As an administrator for a large enterprise, you can mass enroll your Chromebooks. This can save time and money, as compared to setting up each Chromebook manually or paying for white glove prep enrollment service for each device. You prepare for large-scale enrollment the same way as manual enrollment.
Enroll devices using a Rubber Ducky USB
You can program a USB Rubber Ducky to emulate the keystrokes you use to enroll Chromebooks. Start by encoding the USB device with a script.
Before you begin
- Before you can start to enroll devices you must accept the Terms of Service (TOS) agreement by doing the following:
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Sign in to your Google Admin console.
Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).
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Go to DevicesChrome devices.
- In the TOS pop-up, click I Accept.
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- Read Before you begin in Enroll ChromeOS devices.
- To mass enroll your devices, you’ll need at least 20 USBs total, 10 with the Chromebook Recovery Utility and the other 10 with Rubber Ducky.
Program your Rubber Ducky
When you receive your USB Rubber Ducky kit, it should include a microSD card, microSD card reader, and a cover case.
- Place the microSD card into the microSD card reader and plug it into your computer’s USB slot.
- Choose an option:
- Use a text editor such as Linux Sublime Text or Windows Notepad to write your own script.
- Copy and paste the sample script below.
- Save your script with the .txt extension.
- Navigate to the Ducky Encoder.
- Copy your script from the .txt file and paste it into the Duck Script editor.
- Click Generate Payload.
- Click Download Payload and save the file to the microSD card.
Note: Remember to select the keyboard language that corresponds to the device’s keyboard. Only .bin files will work. - Place the microSD card into the storage slot of the Rubber Ducky USB device and attach the cover case.
- Plug the USB Rubber Ducky into an unenrolled device and watch the program run itself.
- Test to make sure your device is enrolled.
- If needed, tweak the script’s time delay between keystrokes or the number of tabs until you’re successful.
Sample Rubber Ducky script to enroll Chromebooks
REM ChromeBook Keyboard Key Sequence
REM Part One: Wifi Setup
DELAY 1000
DELAY 1000
TAB
TAB
TAB
TAB
ENTER
DELAY 1000
TAB
TAB
TAB
ENTER
DELAY 500
STRING [SSID]
DELAY 500
TAB
DELAY 500
DOWN
DOWN
DELAY 500
TAB
STRING [Password]
DELAY 500
ENTER
REM Long Pause while Connection is established.
DELAY 9000
REM Part One and One half: Go through First run Setup.
TAB
TAB
ENTER
DELAY 500
TAB
TAB
TAB
ENTER
DELAY 500
CTRL-ALT E
TAB
TAB
TAB
TAB
TAB
ENTER
REM Part Two: Enrollment (Long Pauses in case it's having issues with wifi or render)
DELAY 4000
STRING [Enrollment Account]
ENTER
DELAY 5000
STRING [Password]
DELAY 500
ENTER
REM Long Pause while device is enrolled.
DELAY 8000
ENTER
Rubber Ducky enrollment tips
- To update the Chromebooks, instead of using Wi-Fi, opt for preloaded USBs using the Chromebook recovery utility. They will load the latest ChromeOS on the USB, reducing the bandwidth used in your organization. Learn more at Recover your Chromebook.
- Create the script by hand the first time to ensure the correct timing per device. It’s important to test this Rubber Ducky script, because each device can have a different setup time during enrollment, and your network latency can be a factor in how quickly devices enroll with Google’s servers.
- It’s typical to use a single admin account as the enrollment account. However, you might need to create several unique enrollment accounts on each Rubber Ducky. For more info, see the Troubleshooting section below.
Deployment tip: Put 10 devices to enroll at a time on a table, with 10 USBs and 10 Rubber Duckies. After updating the Chromebook to the latest version of ChromeOS using a USB, insert the Rubber Ducky. The device should start enrolling.
Use a third-party alternative
There are multiple ways to mass enroll Chromebooks. Popular third-party solutions include The Centipede and Go-Box.
Consult these third-party sites for instructions and assistance.
Troubleshooting
I’m running into CAPTCHA issues
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Create multiple user accounts specific to this task, using each account only once, for a single location.
Sharing an account across multiple locations will likely trigger Google's suspicious sign-in alerts and cause an account to become locked. -
Use the strongest passwords, because they're less susceptible to CAPTCHA flags.
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If your account gets locked, use a new account or follow these instructions to try and unlock it.
Note: Volume or rate of enrollments for each account shouldn’t affect this process or trigger alerts.
My Rubber Ducky script isn’t working
If you experience this issue, first delete any random spaces within the script and try again.
Because this is a third-party solution, Google doesn’t provide support specific to this enrollment process. If you’re still having issues, try another third-party option.
If this doesn’t work, contact your Google reseller, who provides white glove prep for enrollment and setting up Chromebooks.
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