I inherited an iMac running OS 10.9.5. I want to completely erase the Mac Hard Disk. I know the Administrator's name but not his password. He is deceased. I think I reset the password but don't know to inform the Keychain or accomplish the erasure. How is this done?
iMac G5 (17-inch), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Unless the iMac does not have a Recovery HD, you should be able to restart into Recovery Mode (Command+R) and use Disk Utility to erase the Macintosh HD. You don't need any password. Or are you saying the drive is encrypted (Filevault 2) and you need a userID/password to unlock/decrypt it?
If you want to reinstall OS X Mavericks, you may need your Apple ID/password assuming you downloaded it when it was available from the Mac App Store. Otherwise, depending on the model you might be able to use Internet Recovery (Command+Opton+R) to reinstall OS X Lion or above which ever the machine shipped with then upgrade from there. Or if it came with Snow Leopard or below you will need the install DVDs.
Unless the iMac does not have a Recovery HD, you should be able to restart into Recovery Mode (Command+R) and use Disk Utility to erase the Macintosh HD. You don't need any password. Or are you saying the drive is encrypted (Filevault 2) and you need a userID/password to unlock/decrypt it?
If you want to reinstall OS X Mavericks, you may need your Apple ID/password assuming you downloaded it when it was available from the Mac App Store. Otherwise, depending on the model you might be able to use Internet Recovery (Command+Opton+R) to reinstall OS X Lion or above which ever the machine shipped with then upgrade from there. Or if it came with Snow Leopard or below you will need the install DVDs.
I'll give it a try wish me luck
How can I completely erase the iMac Hard Disk without the password?
