We have 800 AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 3 ( running Android 5.0.1) phones that were managed by MaaS360 mobile device manager (MDM). We used the MDM to issue a Wipe command which did a Factory reset. We then did a Full Encryption on the phone and rebooted. Then we issued a Factory Data Reset from the Backup and Reset menu. This wiped the phone again.
We tried to do a Factory Reset using the Hardware keys (Volume Up, Power, Home) and gets into the Android system recovery. When they choose "Wipe Date/Factory reset" they get "MDM does not allow factoryReset. Phone will reboot automatically" which it does. I've attached a .jpeg of the message.
So I surmise the MDM wrote to the boot sector (the policy in MaaS had a restriction to not allow Factory Reset) and when it was wiped it did not remove that restriction. To further prove it I installed another MDM (AirWatch) with a policy that allowed Factory Reset and wiped that successfully. The Airwatch MDM policy overwrote the MaaS policy and removed the restriction from the boot loader.
I'm basically looking to avoid having to load a MDM client on 800 phones. Looking for anything that can be done at the boot level or by connecting the phone to a laptop and flashing the Rom so that the MDM restriction is removed.
Any suggestions/guidance is greatly appreciated. I don't want to Root the phone just set the Rom back to stock. I spoke with Samsung and they thought Knox might not allow it but I don't think that's the case since I was able to replicate and solve it with another MDM.
We tried to do a Factory Reset using the Hardware keys (Volume Up, Power, Home) and gets into the Android system recovery. When they choose "Wipe Date/Factory reset" they get "MDM does not allow factoryReset. Phone will reboot automatically" which it does. I've attached a .jpeg of the message.
So I surmise the MDM wrote to the boot sector (the policy in MaaS had a restriction to not allow Factory Reset) and when it was wiped it did not remove that restriction. To further prove it I installed another MDM (AirWatch) with a policy that allowed Factory Reset and wiped that successfully. The Airwatch MDM policy overwrote the MaaS policy and removed the restriction from the boot loader.
I'm basically looking to avoid having to load a MDM client on 800 phones. Looking for anything that can be done at the boot level or by connecting the phone to a laptop and flashing the Rom so that the MDM restriction is removed.
Any suggestions/guidance is greatly appreciated. I don't want to Root the phone just set the Rom back to stock. I spoke with Samsung and they thought Knox might not allow it but I don't think that's the case since I was able to replicate and solve it with another MDM.