Error while factory resetting

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Level 1

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Error while factory resetting

I followed the steps suggested by support apple to factory reset my MacBook Pro 2012, all except the back up disk step because I didn’t need those files.

All of a sudden, a notice appeared saying that there was an error while deleting the files. The disk couldn’t be unmounted because it was being used.

So, from that moment on I wasn’t able to do anything, except reset the Mac. I restarted the computer and then went to recovery mode to not be able to do anything, because when I choose a volume to recover it says there is no user to recover on that volume.

I am totally lost. Maybe I needed a little bit more information to be doing the factory reset on the Mac, so please help.

MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jan 2, 2022 1:40 PM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

Level 9

55,946 points

Jan 2, 2022 5:14 PM in response to Pedroare

When booted to the macOS installer, launch Disk Utility. You may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive and erase it as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). After the physical drive is successfully erased, then quit Disk Utility and select "Install/Reinstall macOS".

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Answer 2

Jan 2, 2022 9:36 PM in response to Pedroare

Hi Pedroare,

If you're being asked to select a volume and then it looks for an admin user, you might be running macOS Recovery for macOS Catalina or later. In this case, the Recovery Assistant app requests this info in order to authenticate you to use macOS Recovery.

If you are unable to authenticate, you can still erase your Mac and then access the recovery utilities: At the top-left of the screen, select Recovery Assistant -> Erase Mac. Then, follow the onscreen instructions. You'll need an Internet connection to reinstall macOS.

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Answer 3

Jan 2, 2022 5:36 PM in response to Pedroare

"Restore" inside Disk Utility means something completely different than you expect. You do not use that feature in this context. Ignore that error and press onward.

You want to ERASE that drive. .

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Error while factory resetting

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