Using "Find my iPhone" I mistakenly touched either Erase or Lock! What now???

Question

Using "Find my iPhone" I mistakenly touched either Erase or Lock! What now???

My friend seems to have Locked or Erased his iMac!

When first started it asked for his PIN, but the iMac wouldn't respond to it.

('m now learning that the PIN that he used is the PIN to unlock his iPhone, as it didn't ask him to create a PIN.)

Now when I restart I'm brought to a screen which wants to know if I want to resotre from a Time Machine backup.?

I go down that road and find my Time Machine backup, but when given a choice of where to restore, his internal hard drive is not shown, only his SuperDuper backup drive. (at least he's well backed up.)

Is this like the iPhones are now, to prevent larceny, where it Bricks the iMac??

Certainly there has to be a back door, like using his Apple ID and password.

What to do??

Posted on Nov 5, 2013 5:46 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 5, 2013 6:45 PM in response to Chris Harnish1

I forgot to add that I started the iMac in Target Disk Mode, connected it by Thunderbolt to my MBA and the drive did not show up at all. The iMac screen had the bouncing Thunderbold icon, showing that it is in TDM, but my connected Mac showed nothing; like it didn't exist.

Is this the way a bricked Mac would behave?

Is there a back door to open it up again?

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

140,948 points

Nov 5, 2013 7:22 PM in response to Chris Harnish1

Did you boot OS X Recovery?

Using two fingers hold the ⌘ and r keys simultaneously while starting the Mac. Use Disk Utility to verify the disk's presence, partition and / or erase it if necessary, after which you can use Time Machine to restore it.

Is this like the iPhones are now, to prevent larceny, where it Bricks the iMac??

No, there is no OS X analog to iOS's Activation Lock, unless you are referring to an EFI Firmware Password. Use OS X Recovery to remove a Firmware Password if you configured one. If you forgot that password, only Apple will be able to help.

Is there a back door to open it up again?

The above is all there is.

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