Built-in Microphone Detection for Jamf Pro

An extension attribute that detects physically disabled built-in microphones on macOS. Returns one of five states: working, disabled, restricted, external mic detected, or not applicable.

What It Returns

Available and Working          → Microphone present and functional
Unavailable or Disabled        → Hardware kill switch or physically removed
Available but Restricted       → Present but blocked by MDM/TCC/driver issue
External Microphone Detected   → Built-in disabled, external mic active
Not Applicable                 → No built-in mic (Mac Pro, some Mac minis)

Install

Jamf Pro:

1. Settings → Computer Management → Extension Attributes → New
2. Display Name: Built-in Microphone Status | Data Type: String | Input Type: Script
3. Paste microphone_check.sh contents → Save

Results appear after next inventory update.

Smart Group:

Criteria: Built-in Microphone Status | is | Unavailable or Disabled

How It Works

Hardware checks:

• system_profiler SPAudioDataType for built-in input devices
• ioreg for AppleHDA/Audio hardware
• Audio codec capabilities
• Device tree

Software checks:

• CoreAudio daemon running (critical)
• Input device accessible (critical)
• Audio drivers loaded (supportive)
• No MDM restrictions (supportive)
• No TCC denials (supportive)
• Low error rate (supportive)

Logic: Both critical checks + 2 of 4 supportive checks must pass for "Available and Working". Hardware and software validation must agree for high confidence.

Test Locally

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SudoSunshine/jamf-microphone-detection/main/microphone_check.sh
chmod +x microphone_check.sh
sudo ./microphone_check.sh

Expected: <result>Available and Working</result>

Requirements

• macOS 11+ (Intel or Apple Silicon)
• Jamf Pro with Extension Attribute support
• No external dependencies

Files

microphone_check.sh              Main script
docs/DEPLOYMENT.md               Deployment details
docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md          Common issues
docs/TESTING.md                  Test scenarios
examples/test_suite.sh           Validation tests
examples/smart_group_criteria.xml Smart Group templates

Technical Details

Why both hardware and software validation?

Single-source checks produce false positives. A crashed CoreAudio daemon causes system_profiler to report no microphone despite hardware being present. Multi-layer validation distinguishes hardware vs software issues.

Tested on:

• macOS 11-15 (Big Sur → Sequoia)
• Intel and Apple Silicon
• Hardware disabled, MDM restrictions, TCC denials, daemon crashes

Performance: Executes in 2-5 seconds, read-only operations, no network calls.

Links

• Deployment Guide
• Troubleshooting
• Changelog

License

MIT - See LICENSE

Author: Ellie Romero (@SudoSunshine)