Hi all,
I took my 2019 iMac in to have the sata drive switched to an SSD. I forgot to remove the firmware password. HD was swapped for SSD and firmware password popped up. Engineer is telling me he cant type the password in. I assume this is not normal and so long as you have the firmware password it should boot into install/recovery mode normally?
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
An official Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider should be able to resolve this issue. At the very least they should be able to remove the firmware lock if you have the necessary proof of purchase and ID to prove you own the computer.
Like the others here I don't know how the EFI firmware lock works as I've never experimented with it and Apple provides very limited information on the finer details. Without providing the firmware password the Mac will not boot except to the internal drive (assuming the internal drive has a valid OS installed already). A firmware lock is meant to prevent a Mac from doing anything else except booting to the internal drive. All other special boot commands are disabled by the firmware lock, although you can some of them by providing the firmware password.
I don't know if the firmware lock requires the original drive or not. I don't think older systems had this requirement. At the very least the tech should be able to reinstall the original drive and allow you to disable the firmware lock if you know the password. Or is the tech not even asking you for the firmware password? I know that Apple now no longer asks for any user passwords to help protect your personal information, but a tech is allowed to have you enter the password yourself.
An official Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider should be able to resolve this issue. At the very least they should be able to remove the firmware lock if you have the necessary proof of purchase and ID to prove you own the computer.
Like the others here I don't know how the EFI firmware lock works as I've never experimented with it and Apple provides very limited information on the finer details. Without providing the firmware password the Mac will not boot except to the internal drive (assuming the internal drive has a valid OS installed already). A firmware lock is meant to prevent a Mac from doing anything else except booting to the internal drive. All other special boot commands are disabled by the firmware lock, although you can some of them by providing the firmware password.
I don't know if the firmware lock requires the original drive or not. I don't think older systems had this requirement. At the very least the tech should be able to reinstall the original drive and allow you to disable the firmware lock if you know the password. Or is the tech not even asking you for the firmware password? I know that Apple now no longer asks for any user passwords to help protect your personal information, but a tech is allowed to have you enter the password yourself.
Yeah, so in the end he put the original back, I came in and disabled everything, he then erased it and was able to continue.
He did say that the new models lock if you don’t disable security and try and change hardware. He also said he could disable security by talking to Apple but faster/easier if I just do it. Which I agree.
All sorted now. Thanks.
My understanding may be wrong because I do not use an NVRAM password, but I thought that when you boot, the first challenge is the NVRAM password, and when that is successfully provided, then if the drive is also encrypted, that would be the second (different) password challenge.
There are several boot sequences during a macOS Upgrade and with Big Sur on M1 hardware, it will even prompt you for your user password at a conventional looking startup screen, and then as you watch in disbelief, it presents a spinning circle and from there, goes back into the installer and more reboots.
Depending which Firmware revision, the later ones will block an attempt to boot from a different drive or use an encrypted drive for even reading.
Oops, I forgot the link to the Apple article describing the firmware lock:
So curious, how does it actually work? Let's say I have the following security measures activated:
FileVault on my drive.
Firmware Password.
Find My Mac/Icloud linked/active.
And someone steals my iMac. I assume due to FileVault the data will be inaccessible, due to the firmware password they can't even boot it, even if they replace the HD - so is the machine "100%" locked down and useless?
Was the disk encrypted?
Old disk yes, new disk no.
It’s bigSur.
Even with the firmware password? Thought having the firmware password would allow you to bypass hardware security?
I'm thinking, but do not know for sure, that the encryption parameters must match in Firmware, Hardware, Password, & Software... it's all about preventing anyone from getting your data.
Cool. Thanks. Not 100% clear how all the protection levels work if someone tries to reinstall the hardware and/or os.
How iOS works I get but not macOS.
I think you've pegged it.
Thanks for filling us in. :)
firmware password - does this block a hardware upgrade?
