How do I reactivate iMac without erasing data using proof of purchase?

He DID say there was a way to reactivate it without erasing all data but it would require proof of purchase (which I have) and it wont take them 72 hours to do it on the "back end".

I'm not sure what they mean by that either, and I am not entirely convinced it's even possible, but if they can really do that then it is clearly the best course of action.

Forget Google — all it will do is lead you down a path of outdated or inappropriate advice, scams, and misery. When purchasing a Mac, the purchaser sets it up for him or herself. Doing that makes it yours. If you subsequently want to transfer ownership to someone else, even your wife or another family member, that's perfectly ok, but you must transfer it in strict accordance with these instructions: What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac. There are no exceptions, lest you and / or the subsequent owner encounter continual problems with it (such as you describe).

Those instructions specifically state erasing it is a fundamental prerequisite.

But if Apple has another idea, definitely avail yourself of it, and let us know how it goes. I remain skeptical though.

BadTuna wrote:

He DID say there was a way to reactivate it without erasing all data

I also cannot think of a way to do that.

Completely wiping a Mac and then restoring from a backup probably takes no more than 2 or 3 hours. If your backup is on an SSD, it might be a lot less time than that. I have a feeling you have already spent more time than that on this, and that 72 hours, well that is three more days. And a bonus -- with the wipe and restore, your Mac might run faster and more efficiently as only currently needed apps and extensions would get reinstalled.

So I would suggest the wipe and restore approach. It's basically what you do when migrating to a new Mac, except with a new Mac there is no erase/wipe step, the new Macs come that way already.

P.S. This situation you are in is actually unusual. I think the vast majority of people get a new Mac, set it up with an Apple ID, and then just leave things as they were, no changes to the Apple ID ... everything continues to work.

Also, this should be a grim reminder & wake up call that people should always have frequent & regular backups. There are a lot more 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. Apple provides the Time Machine backup software with macOS to make backups easy for users, but there are also third party options as well.

I'm with @John Galt, I have no idea if you can reactivate this device while retaining its data. I'm not sure what "deactivation" was performed and what it does to the system. It seems that even Apple agents are similarly confused because Apple doesn't really provide details with their documentation.

If you can get an Apple agent to "confirm" reactivating the device with the data intact is possible, then make sure to ask them for an Apple article number or URL for specific details so you can provide that information to the Apple agent at the Apple Store or AASP so they can better understand the situation. I've seen these types of misunderstandings a lot when dealing with Apple. One agent will give approval, yet the next agent will deny it. Even when I know I am actually right & have proof with Apple's own documentation, it can still be a huge battle getting an Apple agent to see the truth in Apple's own documentation.

Without knowing the original password that was used to set up the iMac and not backup there's only one way I wee to get the iMac up and running again wth the user data intact:

1 - see if you an boot the iMac into Target Disk Mode. I should show this on the screen if it can:

2 - if you can get the iMac into TDM follow the instructions to connect your two Macs (you do have another Mac, right?) and copy the user data off to the other Mac or an external drive.

3 - then follow the John Galt's instructions for preparing an iMac for sale.

4 - once you do that connect the external drive to the iMac and copy the user data to the correct location on the iMac.

NOTE: you don't need an iPhone to have your own Apple ID.

I would recommend that you get your wife her own Apple ID so she can have here own emails and texts. (She can use here email address for texts).

OldToad wrote:

Without knowing the original password that was used to set up the iMac and not backup there's only one way I wee to get the iMac up and running again wth the user data intact:

1 - see if you an boot the iMac into Target Disk Mode. I should show this on the screen if it can:

This appears to be a 24" M1 iMac purchased in 2022. Apple-Silicon-based Macs don't support being put into Target Disk Mode. From the linked Support article (emphasis mine):

"You can connect an Intel-based Mac to another Mac so that the Intel-based Mac appears as an external hard disk"

You can put an Apple Silicon Mac into Recovery mode and share its files over "a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable" with another Mac. The other Mac sees the Apple Silicon Mac as a network-attached drive rather than seeing it as a directly-attached disk. See the "Use Share Disk to transfer files between two Mac computers" section of

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon - Apple Support

However, you might need to know an Administrator account name and password to get to that Recovery mode option.