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Used macbook air

I got a used macbook air I dont know the password to unlock it


Posted on Jun 28, 2022 3:38 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 28, 2022 4:14 PM

The previous owner would have to have done this: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

If they did not complete the above linked to instructions, return the Mac.

2 replies

Jun 29, 2022 11:03 AM in response to Kms1284

I agree that you should probably return the laptop because it was not properly prepared for sale. This can be dangerous in several ways.


  • May have a firmware password enabled (you will never have the necessary proof of ownership to have it removed)
  • May still be managed by the previous owner (hard to detect, but most times you will see a notification of the Mac being managed after a clean install of macOS -- either during initial setup, or perhaps days, weeks, months later when macOS sends you a notification to finish the managed setup).


Whenever you purchased a used device, you should always perform a clean install of the OS by first erasing the whole drive before reinstalling the OS. It doesn't matter if the previous owner provides the password since you don't know what nasty surprises may have been left behind. How you do this can vary depending on the age of the Mac (exact model) and the OS involved since 2018+ Macs should have their system firmware "Restored" in order to also reset the security enclave chip in addition to the clean install.


When attempting to perform a clean install of an Intel Mac up to 2017 you will want to boot into a macOS installer (USB or Internet Recovery Mode) in order to launch Disk Utility and erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Within Disk Utility you will need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. This will allow you to wipe any 2017 and earlier Mac to factory defaults even if Filevault encryption is enabled. Doing this will tell you whether a firmware lock is enabled. Sometimes this will allow you to also detect whether the Mac is still being managed by a previous owner, but not always (at least not in time for any refunds). If you end up reinstalling macOS 10.6 to 10.10, then preparing the drive for a clean install is just a bit different (my instructions are for macOS 10.13+).


Used macbook air

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