Which user(s) can activate erased Mac with their device password after Mark As Lost?

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Level 1

9 points

Which user(s) can activate erased Mac with their device password after Mark As Lost?

I have the following 3 users on my M1 Macbook Air 2020:

userA: admin created during macOS installation, no AppleID connected
userB: non-admin, its own AppleID connected, FindMy disabled
userC: non-admin, its own AppleID connected, FindMy enabled

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After I invoke Mark As Lost in FindMy iPhone app logged in with UserB's AppleID and rebooting into Activate Mac, I can Erase Mac without providing any user credentials. After Mac is erased, I need to activate it:

either by providing AppleID and password
OR via Use Device Password option

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Now the question is: Which of UserA, UserB, UserC device passwords should be accepted for "Use Device Password"?

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My own experiments gave inconsistent results:

after Mac was locked when UserC logged in, I managed to activate it with UserC's device password
after Mac was locked when UserB logged in, I failed to activate it with any of UserA, UserB, UserC device passwords: error messages varied between:
- Activation lock server cannot be reached
- The password for this Mac can no longer be used to remove Activation Lock. The password was entered incorrectly too many times

Each experiment takes a couple of hours, so I hope there's official docs / third-party research on the topic.

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Some further details of my setup:

UserC's AppleID is an adult, non-guardian member of family owned by UserB.

FileVault enabled during initial MacOS setup; encryption key not associated with any AppleID. Password reset using AppleID is disabled for all users.

Posted on Apr 14, 2022 2:37 PM

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Answer 1

DerekM87

Community Specialist

Apr 15, 2022 11:47 AM in response to yurkennis

Hey yurkennis,

We'd like to make sure we're on the same page.

When marking a Mac as lost via Find My, you should be prompted to create a numeric passcode. That is the passcode that is required to unlock it, rather than one specific accounts info.

Unlock a Mac

When you find your lost Mac, enter the numeric passcode on the device to unlock it (the one you set up when you marked your Mac as lost).

Note: You can’t turn off Mark As Lost remotely from another Mac. You can only turn it off directly on the Mac that you marked as lost.

If you forget your device passcode, you can recover it using Find My iPhone on iCloud.com. See Use Lost Mode in Find My iPhone in the iCloud User Guide.

Mark a device as lost in Find My on Mac

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

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Answer 2

yurkennis Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 15, 2022 1:22 PM in response to DerekM87

Regardless of the passcode, the one who finds Macbook can invoke Erase Mac without unlocking it from Mark As Lost. Erasing does not require any passcode; however after erasing one needs to Activate Mac--either with original owner's Apple ID or with device password of one of the user accounts created on the Macbook before the Mac was marked as lost.

And my question is which user(s) can activate Macbook with their local, device-specific password(s). It has nothing to do with the passcode set when marking Mac as lost.

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Answer 3

bruno75

Community Specialist

Apr 15, 2022 1:30 PM in response to yurkennis

Hi there yurkennis,

Upon reviewing your details, we aren't sure exactly what it is that you're asking regarding Find My and your MacBook. For more details about Find My for Mac, check out: Set up Find My on Mac

We do recommend only using one Apple ID per device, along with making sure one of them is the admin user on your Mac.

Regarding the question you had, we aren't completely understanding exactly what it is that you're asking. As that's the case, we do recommend reaching out to Apple Support if you need further help with this: Get Support

Take care!

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Answer 4

yurkennis Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 15, 2022 2:06 PM in response to bruno75

> Regarding the question you had, we aren't completely understanding exactly what it is that you're asking.

Feel free to ask questions to clarify what I'm asking. At the moment I can't understand what I can clarify.

> As that's the case, we do recommend reaching out to Apple Support if you need further help with this: Get Support

That's where I started. Talked to two first-line people, one second-line support person. It wasn't helpful: I only get quotes from support apple com articles that don't address my question in any way.

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Which user(s) can activate erased Mac with their device password after Mark As Lost?

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