Password Reset Loop

Question

Level 1

12 points

Password Reset Loop

I got quite the headscratcher here...

I'm in a password reset loop. I have been tasked with "fixing" my wife's MacBook. I'm a technical support engineer for SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD on the Windows platform, so I have to do a lot of self-learning with the MacOS environment as I go. I've exhausted everything I could find mentioned online and would be very appreciative of some insight from more experienced users.

THE GOAL

Access the HD to recover important documents and pictures.

THE SITUATION

My wife left her computer unused for many months. The battery ran out and it was left 100% dead for a good while.
When charging it back up and trying to log in, the machine will not accept my wife's machine password (she had written it down previously). We've tried over 50 iterations. We tried all passwords and all permutations of any Apple passwords past and present. No dice.
So far, no method of resetting the password has been successful:
- - The machine seemingly can't connect to the internet to reset the password via Apple ID even though I have verified it is connected to Wifi. I tried multiple networks to rule out faulty internet. It rejects incorrect passwords, so I know it actually connects when the Wifi credentials are entered correctly. At this point, her Apple ID is the only credential I can independently verify is accurate.
  - My wife inadvertently activated FileVault and can't remember if/where she stored the Recovery Key. Big "uh-oh."
  - Because FileVault is active, I cannot access the macOS Utilities (⌘+R held while booting) to run the 'resetpassword' command in the Terminal. It only boots to the Recovery OS which isn't helpful.
  - I also am locked out of single-user startup (⌘+S held while booting) which is disabled when FileVault is active. I was hoping to run some command-line codes to reset the password or create and admin account. Can't do any of that with FileVault enabled.
  - The 'Macintosh HD' Startup Disk is encrypted in the Recovery Assistant. It asks for an unlock password, but I have no idea what to enter. Any attempt has been unsuccessful.

WHAT I'VE DONE

Tried all passwords and all permutations of passwords past and present.
Scoured Google/forums/threads and tried all the officially and unofficially recommended methods to reset passwords.
Tried the Reset Password utility in the Recovery Assistant. In order to reset a forgotten password you have to.... enter......... your password......... No help.
Tried resetting the password via Apple ID. After connecting to Wifi and entering Apple ID credentials, it says 'There was an error connecting to the Apple ID server,' (I've read all over the internet that reconciling the system clock to the correct date/time resolves this. I obviously cannot do this because I cannot enter the machine.)
When I click 'Forgot Apple ID or password?', it tells me I have no internet. When I check the Wifi item in the menu bar, I am still connected. It will eventually disconnect itself from Wifi if I click that option after about 10 seconds:
Called Apple Support. The support person was at a loss of what to do.
Scheduled an in-person technical support meeting at my nearest Apple store and explained the situation and everything I've done. Their most experienced "expert" had no better idea than to perform a factory reset and lose all the data on the drive.

WHAT I NEED TO KNOW

Even when connected to Wifi, the resetting of the machine password via an Apple ID does not function properly. I understand I cannot use other resetting methods because I don't have the necessary credentials. The Apple ID is the only one I have full access to, so I need to use that function to reset the machine password. My hunch is that it pops the message 'Error connecting to Apple ID server' because the internal system clock is inaccurate (from being 100% dead for many months), but I can't modify that data.

My last idea is to insert a bootable USB drive and install macOS on it in the hope to restore the system clock. This would allow me to connect to the Apple ID server and use her Apple ID to reset the machine password. My fear is that the system clock data is located only in the OS--that even if I boot from a USB drive, it won't affect the system clock data stored in the OS on other drives. Is that right or am I off with that assumption?

Any insight or ideas would be much appreciated!!

MacBook Air

Posted on Nov 10, 2020 11:47 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

RuffWorks Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 20, 2020 8:48 AM in response to RuffWorks

RESOLVED!! In the most bizarre fashion...

Found the proof of purchase and went back to the license Apple retailer last night. Just wanted to show the guy one last time (different guy than last time) the 'There was an error connecting to the AppleID server' message when trying to reset via AppleID. Hooked up to their store open Wifi (non-WPA2). Then resetting via AppleID magically worked... With no explanation! We tried but could not come up with any explanation as to why it wouldn't work with a WPA2 Wifi network with correct credentials or even when wired in via ethernet and an adapter

Somehow, magically, I was able to reset the password, log in, and turn off FileVault (I'm not going through this again and now know all the backdoors to get back in if I need to).

