New Macs bought through Apple or an authorized reseller land in Apple Business automatically — that’s the reseller’s job, not yours. But for older machines, donated hardware, lab gear, or anything bought off-channel, you’ll need to add it manually with Apple Configurator. The catch: in the standard flow, the Mac needs to be erased first.
Let your reseller do the heavy lifting
First things first: if you’re buying new Macs through Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller, they should be pushing those serial numbers straight into your Apple Business account. That’s the whole point of ADE (Automated Device Enrollment, formerly DEP) — devices show up already assigned, ready for Setup Assistant to hand them straight to your MDM. If a batch of new Macs isn’t showing up in Apple Business within a few hours, that’s a reseller ticket, not a Configurator project.
When you actually need the manual route
The manual method exists for the stuff that didn’t come through that pipeline:
- Older Macs bought before your org had ABM
- Donated or inherited hardware
- Devices bought retail instead of through an authorized channel
- Lab or test-bench Macs you want to spin up quickly without waiting on procurement
Basically, anything that skipped the front door needs to be let in the back — through Apple Configurator.
Requirements before you start
You’ll need your organization in an Apple Business-supported country, a current macOS/iOS version on both the target Mac and the enrolling device, and Apple Configurator installed. For manual enrollment specifically, the Mac itself needs Apple Silicon or a T2 chip — if it’s old enough to remember when metal meant Metallica and not Apple’s graphics API, it might not qualify.
Haven’t got Apple Business? Start here
Manual enrollment with Apple Configurator
You can do this from a Mac running Apple Configurator for Mac, or from an iPhone running Apple Configurator for iPhone. Either way, if the target Mac has already been through Setup Assistant, back it up and erase it first.
Using an iPhone (the quicker path for most techs):
Open Apple Configurator on the iPhone and power on the target Mac. Sign in with a Managed Apple ID that has Administrator or Device Enrollment Manager rights.
Walk through Setup Assistant on the Mac until you hit the Country or Region pane, then stop.
Bring the iPhone close to the Mac and pair — either scan the on-screen code or use Manual Pairing.
Finish Setup Assistant, then shut the Mac down.
In Apple Business, go to Devices > Devices added by Apple Configurator and assign the Mac to your MDM server (Intune, in most of our cases).
If you’re using Apple Configurator for Mac instead, the flow runs through a USB-connected “prepare” workflow with the same end result: the device lands in that same “Devices added by Apple Configurator” bucket, ready to be handed to your MDM.
Skipping the erase — is it possible?
Sometimes. There are community workarounds — temporary APFS volumes, or scripts like the open-source add2abm — that re-trigger Setup Assistant without wiping the drive, by temporarily hiding the existing user accounts and setup flag. They work, but they poke at things Apple never designed for tampering, need Recovery access, and aren’t something to run on a production machine without testing first. For one-off lab or test devices this is often more effort than it’s worth — just erase it and move on. For a fleet of in-use employee Macs, it’s worth the extra care.
The cleaner long-term fix is still the boring one: get your reseller to backload the purchase history into ADE. No Configurator gymnastics — just paperwork.
FAQ
Do I need to erase the Mac to add it to ABM?
With the standard Apple Configurator method, yes — if the Mac has already been through Setup Assistant. Workarounds exist to avoid this, but they’re unsupported by Apple. Do a reset and make use of all the Intune features during enrollment.
Can my reseller add old purchases to ABM instead?
Often, yes. If they still have the order on record, they can backload it to your ABM account with no device wipe required.
Does this work for Intel Macs?
Only if they have a T2 security chip. Older Intel Macs without T2 can’t be manually enrolled this way.
What happens after the Mac lands in ADE?
It shows up unassigned, under “Devices added by Apple Configurator.” From there you assign it to your MDM (Intune) and it behaves like any other ADE-enrolled device. Unless you have set default to be assigned to MDM (Intune).
