hotrod45
Level 1
(9 points)
Q: removing previous owners info
i recently bought a used 13" mbp from a private party. spotless machine with a lot of additional software which made it an exceptional buy. problem i had was that the owner didn't de-authorize his itunes account or app store account. so i contacted him and he gave me his password(because he knows me and trusts me) and i did the de-auth thing. well, that didn't totally remove his footprint. he is still shown as the account holder etc. what i want to do is remove all traces of him form the machine without erasing the drive and reinstalling osx. any ideas? i am going to resell this machine and don't want any of his info on it yet retain the extra software. ")
MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), 16 gb ram, 500 gb samsung 850 evo
Limnos
Level 9
(54,635 points)
I know this isn't what you really want:
Apple: What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5189 or http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201065
How to Prepare your Mac for sale - http://www.thesafemac.com/how-to-prepare-your-mac-for-sale/
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5655535
Linc Davis Feb. 2016 post on restoring computer to new condition -
Realize even if you remove the AppleID there are still traces of the former owner all over the computer, particularly if some is knowledgeable to go poking around. Does your friend trust your skills enough to root out all traces of his ownership?
Even if it was a bargain with "additional software", is that software licensed? Unfortunately with the new way of distributing software through downloads, transfer of licenses is not the way it used to be where you sold some a set of CDs and the software was theirs. The software tends to be linked to an individual or at least their ID.
