Forum Discussion
Can you skip network connection in Android Enterprise Edition?
I think you'll need to speak to Samsung on this.
If the devices are showing correctly registered in ZT either via IMEI1 or SN & hardware details, and the config is assigned, it sounds to me like a bug in the build missing a step.
Are you buying enterprise edition models or anything outside of standard off-shelf devices from a normal retailer?
Are you able to flash/update with e-FOTA or OTA these devices to their latest builds and verify the behaviour still happens?
Yes, so on enterprise modell of the device, it should not be possible to skip network connection for the initial device setup. I confirmed this by taking in 4 different models of Android enterprise phones from Samsung and none of them gave me the option to skip network connection at the initial setup.
I had to connect it to Wi-Fi or use cellular data.
But then we have these that are sent to customer exact same model that I test AND they can skip network connection at the initial setup.
As Sean mentioned maybe misconfigured OEM image from Samsung? I don't know I don't have any answer and I have been working with the issue for over a week now. Done like a 100 tests!
Tested and you are right (again learned something, thanks!).
But I'm not sure what Google is checking being able to connect to in that step because reachability of the ZTP won't be part of it as companies may not use it and so don't want to grant access to it.
If the Wifi-Network you connect to provides internet access but blocks the relevant Google Services it could be possible to enroll without ZTP detection.
Also sometimes because of a somehow strange issue it could happen that devices are not detected by the ZTP correctly (enrolling as consumer device even if listed in ZTP correctly).
We have seen this on very few devices where it helped to reassign the correct configuration and after a wipe they were detected correctly. Is this maybe the case here as well?
Isn't this policy / feature (that you MUST connect to a network) by default set to TRUE for all Android Enterprise? Or is it different based on Android version?
No, this would be configured at the OEM for their build of Android. Most devices don't even know they're for enterprise until after they first connect to the internet where ZT is concerned. Samsung gains the benefit of OEM solutions storing locally a config after first setup to force devices to connect to the internet, though this wouldn't normally apply for ZT, rather KME.
Are you ZT exclusively or have you used other Samsung solutions to date? KME or Configure?
Hello jasonbayton and Moombas Thank you for the reply 🙂
We are using only ZT for this customer but I am familiar with Samsung's KME too and have used it with other customers.
But here is another thing that I discovered. I tested four different enterprise model of Samsung phones. A53, A33, XCover6 Pro and S22 and without even uploading them to Knox or ZTP. They behaved exactly the way I want them. Out of the box, I couldn't skip network connection in first setup. This was set to true for all the models above that I tested.So this could be very much as you say, there could be another build of OEM image on these phones that are sent to our customer.
But then these phones, we have uploaded them to ZTP before we sent to the customer, this is what gives me headache! They don't talk to ZTP, after they are turned on and connected to network, nothing happens. And no there is no network restrictions that could prevent them from talking to Google APIs and services.And of course we could solve the problem by hard wiping the device, reimport them into ZTP and enroll them because this works. But we are talking about more than 100 phones here....
I have double checked and they have a config profile in ZTP and imported correctly.
I just want to know the root cause of the problem (why they aren't talking to ZTP and why we have to hard wipe every device) so I can present it to our customer.
I think you'll need to speak to Samsung on this.
If the devices are showing correctly registered in ZT either via IMEI1 or SN & hardware details, and the config is assigned, it sounds to me like a bug in the build missing a step.
Are you buying enterprise edition models or anything outside of standard off-shelf devices from a normal retailer?
Are you able to flash/update with e-FOTA or OTA these devices to their latest builds and verify the behaviour still happens?
Are you buying enterprise edition models or anything outside of standard off-shelf devices from a normal retailer?
We are buying enterprise edition only.I haven't tried to update them to the latest build because the customers are using the phones on daily basis but will definitely give it a shot.
I have now opened a ticket with Samsung and they think (not sure) that these phones are missing a GSM update.
Thank you for all the help replies and info!
