My 15” mid 2009 MBP died so I’m trying to restore my last Time Capsule backup to a 13” mid 2012 MBP (Mojave) using Migration Assistant. When I first tried, all seemed fine until I got a black screen and nothing. Starting over I now can only get as far as being asked for a Volume Password, which was not requested the first time. None of the passwords I used for the MBPs or the TC works. Nothing on my machines is encrypted and my fire vault is off. Any suggestions? Thanks.
If this computer is or was ever on corporate or school network that had remote management tools like Jamf or Casper installed, that will "block" you with that message as well. I have found no way around it though. Even removing the remote management software does not remove the lock it puts on screen sharing nor copying users to another computer. I also asked this question on the Jamf forums with no response as to why removing their framework (with their own removal tools) does not release all the system restrictions. The only way I was able to successfully use migration assistant and get rid of the volume password prompt was to do the restore during install phase of a full format and re-install of Mojave. Then the migration assistant (which runs automatically during setup) copied the old machine and users bak over flawlessly and much faster than I've ever seen it work too. It finished 500GB restore in under 10min.
If this computer is or was ever on corporate or school network that had remote management tools like Jamf or Casper installed, that will "block" you with that message as well. I have found no way around it though. Even removing the remote management software does not remove the lock it puts on screen sharing nor copying users to another computer. I also asked this question on the Jamf forums with no response as to why removing their framework (with their own removal tools) does not release all the system restrictions. The only way I was able to successfully use migration assistant and get rid of the volume password prompt was to do the restore during install phase of a full format and re-install of Mojave. Then the migration assistant (which runs automatically during setup) copied the old machine and users bak over flawlessly and much faster than I've ever seen it work too. It finished 500GB restore in under 10min.
Migration Assistant is part of the Mac operating system......(as is Time Machine)......so if you have already installed Mojave on your Mac, you might want to consider posting over in the support forum where all the Mojave gurus hang out. That would be here:
Alternately, you can wait to see if someone on this AirPort forum might have some answers as well.
As far as the Volume Password, Migration Assistant is looking for the administrator password of your Time Capsule, which is normally also known as the Base Station password.......unless......you originally set up the Time Capsule to use a separate Disk Password to access the hard drive on the device.
Some users also assign the same password for both the Wireless Network and the Base Station, so that might be a possibility as well.
You can always use a Soft Reset to reset the base station password on the Time Capsule if you think that might the issue here.
How to reset your AirPort base station - Apple Supporthttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201945
Thanks for the quick response Bob. It is possible that I used separate passwords when when I set up the Time Capsule. If so, the Base Station password resides in the Keychain of my deceased mid 2009--duly backed up, of course!
I guess I'll try every password I can think of that I used back then while I awaiting delivery of an enclosure for my mid 2009 hard drive, which hopefully is still functional. (Based on the symptoms and various attempts to get the machine running, both the Genius Bar and I concluded that my logic board fried.)
I'll also post on the Mojave forum as you suggest. Thanks again. Matt
Migration Assistant
