Zebra OEMConfig MX profile in Intune with StageNow

In this post, I will show how you can use StageNow (it’s a free tool from Zebra!) to configure MX profiles that can be exported as XML to be used for deployment as Intune OEMConfig profile for Zebra devices in Android Enterprise mode of management.

Getting started with StageNow tool

Download the StageNow tool and install it on your local system referring to this install guide. Once you have the tool installed, it’s a pretty straightforward tool to use from there.

This is how the tool looks like when you launch it. To continue, you would need to enter the Admin credential which was specified at the installation time.

Post login, this is how it looks like.

For the purpose of this blog, I will be creating a simple configuration profile here just to show how we can then use it for deployment with Intune.

Configuring Zebra MX profile with StageNow tool [to be later used with Intune]

• Go ahead and click the + Create new Profile

• You will get a pop-up screen that acts as the profile selection wizard. Select the appropriate MX version depending on the device OS version that you are working with and then select the Xpert Mode and click Create.

• Give the profile a Name and click on Start.

• Next, add the Settings that you want to configure with this profile. The settings that you choose gets listed on the right side under Config tab.

• Configure the parameters of the chosen Settings as per requirement.

• Once you are done with configuring the Settings, you are on the Review section of the Profile creation wizard. Go ahead and click on the Complete Profiles button.

• You will now be in the Publish section of the wizard. You can directly use the Export for MDM button here to get the XML file for the config done.

Locate the saved XML file and open it. It will look similar to the XML output below.

<wap-provisioningdoc>
	<characteristic version="11.1" type="BluetoothMgr">
		<parm name="AllowPairing" value="3"/>
		<parm name="AllowDiscoverability" value="1"/>
		<parm name="AllowSilentPairing" value="2"/>
		<parm name="SinglePairing" value="0"/>
		<parm name="SilentPairingAction" value="0"/>
	</characteristic>
<characteristic version="6.0" type="CameraMgr">
	<parm name="UseAllCameras" value="2"/>
</characteristic>
<characteristic version="11.1" type="Wi-Fi">
	<characteristic type="System">
		<parm name="WiFiAction" value="enable"/>
		<parm name="WifiSleepPolicy" value="AlwaysOn"/>
		<parm name="NetworkNotification" value="true"/>
		<parm name="WifiWakeup" value="1"/>
	</characteristic>
		<parm name="UseRegulatory" value="0"/>
	<characteristic type="Radio">
		<parm name="BandSelection" value="5.0GHz"/>
		<characteristic type="ChannelSelection">
			<parm name="5.0GHzChannels" value="36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 149, 153, 157, 161"/>
		</characteristic>
	</characteristic>
		<parm name="UseDiagnosticOptions" value="0"/>
		<parm name="UseAdvancedOptions" value="0"/>
		<parm name="UseHotspotOptions" value="0"/>
</characteristic>
<characteristic version="10.4" type="WirelessMgr">
	<parm name="Bluetooth" value="1"/>
	<parm name="NFCState" value="1"/>
	<parm name="GPSState" value="1"/>
	<parm name="AntennaSelection" value="1"/>
</characteristic>
</wap-provisioningdoc>

For the purpose of using this to create an OEMConfig profile in Intune, we only need the data contained between the first <characteristic> tag to the last </characteristic> tag.

With the XML file obtained from StageNow, you can now move over to the MEM Admin Center.

Create OEMConfig profile in Intune with the StageNow config XML

• In the MEM Admin Center, navigate to Devices > Android (By platform) > Configuration profiles (Android policies) and click on Create.

• Select Platform as Android Enterprise and Profile type as OEMConfig.

• Give a Name to the profile and select Zebra OEMConfig app already added to Intune as the app.

We will be using the Configuration designer that has been added to Intune since the 1907 service release for OEMCOnfig profiles and create a transaction step for importing the config XML as obtained from the StageNow tool.

• Click on Configure.

• Click on the three dots next to Transaction Steps and then click on Add setting.

• From the list of settings select Device Administration Configuration.

• Under Device Administration Configuration only two settings are required.
  • Action = SubmitXML
  • Submit XML = Copy/Paste the data beginning from the first <characteristic> tag to the last </characteristic> tag from the XML file as obtained from StageNow.

• Once you are done with the configuration, add the required Scope tag (if any) and make the necessary assignment, before finally reviewing the profile to Create it.

With everything in place, the next phase is to monitor the status of the profile in the MEM Admin Center.

As can be seen, with the lab gods on my side today, the profile is a successful deployment.

At the end…

You might not need to resort to using StageNow since,

• Intune has come a long way with regards to Zebra management and with the inclusion of Configuration designer in the OEMConfig profile creation since 1907 service release, it is a lot easier now to configure OEMConfig profiles natively in Intune.

• The additional benefits that StageNow offers in terms of staging profiles/devices is anyways not usable with Intune to the best of my knowledge… (but I may be wrong!)

And with this, I will end this post.

Additional Resources:

1. Enroll Microsoft Intune using StageNow
2. Use and manage Android Enterprise devices with OEMConfig in Microsoft Intune