How to reset or restore factory setting on PowerBook before selling?

Question

Level 1

9 points

How to reset or restore factory setting on PowerBook before selling?

I want to sell my old PowerBook g4 but I don't have to original install discs to install a fresh copy of Leopard. Is there any way possibe to reset or restore the factory settings and delete all my information without having to do it manually?

Thanks in advance!

Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jan 21, 2013 1:13 PM

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Answer 1

edex67

Level 4

3,255 points

Jan 21, 2013 11:50 PM in response to radiochris

Reboot the machine in single user mode (Cmd-S while booting).
Type cd /Users.
Type rm -rf * (BE CAREFUL! Make sure you are in the users directory!)
cd /var/db/netinfo
rm local.nidb
cd ..
rm .AppleSetupDone

Reboot. You should be back at the welcome screen.

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Answer 2

Jan 22, 2013 9:25 AM in response to edex67

Look up how to log into OS X under the Root account and delete whatever user accounts were/are on the machine before you do what edex67 has said. That way when the computer boots to the Welcome To OS X screen, there will be no other accounts except the one that's being created right then.

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Answer 3

edex67

Level 4

3,255 points

Jan 23, 2013 8:20 AM in response to tanner1294

Yes, you could do that (although I thought that's what steps 3 and 5 did?)

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