Making a mess of setting up MacBook Air 2015

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Making a mess of setting up MacBook Air 2015

I was given a MacBook Air by my daughter, it is her husbands who never uses it. I was thinking of upgrading my iMac 2013, running Mojave perfectly if a little slow.

she was trying to persuade me to buy a laptop instead but really like the size of an IMac, hate trackpads.

she said it was reset to factory running El Capitan, I put my email in it then realised it kept crashing just as it opened although I could just spot my emails there. The log gave an id which was possibly my son in laws so really don’t think the Mac has been cleared properly.

then I realised in tiny script under something, it mentioned xxxx Macbook

I’ve stopped iCloud Drive as it downloaded all my pics, which I deleted.

To be honest I wish I’d never accepted this but just want to delete what I’ve put in and hand it back.

iPad, iPadOS 17

Posted on Dec 18, 2024 12:23 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

KiltedTim

Level 10

228,198 points

Dec 18, 2024 12:27 PM in response to 51Rene

Did it take you through the full setup as if it were new when you first turned it on?

I suspect they may not have prepared it properly.

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Dec 18, 2024 3:34 PM in response to 51Rene

I hope you are not telling us that iCloud Photos was turned on - and that you deleted your photos while it was still enabled.

If you did that, the deletion would have been synchronized to iCloud and to your other devices. You might want to go into the Recently Deleted album on one of your other devices - just to check if you did accidentally delete their copies of your photos in that way. If you found photos in that album, you would have the option of restoring them.

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Answer 3

51Rene Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2024 1:32 PM in response to KiltedTim

I was given it and told it had been restored, it looked fine just like my Mac when I switched it on.

it was only when I read right through how to do it properly I realised it hadn’t been

if I get his Apple ID could I do this? I’ve read different ways, logging out of iTunes etc, don’t even know if he used things like that as he hates technology!

I suspect my daughter set it up for him in the first place, it’s rather to near Xmas hols to start pestering her about this.

Wasted 2 days trying to sort this out, just really want to delete my email etc and hand it back

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Answer 4

KiltedTim

Level 10

228,198 points

Dec 18, 2024 3:34 PM in response to 51Rene

The instructions in the article I linked to above must be followed for it to begone correctly.

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Making a mess of setting up MacBook Air 2015

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