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A2115 / 2019 / Processors from 3.0 GHz 6-core i5, up to 3.6 GHz 8-core i9. Released March 19, 2019.

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Swapping startup disk on firmware locked iMac

Hey there,

I was donated an iMac, which happens to have a firmware lock on it (not stolen or anything, just the previous owner somehow failed to remember the password).

We have been unable to reset the firmware password through Apple, as the previous owner does not want anything to do with it. It has the standard 1TB Fusion Drive, which appears to be failing.

My question is: if I create a bootable disk on another mac, and swap it out with disk inside the iMac, will it boot?

I’m ultimately worried that I will have a relatively new iMac on my hands, which I can only sell for parts once the drive has broken. Would rather keep it going! Many thanks in advance!

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Swapping the drives won’t fix things here as the firmware password is within the logic board not the drive.

Can you get the original sales slip of the system from the previous owner. As you’ll need to visit an Apple Store with proof of ownership. In addition to the sales slip you’ll need a copy of the persons ID (drivers lic) and a letter explaining they sold it to you (don’t get into donated that adds questions). For them to clear the firmware password.

Now be aware Apple will compare the Apple ID used in the system and the persons ID if they don’t match it will be assumed as being stolen! So if this person who gave you the system is not the correct user then you’re toast!

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Hey Dan,

Thank you for your answer - I’ve tried ever since being given the computer to get them to help me unlock the computer at an Apple store, but they have moved country, and got married (changed their name!), and after calling them multiple times to get them to give their details to the Apple store, they don’t want anything to do with it anymore!

So I feel a bit stuck - I don’t want to sell the computer as it is to someone, as they will essentially run into the same problem as I have. But equally, I really think the drive is failing (I can hear it click…!!), so I want to do something before it breaks!

If I CC duplicated the drive, and swapped the drive out, does the firmware lock detect hardware changes at all? The firmware lock disables booting from external/different drives or volumes, but if I were to change the drive for a new drive with the same startup disk name, do you happen to know if this would it work?

=== Update (05/11/2021) ===

I’m tempted to test this out with another computer of mine which I could set a firmware password for, but before I put in the effort I would love to find someone who has tried this/knows that this will/will not work!

I understand that swapping the drives will never remove the firmware lock, but I suppose I’m happy to use the computer until it can be recycled, knowing the limitations of not being able to unlock the firmware… ever!

Through googling, it looks like people online have swapped out the bios chip… seems a little too shady to me though..!

Thanks Dan!

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@afburgess - I'm a bit confused ... Are you currently using the system? Then you have the password to the system and can alter it correct? That is if you are using the users account not a guest account.

If that's the case then all the original owner needs to do it remove the system from their iCloud account How to remove your iCloud account and Apple ID from a transferred computer

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Yes - I’m using the system, and have my own admin account etc. The computer has my own iCloud account signed in, and that is not a problem, but system has a EFI bios lock on it. This prevents me from booting from external drives (option at start up), getting into recovery drives (command R, etc), and anything to do with booting into anything other than the start up disk.

I have the password to the system, but can’t get to the screen to alter the BIOS firmware password basically, because I, and seemingly the previous owner, don’t have a clue what it is!

As far as I can see, the firmware password and iCloud accounts are not linked!

Hope that clears it up, thank you for your help so far!

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@afburgess - If you have an admin account you should be able to delete the other user account. But before you do that make a TimeMachine Backup to an external drive.

I'm starting to think you are confusing the three account types.

Firmware password is at the hardware level and limits all users to the system - User accounts, iCloud is an Apple ID account used to backup and leverage Find my System services. As an example if you have an iPhone and setup your iMac with location services activated and setup Find my System in preferences then your iPhone should show your iMac's location.

If thats true the system is not linked to iCloud or has a firmware password. And then you can replace the drives as you wish.

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@danj I am the only user account on the OS, so that's not quite the problem. I have a single user account, which is the admin account, logged in with my own apple ID + find my service (e.g. I can see the imac from my phone and so on). The account is all ok, the problem is that I am unable to boot into the recovery disk, because of the hardware firmware lock password (which nobody seems to know!). The only time you see the firmware screen is if you try and enter recovery mode, or try and boot from an external volume (it is a black screen, with a padlock symbol).

From looking online, the firmware password makes it so you can only boot the declared/internal startup disk. I would love to know if you can swap that disk, without needing to unlock the EFI password first! Its a fairly unique scenario, so I suspect I will just test if this is the case with another machine, but would love to know if anybody has tried this before!

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