Remote Management "Netflix Inc can automatically configure your computer"

[Mity]

I bought a 2019 16" Macbook Pro from eBay. Upon setup, after entering in my Wifi info, I got the following screen:

Remote Management "Netflix Inc" can automatically configure your computer.

Was this computer stolen? I bought it from a seller with a 100% rating on eBay. He had 3 or 4 of these in stock.

 

[NT1440]

Either stolen or bought wholesale from Netflix getting rid of machines that didn’t bother releasing from their MDM management mechanism.

I’d return it.

 

[hovscorpion12]

What @NT1440 said. Given the screenshots, this MacBook is previous property of Netflix. Definitely send it back

 

[Mity]

Either stolen or bought wholesale from Netflix getting rid of machines that didn’t bother releasing from their MDM management mechanism.

I’d return it.

What @NT1440 said. Given the screenshots, this MacBook is previous property of Netflix. Definitely send it back

Before seeing the Remote Management screen, I called the Agreement Administration Team to update the purchase date and they informed me that it was not stolen since they were able to enter the purchase date for Apple Care. A red flag would be if they could not do so. That was a positive sign.

Now, after seeing the Remote Management screen, I called Apple again and I was connected to the Mac Department and the person helping me confirmed that the serial number was not blacklisted. If the device was stolen, she would see it. The person is helping me reinstall the OS to hopefully remove Remote Management. IF this does not work, then there may be an issue but so far, she doesn't see anything wrong.

I'll post an update after I'm done.

 

[retrocool]

I got this (not netflix but another company) on a refurb from Apple UK. Apple got me to return it rather than trying to fix it.
I was annoyed that this meant I was without a working computer for a while and Apple did nothing to make it up to me.
Hope it works out for you!

 

[Mity]

I got this (not netflix but another company) on a refurb from Apple UK. Apple got me to return it rather than trying to fix it.
I was annoyed that this meant I was without a working computer for a while and Apple did nothing to make it up to me.
Hope it works out for you!

And that's exactly what ended up happening. I reinstalled the OS, as the Apple rep instructed, but this did not work. The Remote Management screen came back up.

I then spoke with another rep at Apple and he instructed me to return it to the seller.

What a mess!

 

[JPack]

I got this (not netflix but another company) on a refurb from Apple UK. Apple got me to return it rather than trying to fix it.
I was annoyed that this meant I was without a working computer for a while and Apple did nothing to make it up to me.
Hope it works out for you!

That's pretty concerning given the supposed quality of Apple refurbished products.

 

[retrocool]

That's pretty concerning given the supposed quality of Apple refurbished products.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised at the shoddiness of it, and then even more surprised how little Apple seemed to care about putting it right in any sort of hurry.

 

[Fishrrman]

Send that back.
I don't care what the ebay seller's ratings may be.
He's selling equipment that is either stolen or compromised.

Would appreciate a followup post as to how you resolve this.

And...
The OP's predicament is one more reason why I would only buy a new or Apple-refurbished Mac, from "known reliable" sources...

 

[hovscorpion12]

Take advantage of Ebay buyer protection.

 

[Mity]

Send that back.
I don't care what the ebay seller's ratings may be.
He's selling equipment that is either stolen or compromised.

Would appreciate a followup post as to how you resolve this.

And...
The OP's predicament is one more reason why I would only buy a new or Apple-refurbished Mac, from "known reliable" sources...

I never buy electronics on eBay but I wanted an Intel Mac so I could run bootcamp. Most big box retailers cleared out their inventory so I didn't have a choice.

The seller offered to take it back for a full refund. I don't think he did this knowingly. A lot of people buy things wholesale and sometimes they don't even know what they're buying. Products come in pallets as lots and people sell these online - it's called pallet flipping:

Looking at his transactions, that's what he seems to be doing - buying new and used computers and parts wholesale and flipping them on eBay. So, I don't think it was stolen. And Apple confirmed this with the serial number not being blacklisted.

I followed this person's lead: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...ok-pro-is-forcing-me-to-use-remote-management and reached out to a few Netflix IT workers on Linkedin. One responded and is checking with security to find out the status of the computer. This seems to be quite common - IT departments get rid of inventory and sometimes they don't "disown" / deregister them from Apple's MDM servers.

But rather than wait for who knows how long, I'm just going to return the computer.

 

[Mity]

The computer ended up being stolen, as confirmed by the company. I returned the computer to the company and I was able to get my money back from the seller once I provided proof of this. The seller in turn bought the computer from someone else to resell on eBay and he seemed to genuinely not know of its status. He was also given a refund by his counterparty.

All of my Macs have previously been purchased from Apple directly or from an Apple authorized reseller like Adorama, B&H or Microcenter. This is the first time I bought a computer of any kind on eBay. Lesson learned.

 

[Fred Zed]

The computer ended up being stolen, as confirmed by the company. I returned the computer to the company and I was able to get my money back from the seller once I provided proof of this. The seller in turn bought the computer from someone else to resell on eBay and he seemed to genuinely not know of its status. He was also given a refund by his counterparty.

