Suggestions for Re-imaging a mac computer

[mcsoellner]

It is very common for my department to re-image a someone's mac. Either the device is being reused for someone new or the end user will request it be refreshed.

I know Casper Imaging is an option to re-image, but is there any other option to re-image a machine?

[nvandam]

What is your current deployment strategy? I think that piece of information will help answer how to approach wiping/reimaging your Macs. At my company, we use DEP prestage enrollments, so we just put a stock image on the computer and let the user go through the enrollment and JAMF Pro does the rest.

[maxapen]

There are many ways of imaging, we use Deploy Studio, it's free and neat

[ChickenDenders]

I set up my computers with just a minimal base image, no extra software installed on it. Just run the OSX installer through AutoDMG to create a boot image, then drop it into Casper Admin. Then have everything install after the fact via JAMF policies.

My Firstboot script will flush a computer's JSS policy history after applying all my system config stuff, so it will re-apply all my policies after it is reimaged. JSS will remember all the policies it is scoped out for, assuming the machine name is unchanged. Works pretty well to keep everything modular/updated.

[mcsoellner]

@nvandam We do not have a imaging strategy in place yet. We have only used the Casper Imaging client to image a few of our macs. I have tried using the DEP prestage enrollment but I have not had any success with that. It will either fail to connect to our server or not install any of our policies on the machine.

[lorigirard382]

I made an image using Disk Utility and then target disk mode image the machines. I used to use Deploy Studio, but was tired of the updates crashing my server. We are a smaller school, so that may not work on a larger scale. I never got casper imaging to work like I wanted to.

[Look]

Internet restore, then whatever process you currently use for onboading new macs.