Forgot recovery key but password works.

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Level 1

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Forgot recovery key but password works.

Article from Macworld suggests to "disable FileVault in macOS and re-enable it. This will take a while, as the entire drive is decrypted and then re-encrypted, but macOS generates an entirely new recovery key, which you can then more carefully note again." https://www.macworld.com/article/231249/how-to-find-your-filevault-recovery-key-in-macos.html

Turned off FileVault in order to generate new key but then get following message after turning FileVault back on: A recovery key has been set by your company, school, or institution.

Problem is, this is my personal MacBook Pro (MacOS 12.5). There is no company, school, or institution from which to retrieve a recovery key as I've owned it since buying new in 2016.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jul 24, 2022 12:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PRP_53

Level 10

91,201 points

Jul 24, 2022 2:23 AM in response to hubblefan

Forgot FileVault Recovery Key - Apple Community

How to get the FileVault recovery key whe… - Apple Community

Lost recovery key and password - Apple Community

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

60,284 points

Jul 24, 2022 10:50 AM in response to hubblefan

It sounds like your laptop is being managed by a school or business. Did you buy this computer as new from a reputable source? Did a school or business ever work on your laptop to configure it for use by the school or business? Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this.

If you have the original proof of purchase from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller, then you may have some recourse from Apple or the reseller to make it right, but even Apple I don't believe can remove this management from the laptop (at best they could give you another laptop). However, I don't know how you prove when this laptop was managed -- before you purchased it or after. I really don't expect there is anything that can be done or will be done since I don't think there is anyway you can prove you received the laptop in a managed state.

At this time I think the best you can do is to always have two admin user accounts active on the laptop so if something happens to the main admin user account, then you may have a chance and more options for accessing & resetting the password.

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Answer 3

hubblefan Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 30, 2022 4:12 PM in response to HWTech

If I had setup the Apple ID recovery option, would I get the same message (A recovery key has been set by your company, school, or institution. ) when attempting;ting to re-generate a new recovery key?

I do have two admin profiles setup with an additional boot partition but not sure where I put the recovery key or if I setup Apple ID recovery for this machine as I have several Macs/ iOS devices and have never had to use any recovery options. Still, turning FileVault back on is a bit un-nerving should I ever need either recovery option.

Thanks again,

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

60,284 points

Jul 31, 2022 7:41 AM in response to hubblefan

If the laptop is being managed by an MDM, then only IT staff for the school or business managing the MDM would know if they allow any other options (probably not). If the laptop is being managed by an MDM from a school or business, then I would be more concerned about them deactivating the Mac completely, installing/removing software, or even monitoring your activity.

You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data. This way if you are locked out, then you can restore your data from a backup.

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