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Recovery help

I have an early-2011 MB Pro, OSX 10.7.5. I want to do a complete, "back-to-factory-spec" restore. All personal files have been backed up, so I'm ready to go. I've read that I can do the restore by using "CMD-R" upon startup, then follow the prompts to access Utilities in the Recovery partition, and go from there. However, when I start up (pressing CMD-R), I end up at a screen showing a padlock with a password bar below. I typed in my Admin password, but it wouldn't take. After research, I've learned this is for the "master password", which I don't have (I bought this used 3.5 years ago, and cannot get in touch with the seller).


I have researched extensively, but everything I've seen so far goes right back to using CMD-R, or something similar (CMD-S, Terminal script, etc.), which ALWAYS leads me back to this "master password". Is there a way to "bypass" this password (again…NOT my Admin pass, but the MASTER pass)? Can I do something within System Prefs or Utilities to do so? Any options? Is this possible without having to spend the $$ to use Apple Support?


I'm trying to do this, because I want the "fresh install" that I thought I'd received, but have since discovered I didn't. Any/all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 3, 2015 1:39 PM

Reply
7 replies

Mar 3, 2015 1:47 PM in response to slidebox44

Before Selling or Giving Away Your Pre-Lion Mac


  1. Deauthorize your computer from iTunes, if applicable.
  2. Back up your data using Time Machine or other backup methods for OS X Mavericks or Mountain Lion.
  3. If you use Find My Mac or other iCloud features on this Mac, complete these steps:
    1. Back up your iCloud content.
    2. Choose Apple Menu () > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
    3. Deselect the Find My Mac checkbox.
    4. Sign out of iCloud. When you sign out of iCloud, you're asked whether you want to remove iCloud data from your Mac. Removing iCloud data in this way makes sure that the data isn't also removed from any of your other devices that are using the same iCloud account.
  4. If you're using OS X Mountain Lion v10.8 or later, sign out of iMessage:
    1. In the Messages app, choose Preferences > Accounts.
    2. Select your iMessage account, then click Sign Out.
  5. Follow these steps for installing the original version of OS that came with the computer.


1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.


2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After Disk Utility loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and

drive size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled), then click on the Apply button.


3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.


4. If you are planning to sell or give your computer away, then do the following:


After you reformat your hard drive and reinstall OS X, the computer restarts to a

Welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. If you want to leave

the Mac in an out-of-box state, don't continue with the setup of your system. Instead,

press Command-Q to shut down the Mac. When the new owner turns on the Mac,

the Setup Assistant will guide them through the setup process.


Note: Portions of the above have been copied from What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support.

Mar 3, 2015 2:40 PM in response to slidebox44

If you follow the procedure I outlined you would boot from your Snow Leopard disc, then reformat the drive. You won't need any password. Why waste time removing RAM which won't help. The password you need is for the encrypted disk. It is not stored in PRAM which is what ginger thinks.


My approach simply requires you have the Snow Leopard DVDs that came with the computer when it was new. If they weren't given to you by the seller, then you need to purchase replacements from Apple:


Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.



For Mac App Store: Apple - Support - Mac App Store.

For iTunes: Apple - Support - iTunes.

Mar 4, 2015 8:50 AM in response to slidebox44

When in keychain access, did you look in the root folder. As if it was selected to be stored in the keychain ,that is where it would be. When in system preferences. Look in security/FileVault to see if FileVault is enabled or not. It will say that a master password and or FileVault is or is not enabled. I have a link for deleting the master password. But you do not want to use it if FileVault is also on. https://maccave.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/how-to-removereset-the-master-password- filevault-password-in-mac/ The early 2011 Macbook Pro came with snow leopard 10.6.7 So yours has been updated. The only other work around would be to get a snow leopard disk and clean install it.

Recovery help

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