Description
There are a lot of different scenarios you can run into when the topic of transferring Volume Purchasing app licenses comes up. This article covers two scenarios:
Transferring licenses that are not in use between two in use tokens
Unassigning all licenses from one token and moving all to another
Scenarios for Volume Purchasing App Licenses
Transferring Licenses Between Two In Use Tokens
Use one of the following links for more details on how to transfer licenses between two tokens (aka locations) within Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager.
Unassigning All Licenses From One Token and Moving All to Another
If the instance has multiple Volume Purchasing location tokens you will want to navigate to Settings > Global > Volume Purchasing, and select the location that includes the licenses we are trying to move. Keep this window off to the side so you know which apps to click on during step 4 below.
Log in to Jamf Pro.
Select Computers.
Navigate to Content Management > Mac Apps.
Click into any apps that have licenses in use for the desired location.
Select Edit.
Click Managed Distribution.
Uncheck Assign Content Purchased in Volume.
Select Save.
Click Devices.
Navigate to Content Management > Mobile Devices Apps.
Repeat steps 4 through 8.
Navigate to Settings.
Click Global > Volume Purchasing.
Select the location that includes the licenses we are trying to move.
Scroll to the bottom and click Revoke All Apps.
Wait for the next license monitor to occur which will remove all the in use licenses.
Under the location record click the Content tab to monitor the in use count until they all reach zero.
Make sure you're connected to the primary Jamf Pro node indicated by two asterisks in the browser tab. Navigate to Settings > Information > Jamf Pro server logs > Volume Purchasing Logs to look for the following lines:
[INFO ] [duledPool-1] [VppLicenseMonitor ] - Running license monitor [INFO ] [duledPool-1] [VppLicenseMonitorMetrics ] - License monitor completed after
Log in to Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager to transfer the licenses. See the following links for more details:
What can happen while monitoring
If we see licenses remain at the same counts then the revoke process may have stalled and would require a further investigation to determine why.
If licenses drop then jump back up then apps may still be assigned for those apps either in the current server or another server that may have a copy of the same VPP token.
Note: that with this option you will only be able to move licenses that are currently not in use. In the below example 1 of the 10 licenses are in use and when attempting to transfer all 10 a message will state "enter a quantity between 1 and 9" due to Apple School Manager not being able to transfer the 1 in use license.
Note: that in use eBook licenses are permanently assigned and are not transferrable. In Jamf Pro navigate to Settings > Global > Volume Purchasing > location name > Content > eBook > in use to view them.