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Q: How to get to recovery mode with a hardware lock

After the new version of Disk Utility destroyed my Time Machine, I want to get into recovery mode.

 

I have a hardware lock set on my iMac.

 

When I boot, even if I hold CMD-R after the chime, I get the lock and have to enter the password. After that it immediately shows the normal login screen (list of users).

 

How do you get to recovery mode once you have set the hardware lock?

 

Thanks,

Craig.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 10, 2016 3:34 PM

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Q: How to get to recovery mode with a hardware lock

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  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 3:45 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 9 (50,788 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 3:45 PM in response to crashmeister

    I'm not sure; the documentation implies it should continue to boot into Recovery. Try holding down cmd-r when clicking on the continue button or hitting return after entering firmware password.

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 10, 2016 3:51 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 3:51 PM in response to Barney-15E

    You can't hold it down before pressing enter as it enters a 'r' at the end of the password.

    I tried to do it immediately after pressing enter, but no luck.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 3:53 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 9 (50,788 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 3:53 PM in response to crashmeister

    Try using the Startup Manager (Option key). Depending on your drive configuration, you may or may not see the Recovery partition in the Startup Manager.

    You will still have to go through the Firmware password.

     

    Another option might be to try Internet Recovery (cmd-opt-R).

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 10, 2016 4:01 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 4:01 PM in response to Barney-15E

    If I use OPT I get two disks, both labeled "McIntosh HD". No indication of what's what.

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 10, 2016 4:13 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 4:13 PM in response to crashmeister

    Just tried both of the "McIntosh HD", both boot to normal startup screen.

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 10, 2016 4:37 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 4:37 PM in response to crashmeister

    The recovery partition on disk0 does not show up when holding Opt during startup. Any ideas ?

     

    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage FusionGroup             999.3 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *240.1 GB   disk1

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage FusionGroup             239.7 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s3

    /dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +1.2 TB     disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk1s2, disk0s2

                                     9B2CE459-1CBB-4EE1-9D76-A6FFCF81DFB4

                                     Unlocked Encrypted Fusion Drive

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 4:43 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 9 (50,788 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 4:43 PM in response to crashmeister

    You have a CoreStorage configuration and the Recovery partition will not show up in the Startup Manager with that configuration which is what I was alluding to in the previous post.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 4:49 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 9 (50,788 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 4:49 PM in response to crashmeister

    What year is your iMac?

    On older models you may be able to reset the firmware password by removing a RAM chip and then replacing it.

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 10, 2016 5:01 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 5:01 PM in response to Barney-15E

    So how does one get a usable recovery partition when using core storage?

    I don't think the firmware password is the issue. If I can get the mac to see the recovery partition or create one elsewhere I can use that.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 5:11 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 9 (50,788 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 5:11 PM in response to crashmeister

    crashmeister wrote:

     

    So how does one get a usable recovery partition when using core storage?

    I don't think the firmware password is the issue. If I can get the mac to see the recovery partition or create one elsewhere I can use that.

    It is usable (I imagine). For whatever reason, the Recovery partition cannot be seen on a CoreStorage volume in the Startup Manager.

     

    Did you try Internet Recovery?

    If you can get into IR but not regular Recovery, your Recovery partition may be damaged, but then it should have defaulted to IR unless your iMac is not capable of Internet Recovery.

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 10, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Barney-15E

    2009. The fusion drive is home grown, hence the 240Gb SSD part. Works well.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Feb 10, 2016 5:16 PM in response to crashmeister
    Level 9 (50,788 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 10, 2016 5:16 PM in response to crashmeister

    crashmeister wrote:

     

    2009. The fusion drive is home grown, hence the 240Gb SSD part. Works well.

    A 2009 Mac can't boot into Internet Recovery.

    So, it may be that the Recovery partition is damaged which is why it won't boot.

    Try creating a bootable install USB and run recovery from that:

    Create a bootable installer for OS X - Apple Support

  • by crashmeister,

    crashmeister crashmeister Feb 13, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 13, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Barney-15E

    Current status (and definite bugs):

     

    I created a new USB thumb drive with El Capitan (my previous was Yosemite).

    Boot with OPT (HW lock pswd reqd).  USB Thumb Drive is present.

    Choose USB Thumb Drive and boots into 'Utils' screen. TM is present (yay!!!) and I go far enough down the restore path to check that it actually sees the TM backup (more yay!!!)

    I then remove the hardware lock - now comes the issues:

    Boot with CMD-R - still no recovery available from the HDD. It ignores the CMD-R and boots normally.

    Boot with OPT. Well, look what shows up! Now I get a TM disk as a boot option. Out of curiosity I select it and... after a while I get a 'no' symbol on the gray screen and it proceeds to boot from MacIntosh HD.

     

    Why does it show the TM if you can't use it? Why does TM not show up when a hardware lock is in place but does when it is not? Buggy!!!

     

    Anyway, I am happy that I can recover using TM if I have a thumb drive with the latest OS. At least ONE thing works.

     

    About to redo the HW lock. Removing it served no usable difference.