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I’m enrolling Macs through Apple Business Manager / Automated Device Enrollment into Hexnode. One Mac keeps failing during Setup Assistant with a “Profile installation failed. Network connection was lost” type error. I tried Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and another network, but it still failed. Another new Mac enrolled fine about an hour earlier, so the ABM assignment and Hexnode setup seem okay. One thing I noticed is that the problem Mac’s clock is several hours off from the local time. Is there a faster way to fix this without going through repeated enrollment attempts?
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Hexnode Expert
1 hour ago
Oct 30, 2026
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This error commonly occurs before the Mac completes Automated Device Enrollment with Hexnode. During Setup Assistant, macOS contacts Apple’s enrollment servers and performs an SSL/TLS certificate check. If the Mac has an incorrect date or time, certificate validation can fail and Setup Assistant may show a network-related enrollment error.
Try the following first:
- Connect the Mac to a stable network or mobile hotspot.
- If possible from Setup Assistant, open Terminal using Cmd + Option + Ctrl + T.
- Run the following command to force time synchronization:
sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com
4. Exit Terminal and retry the enrollment.
If the issue continues on only one Mac while other Macs enroll successfully, it is likely a device-specific Setup Assistant or macOS state issue. In that case, erase the Mac from Recovery Mode, reinstall macOS, then try Automated Device Enrollment again.
Regards,
Mary Romero
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