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If you had enabled Find My Mac on a T2 equipped mac, factory reset WON'T unlock the device. However, since Apple actually had full authority and cryptographic

by p_l 4y ago

If you had enabled Find My Mac on a T2 equipped mac, factory reset WON'T unlock the device. However, since Apple actually had full authority and cryptographic ownership of the chip, they can generate a key given serial number which will reset T2 contents. Personally, I think the setup should be that you don't have to go to apple for it, but it should immediately wipe device identity and disk encryption then (and the disk should always be encrypted)

jb1991 4y ago
> If you had enabled Find My Mac on a T2 equipped mac, factory reset WON'T unlock the device. I don’t think that’s true, I’ve never had to do that, and this is not a part of Apple’s documented reset process for resale of a machine. If you are the device’s actual owner and you use the simple process Apple outlines, it will reset it for a new owner, period.
- p_l 4y ago
  At the time I bought, the documented process included "manually disassociate FMM from the device in iCloud settings"... except it wasn't well propagated information and the previous owner and reseller just tried factory reset. Been there, went with Apple support over it, the only reason I still don't have it unlocked is because I didn't have time or energy to redo the whole setup. Might redo the apple-driven unlock process, but the hw is not worth it really. EDIT: Apparently the nice simpler procedure that does wipe FMM only arrived in Monterey.
coder543 4y ago
"Erase All Contents and Settings" is the only button you need to push on a T2 (or later) Mac, and it is the factory reset button. It will unlock the device.
- p_l 4y ago
  I have physical proof on my hands. It's possible that they fixed it in later version of the OS, but factory reset is what the reseller did with previous owner, and it did not wipe FMM registration, leaving the laptop half-stuck in terms of ownership - I only figured it out trying to register FMM to myself.
  - coder543 4y ago
    Things were harder in older versions of macOS, but you can read step 2 yourself: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 Any T2 Mac or newer requires only that button to be pressed, and then click through the wizard to complete the process. If someone is running outdated macOS, they won't have that button at all, since older versions of macOS required you to format computers the hard way using recovery mode, which didn't handle activation lock concerns. You can also read this document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208987 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208987 "Other ways to disable Activation Lock" "Activation Lock is disabled when you use the Erase All Content and Settings feature." which confirms the same thing. The experience that people have is very simple these days.
    - p_l 4y ago
      Yeah, this was fixed, supposedly, on Monterey. Which still leaves considerable amount of laptops with broken FMM registrations in T2. Especially since it was upgrading to Catalina, iirc, that started problems.

by p_l 4y ago

jb1991 4y ago

> If you had enabled Find My Mac on a T2 equipped mac, factory reset WON'T unlock the device. I don’t think that’s true, I’ve never had to do that, and this is not a part of Apple’s documented reset process for resale of a machine. If you are the device’s actual owner and you use the simple process Apple outlines, it will reset it for a new owner, period.

p_l 4y ago
At the time I bought, the documented process included "manually disassociate FMM from the device in iCloud settings"... except it wasn't well propagated information and the previous owner and reseller just tried factory reset. Been there, went with Apple support over it, the only reason I still don't have it unlocked is because I didn't have time or energy to redo the whole setup. Might redo the apple-driven unlock process, but the hw is not worth it really. EDIT: Apparently the nice simpler procedure that does wipe FMM only arrived in Monterey.

coder543 4y ago

"Erase All Contents and Settings" is the only button you need to push on a T2 (or later) Mac, and it is the factory reset button. It will unlock the device.

p_l 4y ago
I have physical proof on my hands. It's possible that they fixed it in later version of the OS, but factory reset is what the reseller did with previous owner, and it did not wipe FMM registration, leaving the laptop half-stuck in terms of ownership - I only figured it out trying to register FMM to myself.
- coder543 4y ago
  Things were harder in older versions of macOS, but you can read step 2 yourself: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 Any T2 Mac or newer requires only that button to be pressed, and then click through the wizard to complete the process. If someone is running outdated macOS, they won't have that button at all, since older versions of macOS required you to format computers the hard way using recovery mode, which didn't handle activation lock concerns. You can also read this document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208987 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208987 "Other ways to disable Activation Lock" "Activation Lock is disabled when you use the Erase All Content and Settings feature." which confirms the same thing. The experience that people have is very simple these days.
  - p_l 4y ago
    Yeah, this was fixed, supposedly, on Monterey. Which still leaves considerable amount of laptops with broken FMM registrations in T2. Especially since it was upgrading to Catalina, iirc, that started problems.