Forum Discussion
Device Owner Provisioning
My company is building a startup that utilizes Android boxes, and we want to have a way to provision applications to all of the devices and control their configurations remotely. I had a brief look a...
You don’t have to use an EMM — you can use Google's free Android Management API (AMAPI) to build your own EMM solution. "https://developers.google.com/android/management"
Since your Android boxes do not have NFC or built-in cameras, consider the following provisioning options:
1) Zero-Touch Enrollment (ZTE)
- Best option for large-scale, hands-off deployment
- Requires Android 9+ and support from the device manufacturer
- Devices must be registered (by serial number or IMEI) via an authorized reseller
- Configuration is applied automatically on first boot or after factory reset
Recommended if your hardware vendor supports it
2) Manual ADB Provisioning
- Suitable for development, testing, or small-batch provisioning
- Requires connecting the device to a computer via USB
- Set the Device Owner manually using ADB: "adb shell dpm set-device-owner com.example.yourmdm/.YourReceiver"
- Does not require camera or NFC, but does require physical access
3) QR Code Enrollment Using External Camera or Scanner
- Use a wired USB camera or Bluetooth barcode/QR scanner attached to the Android box
- This allows scanning a QR code to trigger provisioning, even without a built-in camera
Requires Android 9+ and the device must be in a factory-reset state - Initiate QR enrollment by tapping 6 times on the welcome screen or through ADB: " shell am start -a android.app.action.PROVISION_MANAGED_DEVICE"
- Useful when Zero-Touch is unavailable but QR enrollment is preferred
Well-known enterprise hardware vendors often provide their own provisioning or staging tools to simplify device enrollment:
- Zebra devices use StageNow, which supports barcode or NFC-based staging.
- Honeywell offers the Honeywell Enterprise Provisioner for device setup and configuration.
- Samsung devices support Knox Mobile Enrollment (KME) for bulk provisioning.
- Datalogic provides Datalogic StageNow, which is based on Zebra’s tool.
- Panasonic devices often integrate with Zero-Touch Enrollment or use custom scripts via USB or QR code.