So if someone has this same issue, try getting internet in 3 ways:

WPA2 password-protected Wifi
Wired ethernet
Open Wifi (no password)

Only open Wifi worked for me!

Reply

Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Nov 10, 2020 12:04 PM in response to RuffWorks

The first thing you need to do is get access to the internet. Without a good solid connection to a modem (not router), you probably aren't going to get anywhere fast. If it is a USB-C Mac, you'll need a USB-C to ethernet adapter.

Next thing you'll need to know is your wife's email address for her AppleID. That's probably where the recovery key got stored, and so if two factor authentication was used, it will allow you to recover it through apple's recovery website. The link you need to use is this one to follow directions for:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860

Reply

Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Nov 10, 2020 12:07 PM in response to a brody

Something else to note: three unsuccessful login attempts locks you out for at least 15 minutes.

With all your unsuccessful login attempts you probably have overwhelmed the Mac. Powering it down and trying over is probably best after at least half an hour of being powered off.

Reply

Answer 4

RuffWorks Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 10, 2020 1:04 PM in response to a brody

Do you mean a wired ethernet connection? I'm 95% sure that when I went to the Apple Store he used an ethernet adapter and we still got the same error. Still could not connect to the internet.

I have full access to her AppleID. I read that two-factor authentication replaced the Recovery Key and I from your post I cannot find any way to access that Recovery Key. Her AppleID is set to two-factor authentication, but we still cannot use the AppleID method to reset the password.

Reply

Answer 5

RuffWorks Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 11, 2020 2:19 PM in response to a brody

Yes. And the issue is not the Apple ID. I have full access to the Apple ID and can log in anywhere without any issue. The problem at hand is the machine will not accept the user account password and will not complete the process of resetting the password via the Apple ID. Because FileVault is active, no other password reset method (via the terminal, single-user startup, Reset Password utility) is viable.

Reply

Answer 6

Nov 15, 2020 9:29 AM in response to RuffWorks

Make any progress on this? I'm in the same situation with my work laptop. If you can get to a terminal via Recovery Console, you can run 'diskutil apfs updatepreboot /' to update the user credentials needed to unlock the drive. But like you, I can't even get to a terminal. I too have icloud key recovery set up, but it doesn't work either. I can mount the drive in target disk mode to another personal mac, but none of the users are the same, so the updatepreboot won't help (and might f things up).

$ diskutil apfs listusers /dev/disk3s1
Cryptographic users for disk3s1 (5 found)
|
+-- DEC729EB-7EB7-4278-8879-2476D5ABAA85
|   Type: Local Open Directory User
|
+-- 78098E0A-59B1-4F29-A9BA-BF75059E0593
|   Type: Local Open Directory User
|
+-- 892568D8-4F46-4DC8-B62A-7D4760D78593
|   Type: Local Open Directory User
|
+-- EC1C2AD9-B618-4ED6-BD8D-50F361C27507
|   Type: iCloud Recovery User
|
+-- 64C0C6EB-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
    Type: iCloud Recovery External Key

Reply

Answer 7

RuffWorks Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 16, 2020 5:39 AM in response to rookiegunner

No real progress, but a glimmer of hope. I scheduled an in-person meeting at my local Apple certified dealer. Fortunately I got a guy who was experienced. I explained everything to him that I had tried and he said that those were the things he would do as well. We were able to boot up a macOS from an external drive, but any terminal commands did not affect the encrypted drive. Turns out it is 110% locked up in that encrypted drive.

He suggested that I track down proof of purchase and try to send it to Apple. He said that with that, they have a special way to bypass the AppleID lock. My lovely wife actually kept both the receipt and the original box (from 7 years ago!) so I will be stopping by the store to begin that process. Cross your fingers that they will help us out even though the MBA was purchased in 2014.

Reply

Answer 8

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Nov 10, 2020 12:10 PM in response to a brody

Lastly, and most important: 2016 and later Macs have onboard SSD. 2015 and earlier Macs have separate SSD or hard drives.

Reply

Answer 9

RuffWorks Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 10, 2020 1:05 PM in response to a brody

I've been working at this problem for over a month now. I've come at the machine a number of times, so I doubt I'm being locked out by too many attempts.

Reply

Answer 10

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Nov 11, 2020 1:50 PM in response to RuffWorks

Yes. And I assume you've gone through http://iforgot.apple.com/

Reply

Password Reset Loop

Similar questions