After the new version of Disk Utility destroyed my Time Machine, I want to get into recovery mode.
I have a hardware lock set on my iMac.
When I boot, even if I hold CMD-R after the chime, I get the lock and have to enter the password. After that it immediately shows the normal login screen (list of users).
How do you get to recovery mode once you have set the hardware lock?
Thanks,
Craig.
iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)
I'm not sure; the documentation implies it should continue to boot into Recovery. Try holding down cmd-r when clicking on the continue button or hitting return after entering firmware password.
You can't hold it down before pressing enter as it enters a 'r' at the end of the password.
I tried to do it immediately after pressing enter, but no luck.
Try using the Startup Manager (Option key). Depending on your drive configuration, you may or may not see the Recovery partition in the Startup Manager.
You will still have to go through the Firmware password.
Another option might be to try Internet Recovery (cmd-opt-R).
If I use OPT I get two disks, both labeled "McIntosh HD". No indication of what's what.
Just tried both of the "McIntosh HD", both boot to normal startup screen.
The recovery partition on disk0 does not show up when holding Opt during startup. Any ideas ?
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_CoreStorage FusionGroup 999.3 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk0s3
/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *240.1 GB disk1
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_CoreStorage FusionGroup 239.7 GB disk1s2
3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s3
/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD +1.2 TB disk2
Logical Volume on disk1s2, disk0s2
9B2CE459-1CBB-4EE1-9D76-A6FFCF81DFB4
Unlocked Encrypted Fusion Drive
You have a CoreStorage configuration and the Recovery partition will not show up in the Startup Manager with that configuration which is what I was alluding to in the previous post.
What year is your iMac?
On older models you may be able to reset the firmware password by removing a RAM chip and then replacing it.
So how does one get a usable recovery partition when using core storage?
I don't think the firmware password is the issue. If I can get the mac to see the recovery partition or create one elsewhere I can use that.
crashmeister wrote:
So how does one get a usable recovery partition when using core storage?
I don't think the firmware password is the issue. If I can get the mac to see the recovery partition or create one elsewhere I can use that.
It is usable (I imagine). For whatever reason, the Recovery partition cannot be seen on a CoreStorage volume in the Startup Manager.
Did you try Internet Recovery?
If you can get into IR but not regular Recovery, your Recovery partition may be damaged, but then it should have defaulted to IR unless your iMac is not capable of Internet Recovery.
2009. The fusion drive is home grown, hence the 240Gb SSD part. Works well.
crashmeister wrote:
2009. The fusion drive is home grown, hence the 240Gb SSD part. Works well.
A 2009 Mac can't boot into Internet Recovery.
So, it may be that the Recovery partition is damaged which is why it won't boot.
Try creating a bootable install USB and run recovery from that:
Current status (and definite bugs):
I created a new USB thumb drive with El Capitan (my previous was Yosemite).
Boot with OPT (HW lock pswd reqd). USB Thumb Drive is present.
Choose USB Thumb Drive and boots into 'Utils' screen. TM is present (yay!!!) and I go far enough down the restore path to check that it actually sees the TM backup (more yay!!!)
I then remove the hardware lock - now comes the issues:
Boot with CMD-R - still no recovery available from the HDD. It ignores the CMD-R and boots normally.
Boot with OPT. Well, look what shows up! Now I get a TM disk as a boot option. Out of curiosity I select it and... after a while I get a 'no' symbol on the gray screen and it proceeds to boot from MacIntosh HD.
Why does it show the TM if you can't use it? Why does TM not show up when a hardware lock is in place but does when it is not? Buggy!!!
Anyway, I am happy that I can recover using TM if I have a thumb drive with the latest OS. At least ONE thing works.
About to redo the HW lock. Removing it served no usable difference.
How to get to recovery mode with a hardware lock
