Encrypted HD Password Issue

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Encrypted HD Password Issue

Hello,

Recently I fancied playing some games with some friends so I installed Windows 10 on an external hard drive. All went (sort of ) fine.

So I came to boot up my Mac from the Bootcamp icon at the bottom on the windows screen. Didn’t work.

Load it up in recovery mode, startup disk, you need a password to unlock it. My password isn’t accepted, I go on to try every password I have ever used. I put the encryption on years ago but I used the same password as I always use for that kinda stuff.

How can I restore factory settings/wipe this completely? Am I gonna have to take it to a genius?

Thanks in advance and if more details needed I’m happy to supply.

Josh

MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 15, 2020 6:04 AM

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Answer 1

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HxxnJosh Author

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Jun 15, 2020 6:30 AM in response to HxxnJosh

Another update: This didn’t fully work, it erased all the settings and has allowed me to create a new boot up Mac disk on a external hard drive.

I still have no access to the internal HDD on the Mac, as I presume it’s still encrypted.

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Answer 2

HxxnJosh Author

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Jun 16, 2020 7:31 AM in response to HxxnJosh

Final update: I erased and ran first aid on the internal HDD, once that was done I downloaded CatalinaOS from the App Store and reinstalled it on the now blank HDD. This worked!

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Answer 3

HxxnJosh Author

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Jun 15, 2020 6:18 AM in response to HxxnJosh

I’ve just found the ‘Erase Mac’ in the Recovery Assistant settings. This should do the job, right?

I put all my important stuff on another external hard drive before all of this just in case.

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Encrypted HD Password Issue

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