Help! I forgot my File Vault password and I'm now locked out of my MacBook Pro. Spent 3 hours with Apple Support via chat and they say there's no workaround. Tried the "sudo fdesetup authrestart" command in terminal and I get "command not found." Is there any workaround besides erasing and reinstalling? Thanks!
MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.12
If you stored it in iCloud, there's a high chance you can recover your data. However, your recovery key is hidden - it can only be accessed from the Recovery OS. Below are two methods for accessing the Password Reset Assistant, where you can use the key.
From the FileVault login screen
From Recovery Mode:
Hi GKaminski,
You could very well be locked out of your startup disk if this is the case. Recovery Mode doesn't have the fdesetup command, and even if it did, it wouldn't work for two reasons:
When you set up FileVault, what did you choose to do with the recovery key? Did you store it in iCloud, or did you generate an offline recovery key? Also, are there any other user accounts that you know the password for?
And now this is what happens when I try "resetpassword" in Terminal.
Hello - and thank you for your prompt response. It's been over a year since I used the computer and, as such, I can't remember what I did with the recovery key. I may have stored it in iCloud. However, I'm in iCloud now and the MacBook Pro is not connected to iCloud. If I did store it there, how would I find it? And if I generated an offline key, where would that be? There are no other user accounts on this MacBook. I was able to change my desktop log-in but because of the File Vault password, the new log-in is not working - at least that what Apple Support tells me.
Thanks for your help!
Hi, I was on with Apple Support Chat last night for almost three hours and we went through the process you described above, rebooting and doing the resetpassword command in terminal. I was able to reset the password using my Apple ID and Password through that process. I got all the way back to the log-in screen and the password doesn't work. Apple Support then told me it's because File Vault is on and I can't remember that password.
Also, it took several times to reset the password as I kept getting an internal error which they never resolved or addressed. They just guided me to "continue." It was after several attempts doing that where I was able to reset the password.
Ouch. So basically the Password Reset Assistant logged you into iCloud but the FileVault password was never changed?
I know this sounds stupid, but could you try the reset process again? Perhaps the assistant might work this time.
Honestly, I tried the process at least 20 times last night while I was on chat with Support for the almost three hours. I will try again later tonight, though. I did try again this afternoon and the internal error popped up again. I wish I could post a screen shot but best I can do is take a picture of that and post it here later. Thanks again for all of your help!
They then took me into Disk Utility and had me try the File - Mount to enter the password for the hard drive - which is the File Vault password I can't remember. :-(
Forgot File Vault password!
