‘0xc0000225’ pop up WINDOWS

Hi yazan180,

Thanks for the screenshot. It looks like you have a MacBook Air/Pro made in 2017 or earlier.

The screen appearing on your Mac is unquestionably a Windows diagnostic screen. Maybe a previous owner installed Windows and failed to remove it correctly?

In any case, you can completely erase your Mac via these steps:

1. Start up from macOS Recovery: Hold down Command-R as you power on or restart your Intel-based Mac. Release the keys when the Apple logo and a progress bar appear, or when a spinning globe appears. In the latter case, you might have to connect to a Wi-Fi network to proceed.
2. If you're prompted for an admin password, enter it to continue.
3. When the list of utilities appears, select Disk Utility and click Continue.
4. Select View -> Show All Devices.
5. Select the top level of the internal drive and click Erase. Choose these options, then click Erase:
   1. Name: Macintosh HD
   2. Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
   3. Scheme: GUID Partition Table/Map
6. When the erase is complete, quit Disk Utility and reinstall macOS. You'll need an Internet connection for this.

Please take it to your local Apple Authorized Service Provider to be professionally diagnosed and repaired. I suspect the HD is failing or has already failed. You can attempt to restart in the Recovery Partition (hold down Command + R on startup) and open Disk Utility and run First Aide 2-4 times, if ANY errors appear that only confirms my hunch.

The generic language "PC/device" does not sound like Apple. Also the reference to F8 for settings does not sound very Mac-ish.

Unless the computer or its OS is quite old, an Apple advisory would not refer you to a "disk or USB device" because Recovery is built in to the computer. The last iMacs that shipped with system install/restore disks ware not ove r10 years old.

We may be able to offer more targeted advice if you share the sub-model of the iMac, the bit with a screen size, year, and Early, Mid, or Late sometimes appended. Some iMac and/or their OS are too old to have the Recovery partition.