All of my Macs have previously been purchased from Apple directly or from an Apple authorized reseller like Adorama, B&H or Microcenter. This is the first time I bought a computer of any kind on eBay. Lesson learned.

Laughing at your video not situation.

 

[mbkfa93]

I bought a 2019 16" Macbook Pro from eBay. Upon setup, after entering in my Wifi info, I got the following screen:

Remote Management "Netflix Inc" can automatically configure your computer.

View attachment 1979425
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Was this computer stolen? I bought it from a seller with a 100% rating on eBay. He had 3 or 4 of these in stock.

I currently have pretty much the same issue,
I got a used macbook pro 15' 2019 like a year and half ago, and been using it ever since, now that I got a new one, I erased everything from this one, and now I'm faced with the same issue exactly, from netflix as well.


any ideas about what to do? it's now totally blocked

 

[Mity]

I currently have pretty much the same issue,
I got a used macbook pro 15' 2019 like a year and half ago, and been using it ever since, now that I got a new one, I erased everything from this one, and now I'm faced with the same issue exactly, from netflix as well.


any ideas about what to do? it's now totally blocked

It really depends on who sold it to you. You can take the steps that I did, namely 1. contact the seller and ask for a refund and/or 2. return the computer to Netflix like I did.

 

[NT1440]

I currently have pretty much the same issue,
I got a used macbook pro 15' 2019 like a year and half ago, and been using it ever since, now that I got a new one, I erased everything from this one, and now I'm faced with the same issue exactly, from netflix as well.


any ideas about what to do? it's now totally blocked

MDM can’t be removed via a fresh install, that’s the point.

You’d have to return it as Netflix has not released it from their MDM mechanism and they are the ONLY entity that can.

 

[hallux]

This screen is actually from Apple's Device Enrollment Program. The computer "phones home" to Apple to check if the serial number is registered to be enrolled in a company's MDM automatically. If the computer was legitimately sent to surplus by the company, their IT folks can have it removed from DEP fairly quickly. Of course, this puts you at risk of calling them with a known-stolen device in your hands. This is the only way to fix it though, short of getting a refund from the seller.

What is Apple Automated Device Enrollment? | Definition from TechTarget

The Apple Automated Device Enrollment program automates enrolling business-owned devices into a mobile device management (MDM) platform. See how it works.

www.techtarget.com

While, technically, this is related to MDM, it's not yet MDM blocking the device setup. I was under the impression that Apple refurbished devices got new serial numbers, but the person above that got an Apple refurbished device with this on it seems to have shown that to not be true, the computer itself had nothing extra installed on it at the time of shipping, it was simply registered in Apple's server to be enrolled for a company.

 

[Tshep117]

I never buy electronics on eBay but I wanted an Intel Mac so I could run bootcamp. Most big box retailers cleared out their inventory so I didn't have a choice.

The seller offered to take it back for a full refund. I don't think he did this knowingly. A lot of people buy things wholesale and sometimes they don't even know what they're buying. Products come in pallets as lots and people sell these online - it's called pallet flipping:

Looking at his transactions, that's what he seems to be doing - buying new and used computers and parts wholesale and flipping them on eBay. So, I don't think it was stolen. And Apple confirmed this with the serial number not being blacklisted.

I followed this person's lead: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...ok-pro-is-forcing-me-to-use-remote-management and reached out to a few Netflix IT workers on Linkedin. One responded and is checking with security to find out the status of the computer. This seems to be quite common - IT departments get rid of inventory and sometimes they don't "disown" / deregister them from Apple's MDM servers.

But rather than wait for who knows how long, I'm just going to return the computer.

Hey Mity, I have the same issue and it also says that the company remotely managing the computer is Netflix. However, I wasn't able to get anywhere with Netflix customer service over the phone. You said you were able to send the serial number to someone in IT that you found on LinkedIn? Can you share how you did that? Thanks!

 

[Mity]

Hey Mity, I have the same issue and it also says that the company remotely managing the computer is Netflix. However, I wasn't able to get anywhere with Netflix customer service over the phone. You said you were able to send the serial number to someone in IT that you found on LinkedIn? Can you share how you did that? Thanks!

DM sent.

 

[Tshep117]

Just got this solved. Big shoutout to @Mity for his support as well.

For anyone who may be struggling with Netflix Inc Remote Management, email the following address for support. askntech@netflix.com

They were able to help me quickly and answered my questions before releasing the computer.

It's also worth mentioning that, in my specific case, the serial number printed on the bottom of the MacBook wound up being different than the one on the logic board (that Netflix needed). I found this out by going into recovery mode, reinstalling the OS, and turning off my router when it go to the installation part of the processes (when the computer reboots and shows the Apple logo only) When it booted up, I was able to move forward without internet, create a local account, and find the correct SN on the "About this Mac" page and give that to Netflix support.

I hope this helps someone else!