How to recover password for File Vault-encrypted local user on Mountain Lion MacBook Pro 2012?

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How to recover password for File Vault-encrypted local user on Mountain Lion MacBook Pro 2012?

My friend asked me to restore password of local user McBook pro 13" mid 2012 - A1278 which was Mountain Lion and I think It has Benn upgraded to High Sierra or Catalina.

I tried with several combinations of keys but It starts with Recovery Assistant 1.0 which has no terminal so I built High Sierra usb device and I boot Mac from this one.

I see disk0: disk0s1 if EFI while disk0s2 is Container (Apple_APFS)

I found out Disk is encrypted.

I connected wifi network, I run "resetpassword" command and It asks:

OSX Base System
OSX Base System - Data

I chose first option.

I chose "I forgot password" and I type Apple Id credentials where are recognized.

Mac show this message: There are no users on this volume for whom the password can be reset

I chose second option but message has been always the same.

Suggestions please ?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: recover password of local user where File Vault is enable - Mountain Lion - mbp 2012

Posted on Jan 17, 2026 7:42 AM

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Answer 1

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D.I. Johnson

Level 7

33,629 points

Jan 17, 2026 8:27 AM in response to Rickyleroy

There is no password recovery for a File Vault encrypted drive without the recovery key.

Encryption is designed to prevent unauthorized access and wouldn't be much good if it could easily be bypassed or circumvented.

The best you will be able to do is erase and reformat the drive, and then reinstall macOS.

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

I would advise you to reinstall the latest version of the OS that will run on that 2012 Mac, macOS 10.15.3 Catalina.

If you cannot get the Mac to boot in recovery using option-command-R and offer Catalina for reinstallation, then you may have to settle for whatever is offered.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Rickyleroy Author

Level 1

54 points

Jan 17, 2026 8:36 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

D.I. Johnson wrote:

There is no password recovery for a File Vault encrypted drive without the recovery key.

Encryption is designed to prevent unauthorized access and wouldn't be much good if it could easily be bypassed or circumvented.

So this procedure that is running resetpassword command, which asks Apple ID, is designed for no encrypted volumes ?

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Answer 3

Jan 17, 2026 8:49 AM in response to Rickyleroy

Rickyleroy wrote:

D.I. Johnson wrote:

There is no password recovery for a File Vault encrypted drive without the recovery key.

Encryption is designed to prevent unauthorized access and wouldn't be much good if it could easily be bypassed or circumvented.

So this procedure that is running resetpassword command, which asks Apple ID, is designed for no encrypted volumes ?

That terminal command ‘resetpassword’ process is for resetting the Mac user login password when that has been forgotten. That is the password all Macs require at startup. It is not directly related to accessing or decrypting an encrypted drive.

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Answer 4

Rickyleroy Author

Level 1

54 points

Jan 17, 2026 9:09 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

D.I. Johnson wrote:

That terminal command ‘resetpassword’ process is for resetting the Mac when that has been forgotten. That is the password all Macs require at startup. It is not directly related to accessing or decrypting an encrypted drive.

My initial issue is restore password of the local user which is required at startup infact to solve it I need to run resetpassword command. When I run this command It starts procedure which I already explained so I think It's directly related to accessing or decrypting an encrypted drive.

What do you think ?

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Answer 5

Rickyleroy Author

Level 1

54 points

Jan 17, 2026 9:50 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

D.I. Johnson wrote:

That terminal command ‘resetpassword’ process is for resetting the Mac user login password when that has been forgotten. That is the password all Macs require at startup. It is not directly related to accessing or decrypting an encrypted drive.

I add that is disk is encrypted to change user password you have to access to file system so to mount volume, so I don't agree you when you says:

It is not directly related to accessing or decrypting an encrypted drive

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