Jamf Pro - Zero Touch Installation of Desktop App
How to configure Jamf Pro zero touch deployment of Banyan Desktop App
- Updated on Feb 18, 2022
Zero Touch Installs for Big Sur require additional steps. See here for more details.
Overview
Jamf Pro is used to administer corporate laptops, phones, tablets, and other devices in your enterprise. The Banyan Desktop App can be packaged and distributed to your device fleet via Jamf Pro in zero touch mode, requiring no interaction from end users. Also, zero touch mode does not require the end user to be an administrator on the device.
The Banyan Desktop App is deployed, installed, and registered in a matter of seconds, making zero touch mode the recommended way to deploy Banyan with Jamf Pro.
Steps
There are two high-level steps required to silently deploy and install the Banyan Desktop App then register macOS devices with Banyan:
- Step 1. Prepare the Banyan Zero Touch Install script for macOS - Configure zero touch script with the appropriate deployment parameters for your organization.
- Step 2. Distribute the Zero Touch Install script to macOS devices via Jamf Pro - Push down the configured script to your end users via Jamf Pro to register their devices with Banyan
Prerequisites
Please ensure you are familiar with mdm-config.json
parameters to customize Banyan Desktop App functionality, paying particular attention to the following flags required to enable zero touch mode:
mdm_invite_code
- Obtained from Command Center (Settings > App Deployment > Invite Code)mdm_start_at_boot
- Set totrue
Step 1. Prepare the Banyan Zero Touch install script for macOS
Banyan provides a bash script that can be configured to automate the installation and registration process. See Banyan App Installer to download and configure the script.
The script will complete the following:
1) Create an mdm-config.json file that specifies app functionality
2) Download the latest Banyan app version and install it (you can also optionally specify an exact app version)
3) Stage the app with the device certificate
4) Start the app as the logged-on user
Step 2. Create a script in Jamf Pro for the Zero Touch install
Now that you’ve prepared the script, distribute it to your end users via Jamf Pro.
The following steps are based off of the Jamf scripts guide
2.1 In an Internet browser, log in to your Jamf Pro console and then navigate to Settings > Computer Management > Scripts.
2.2 Click + New.
2.3 Configure the General information

2.4 Configure the Script with any updated parameters.
Note that the first 3 input parameters are reserved for Jamf internal use. Instead, you have to set the Invite Code, Deployment Key and App Version as Parameter 4, Parameter 5 and Parameter 6 respectively.

2.5 Configure parameter labels

2.5 Click Save
Step 3. Running the Zero Touch Install script from Jamf Pro
3.1 Navigate to Computers > Policies.
3.2 Create a New or edit an existing Policy.
3.3 Configure the Scripts payload with the script from Step 2 and appropriate parameters.

3.4 Click Save
Staged User and Zero Touch installation

This feature needs to be explicitly enabled for your organization. Please contact Banyan Support to enable.
In the default Zero Touch flow, the Banyan App will initially be registered to a STAGED USER, indicating it has been silently enrolled via zero touch installation. When a user logs into the device and accesses a service protected by Banyan, their username will automatically be associated with the device.
You can optionally modify the Zero Touch flow to associate a device with a specific user instead of the STAGED USER by setting the mdm-deploy-user
and mdm-deploy-email
parameters in the mdm-config.json
file. Now the device will always be associated with that specified user. In addition, the issued device certificate will contain a User Principal Name (UPN) username in the Subject Alternative Name field.
Upgrading the Desktop App via Jamf Pro
There may be scenarios requiring you to update the Banyan Desktop App after deploying it to your organization’s devices via Jamf Pro.
If you want to have organizational control of the Desktop App version, the easiest option is to configure the mdm-config.json
file to set mdm_disable_auto_update
to true
. This flag disables prompts to end users to upgrade their Desktop App because the Device Manager will push the new version.
The Banyan Zero Touch install scripts also cover upgrade scenarios where you can specify the app version or upgrade to latest.