I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled osX, so why is it still asking me for my administrator password? What private information may still be on my computer?
MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
Going to need a lot more info.
Possibilities.
1) You have a Firmware password set and it will not load from the drive without you first entering the Firmware password.
2) You did not really erase/format the drive and just did a reinstall of OS X over the top of the original/previous install. That would not remove any data including your original username and password for that user name.
Ok Ill send you the youtube video that I followed to perfom the reformat and reinstall, I followed the video and did exactly what it said.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtUw-vo606w&list=WL8DC9F21285B33E19
Here are the answers to your question to best resolve this issue
1) Im not entirely familiar with what a firmware password is, but the password that is on my mac is the one that must be entered in order to install programs, and unlock the computer when ever you open it up.
2) I feel confident that I did erase/format the drive because when the erase/format was over, I had nearly 128Gb (not quite 128Gb but pretty close) out of the 128Gb storage capacity of macbook air before i started reinstalling the OS.
So with these two things cleared up, what else do you think it could be? Or are you still convinced that I didnt succesfully erase/format the drive and unsuccesfully reinstalled the OS?
Yes that video covers basically all the steps and if you did everything you erased the drive before the reinstall
Then after you erased the drive and reinstalled OS X you should of been presented with the initial setup system where you select a language to use and either used your Apple ID as your login or created a User Account name and a password for that User account.
So if you did go through those initial setup pages and created a User Account you then assigned a password to it?
That is the password it is asking for. If by chance you never typed in a Password and just hit the Next (Or whatever) button to proceed to the next page that is a very bad idea. That leave your system kind of Wide Open to anyone that turn it on to access your files. And can cause problems when installing software.
So did you assign a password?
Before I answer your questions, i'm just going to give you a little background about the situation for you to have a better idea of whats going on.
The macbook is currently sold and I was contacted by the buyer saying she required a password when installing programs. This password is probably the same one I used when I owned the computer, and it was just for installing programs and doing system changes to the computer, it was not the same as my apple I.D and the account was not my apple I.D account. By biggest fear is that my browser information is still on there even though the browser I used was uninstalled along with everything else on the computer.
anyways, the answer to your question:
I tried to put in my apple I.D but it didnt work for some reason(not sure why), so I just proceded to just put in a user account under my name but I dont recall if I put in a password or not, but if there is a password, then most likely I did in fact put in a password, but like I said, I dont think I would have because I planed on selling the macbook. Now if I just went ahead and hit Next, how would that leave my system wide open to anyone being able to access my files, since those files should have been erased?
Well it has been a month or so since I did a install of OS X so I'm not completely sure if you can proceed to the next page without entering a password.
So I suspect you did enter a password. For your future infomation when you are preping a system for Resale you must reinstall the original version of OS X that came on the system when it was new. If at one time you had upgraded the Mac you sold to any of the Download only versions of OS X that version is TIED to YOUR Apple ID not to the system. That is why it is very important to reinstall the Original shipping version of OS X.
What is happening now it the new owner is trying to Update that system and it is looking for YOUR Apple ID and the password for it.
The only thing the new owner can do is use the Online Internet Recovery system, which is what you should of used instead of the Recovery HD partition on the internal drive, to reinstall the original version of OS X that came on it. That is IF it originally came with Lion or Mt Lion Pre-installed.
IF it originally came with DVD system reinstall disc I do hope you supplied them with the system when you sent, gave, that system to the new owner. Because if it came with any version of OS X prior to Lion coming out the new owner will need to reinstall OS X and the iLife apps from those original system discs. As all other verison of OS X you installed are Tied to Your Apple ID and can not be transferred to another person.
So answer these questions.
1) What version of OS X came on the system when it was brand new?
2) If it came with a version of OS X prior to Lion coming out, June of 2011, do you have those original system discs?
3) If two is correct did you send those disc to the new owner?
You do realise that if you had provided all that info in your original post we might have this all figured out by now.
1) The Macbook Air came with OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 when it was brand new.
2) It's a mid 2012 Macbook air, came with Mountain Lion 10.8. No discs.
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Is there anyway they can "reboot" the system so they can bring it back to "stock" without putting in a password. Lets say if I were still the original owner but I had forgotten my password and wanted to reset the whole computer.
And you bought it brand new?
And you never upgraded to OS X Mavericks?
During the reinstall process you went through did it ask for Your Apple ID before the OS would download from the internet?
Yes there is but if you upgrade to Mavericks and reinstalled Maverick that will not help the new owner.
To reset the Admin password you boot the system froom the Recovery HD, Command + r keys at startup, then once that loads go to the Utilities menu item and select Terminal. Once teerminal opens type resetpassword and hit the enter key. another window will open where you select the user account name and then enter a new password for that username
- Yes, I bought the MacBook Air brand new
- Yes, I upgraded to OS X Mavericks as soon as it came out (right after the keynote actually)
- Yes, during the reinstall process it did ask for my apple ID before the OS would download from the internet. I then proceded to enter it, but I remember it saying there was a problem with the connection and my apple I.D wouldnt work, but then it started to download, I presume this was just a glitch and is unimportant because it downloaded Mavericks anyways.
Now since I upgraded to Mavericks, this is not a good thing? This will make it harded for the new owner to reset the computer?
If the new owner goes through these steps to reset the password, will it just reset the password on the current account(so my account)? Or will it ask to put in a whole new user account name and everything?
Ideally, I'd like to tell the new owner that if he does "this that and this", then his computer will be fully reset and they can start from scratch like they just brought it home from bestbuy.
Then that is the problem, you installed Mavericks and you Reinstalled Mavericks. Which is TIED TO YOUR Apple ID.
The new owner will need to do the same thing as you did except they will need to start the system from the Online Internet Recovery system and reinstall Mt Lion.
At startup hold down the Command + Option/Alt + r keys and keep them held down until you see a globe on the screen. Have the password for your Wifi network handy as you will need it.
From the Mac OS X Utilities screen that comes up select Disk Utility and then the continue button. From the Disk Utility window that opens select the Top Entry on the left column, the drive name and size entry, and then the Partition tab (this is VERY Important). You Must Repartition the drive as One Partition to remove the Mavericks Recovery HD partition.
Once the partition tab is open and the top entry selected select One Partition from the Partition layout area drop down. Name the partition Macintosh HD and the format Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then click the Apply button.
Once that is done exit ** and select Reinstall Mac OS X. OS X Mt Lion will be downloaded from the internet and when that finishes the system willl reboot to start the actual installl of OS X.
Once all that is done the system will reboot again and go through the initial setup pages where the new owner can enter all there information.
As to the iLife Apps you have to first De-Register that Mac from your Apple ID. Then the new owner might have to contact Apple by phone and have it transferred to there Apple ID. Once that is done they Should, and that really is a Maybe, be able to download and install the iLife Apps under their Apple ID from the Mac App Store.
Right Apple hasn't made selling a newer Mac very easy.
The step I posted to reset the password is only for the local user account. It has nothing to do with any Apple ID and will not solve the problem of Mavericks being tied to your Apple ID.
If they follow the steps I listed in the above post they will have a Like New Mac that does not have any of your info on it in any way and not tied to you in any way.
Alright thanks, you're the man..you are then man. And if anyone asks, you are the man. Thanks a whole a lot eh. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled osX, so why is it still asking me for my administrator password? What private information is still on my computer?
