MacBook Air M3 stuck on "Activate Mac" after using resetpassword and Deactivate Mac

Nikciv wrote:

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation and for taking the time to help.

Unfortunately, I don't have a recent backup, which is why I'm trying to avoid erasing

the Mac if there is any reasonable chance of preserving the existing data.

I will wait a little longer to see if anyone has experienced this exact situation after

selecting Deactivate Mac. If not, I will contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider

before considering erasing the Mac.

Thank you again.

Make sure your laptop is connected to the Internet. I find many times these newer Macs will not automatically connect to the WiFi and may not always ask you to do so. Check the WiFi icon on the menubar to verify you have a good connection. Perhaps try selecting another WiFI SSID if you have more than one. If you only have one, then maybe disconnect or Turn Off WiFi, then reconnect/Turn WiFi on again. Whether the laptop & its Activation screen will attempt to connect again after doing this is hard to say since sometimes you get one chance to do so. Try rebooting the laptop again after doing this to see if maybe it connect using the new connection.

I would even try "forgetting" the current WiFi connection or at the very least turning WiFi off. Reboot the laptop and hope it will ask you to reconnect to the WiFi before the Activation screen appears.

Connecting the laptop directly to your router using an Ethernet cable & USB-C Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter. You will need to reboot the laptop after connecting the Ethernet cable & adapter so that the Activation screen will have access to the Internet.

You can try Activating the Mac at some other physical location preferably with a different ISP.

I guess you can try a DFU Firmware Revive if nothing else works. It does require access to another Mac currently running macOS 15.7+ Sequoia or macOS 26.x Tahoe (Apple Configurator v2.19 app is required if the host Mac is running Sequoia).

Unfortunately there are a lot of new ways to permanently lose access to the data stored on the internal SSD of the recent Macs due to all of the hardware, software, and security changes. Frequent & regular backups are more important than ever before. You may have just discovered one of the new ways to lose access to your data if you cannot get this laptop online to Activate this Mac.

Nikciv wrote:

Unfortunately, I don't have a recent backup, which is why I'm trying to avoid erasing

the Mac if there is any reasonable chance of preserving the existing data.

Thank you, now I understand better your earlier responses because with a Time Machine backup erasing and "resetting" the Mac to original factory setup and then migrating from a backup would be a quick way to recover from this bind. It sounds like that won't be possible.

I will wait a little longer to see if anyone has experienced this exact situation after

selecting Deactivate Mac.

Maybe ... but using Terminal for "resetpassword" and then to select Deactivate Mac is an unusual combination!

If not, I will contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider

before considering erasing the Mac.

I would NOT erase the Mac at this point. I strongly believe that your data and files are still intact and that a certified Apple Authorized Service Provider will be able to get you back like you were before. I do recommend that you have authorized Apple service personnel handle this instead of trying additional Terminal commands or other things like firmware restore, which may add more complications. You could also have some sort of hardware problem, but the service personnel will be able to test for that as well.

Nikciv wrote:

... my main goal is to preserve the data if possible.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to another Mac, but if Apple Configurator

Revive or Target Disk Mode could preserve the data, I would prefer trying those options

before erasing the Mac.

I don't believe Apple Configurator is what you need here (others with more experience with that tool may weigh in) because that is typically for reviving firmware. I don't think you have damaged the firmware.

You need another Mac on hand for Target Mode (or Apple Configurator).

The is simplest method might be just to follow kaz-k's advice and erase/reset the Mac entirely. Then on first boot, migrate from your backup (without first setting up any accounts). This will work if your backup is from Time Machine or is a "clone" type backup.

If you want to avoid erasing/formatting, then I suggest you make an appointment with an Apple Store Genius Bar or with an Apple Authorized Service Provider and bring your Mac to them to explore your options for next steps. They will have additional Macs on hand and they also have experience with these tools to try to access your existing data on your current Mac.

It is important to have a reliable and current backup for situations like this! (Especially if one is booting into Recovery and doing things with Terminal and passwords, which come with many potential pitfalls.)

Nikciv wrote:

Thank you for your reply.

My main concern is preserving the data on the internal SSD.

I would like to avoid erasing the Mac if there is a reasonable chance of recovering it

while preserving the existing data.

At this point it might be easier to erase/wipe the computer and set it up anew, migrating your files and content from your latest backup.

That said, Deactivate should not cause any data to be lost. Normally it unlinks your Mac from your Apple ID and may delete the existing Keychain (passwords), so you would need to have a good internet connection (as instructed by kaz-k) in order to re-authenticate to your Apple ID when the new password is set up.

Are you able to connect your Mac to a network as indicated by kaz-k?

Another thing to try would be setting up your Mac in target mode and trying to access/copy the files that way. I don't have enough experience with this specific combination of circumstances to know if target mode will work with a Deactivated Mac, however.