Resetting my mac for resale.

Question

Resetting my mac for resale.

I have a few questions concerning my mac. I am going to be selling it here in a few days and was wondering if what I did was right.

I had a password on my mac for when I login and I'm worried that after I erased the Macintosh HD and reinstalled the Mountain lion that the next owner is going to need my password to get into the computer. The comuter currently is on the welcome page and I don't want to click the arrow button because I would have to erase the HD once again so it could be new. Could someone give me some confirmation that my password will no longer be required and everything I did was right?

Wouldn't this mean a theif could just erase the HD and reinstall mountain lion with no questions asked and he could get full access to the mac if the password isn't required when he is done? How secure is that and what would be the point of having a password if someone could just bypass it?

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Aug 19, 2013 9:02 PM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Aug 19, 2013 9:54 PM in response to AnthonysApple

Welcome to Apple Support Communities

Your Mac was erased and OS X was reinstalled, so now after the Welcome screen, the new owner will be asked to set up OS X, including a new user account. He/she won't be asked for any password.

AnthonysApple wrote:

Wouldn't this mean a theif could just erase the HD and reinstall mountain lion with no questions asked and he could get full access to the mac if the password isn't required when he is done? How secure is that and what would be the point of having a password if someone could just bypass it?

The password you set is to log in your user account, not to lock the OS X installation. For that, you can turn on firmware password by starting up into OS X Recovery (don't do it now).

Also, if your Mac came with OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, call Apple to deauthorize it and its applications from your Apple ID > http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 If your Mac came with an older OS X version and you are going to sell it with OS X Mountain Lion, reinstall the original OS X version that came with your Mac, because the new owner won't be able to reinstall it

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Answer 2

Aug 20, 2013 5:57 AM in response to AnthonysApple

the following article tells how to ready your mac for resale:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5189

🙂

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