollment profile, a default wallpaper, skip all of the activation steps, install 4 apps, and then enabling encrypted backups. The Blueprint will provide all of these features to any device that the Blueprint is applied to. But then why not call it a group? Why call it a Blueprint? Because the word template is boring. And you’re not dynamically making changes to devices over…
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Copy OS Updates Between Apple Configurator Machines
One of the things that is awesome and sometimes frustrating about Apple Configurator is that when you do certain tasks, you end up updating the OS on devices. The reason this is awesome is that it allows you to centralize operations. The reason this can be frustrating is that if you’re on a limited bandwidth connection, you may find that you can’t do very basic tasks before downloading a large OS update. And if you’ve got a bunch of Apple Configurator workstations, and you are running a training session, this can get infinitely more annoying. In these types of lab environments, you’re in luck. If you have an ipsw (the iOS…
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Create a Backup of an iOS Device Using Apple Configurator
You can easily create a backup of an iOS device using Apple Configurator. Once you’ve created a backup, it can be restored onto a number of devices. This contains iOS data and data outside of the secure enclave. These backups allow you to restore an iOS device, add apps (not using the backup), set backgrounds, set app locations on the home screen, etc. To do so, open Apple Configurator and then click on the Prepare icon. At the Prepare screen, click into the Restore field and then click on the Create Backup button. At the pop-up menu, select the device you’re backing up (usually there’s only one) and then click on the…
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Factory Reset Your Apple Watch
You loved your Apple Watch. It was awesome. But then something happened. Maybe it got glitchy. Maybe it got weird. Maybe you want to sell it and so just want to get it back to factory defaults first. Well, either way it’s easy. To reset your watch, open the Settings app. Open the General app. Tap Reset at the bottom of the list. When prompted, tap Erase All Content and Settings on the Apple Watch. Once done, unless you’re getting rid of the watch, you’ll want to pair it again. To do so, follow the instructions in this article: https://krypted.com//apple-watch/set-up-your-new-apple-watch. Or, you can restore your device by selecting a device to restore the…
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Some Basic Xen Commands
The most important command for managing pretty much anything in Linux is vi. So if you only learn one command, learn that one. But if you want to learn another, the second most important command for managing Xen is then xm (well, once you’ve apt-gotten or yummied up the installation that is). The xm command has a number of easy verbs, each used for managing the Xen environment. xm info – Shows information about the Xen host xm list – Shows information about doms (states include r for running, b for blocked, c for crashed, p for paused and the worse, d for dying). xm network-list – Shows virtual interfaces…
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Managing iOS Devices with Apple Configurator
My traditional interpretation of Apple’s vision on how iOS devices are used is that everyone has an AppleID. That AppleID enables them to access their apps from any iOS device they own or Mac that they own. That AppleID enables them to access mail, contacts, calendars and even files through iCloud. That AppleID also allows users to remotely wipe their device through Find iPhone and track their friends iOS devices (as in social networking via breadcrumb tracking) through Find Friends. All of this “Just Works” in a consumer sense. And it even allows for a little sharing of content across devices you own. However, larger organizations need more. They need…
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Fixing Service Issues When Upgrading to 10.7.3 Server
The 10.7.2 to 10.7.3 update for Lion Server has introduced a few issues in some environments that I’ve seen. It just so happens that the update corrects a lot of behavior with Lion Server while also introducing new features, so it’s something you’re gonna’ need to do eventually. Therefore, before I update, I would strongly recommend backing up all of your services, your service data and Open Directory. Once you’ve run the 10.7.3 update, there are a few things that I’ve seen happen. The first is that the web server won’t start. If this happens, reset the web server back to factory default: serveradmin command web:command=restoreFactorySettings Once it’s reset, you…
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Upgrading Open Directory From Snow Leopard Server to Lion Server
I don’t believe in upgrading major operating systems for servers in place. There, I said it. If I’m doing an upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion, I’m about 99.9% of the time going to do so with a clean install. Before I do so, I’m going to export all the data from my old server and when I’m done with the fresh, clean, loving installation, I’m going to import that data back into my server. Actually, before I import the data, I’m going to install all of the point releases, application updates and security patches. That’s my process for production servers. Open Directory isn’t very different. I Archive and Restore…