Owner password required for MacBook Air startup

I am new to the Apple Mac air community and I need help. I turn the machine off when I turned it back on. It wants the owner password. I have no clue and I am not computer savvy. Please help.

What am I doing?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Owner password, Unknown

Posted on Aug 3, 2025 3:27 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 3, 2025 6:24 PM

Take it back to Best Buy. They set it up with an administrator account named "Owner".


NEVER allow anyone at Best Buy or anywhere other than a corporate Apple Store set up a device for you. They almost always screw things up in some way.


Have you tried just hitting 'return' for the password?

7 replies

Aug 3, 2025 4:35 PM in response to Jambe1229

Jambe1229 wrote:

I purchased it at Best Buy about 10 Days ago.

Was it an open box sale? If not, were the factory seals intact? BB is notorious for selling used equipment as new and for selling used equipment that was returned as defective, or not properly prepared for resale discounted as open box products.


If it was actually "new", please describe EXACTLY what you're seeing.

Aug 3, 2025 6:01 PM in response to Servant of Cats

I bought it from Best Buy, they transferred data from an older laptop to the Mac. It was in an unopened box when I got it home I powered up and I honestly do not remember it asking me for an owner’s password at that time. Most everything is my Apple ID. that they wanted. Now when it comes back up, it has a golf ball in the middle and underneath that they ask for the owners password. I did not realize that turning it all the way off after I had been using it for the past week would cause such a problem! Thank you to everybody who’s replying but remember, I am not a techie.

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Owner password required for MacBook Air startup

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