iM 4,1-14,4 2009 iMac, i7-870, Admin Password Locked? Use Elementary OS?

[Oldmopars]

I recently bought a 2011 24in iMac for cheap, I fixed it and really fell in love with it. However, that 27in screen just called to me. So, I bought a cheap Late 2009 27in.
It has the i5 in it, but I happen to have a Dell from the same era with a i7-870 in it I plan to remove. As RAM is cheap I plan to just max it out.
The one thing I am a little worried about is the Admin Lock. At what level is it locked? If I put in a different hard drive (SSD) or format the drive in another machine, with that wipe the admin lock off?
My plan was to put in either an SSD or an SSHD. (Or both) I will change out the battery while I am in there. This should wipe it clean and allow me to install new OS, right?
I use Linux a lot, I have Mint on several computers I use as hosts. Elementary OS looks like a great option. It is a Linux (Ubuntu) distro, but it has the look and feel of a modern Mac OS without all the hoops to jump through.
Is anyone here using Elementary OS?
If I plan to use Linux (Elementary OS) only, will I need to do anything to run a different GPU? I know there are pages and pages of info on upgrading the GPU to work with newer MacOS, but with Linux is any of that required or is it plug and play?
I know it will never be a Gaming Beast or even come close to a newer computer, but I bought it just to have fun with. I have several other computers I use daily that are way more powerful. (M2 Max, i7-1185G7 and AMD Ryzen 7-5800XT)

 

[maflynn]

Why not get the password from the seller?

Is this the firmware password, or just an account userid/password? I don't believe there's any way to remove the firmware password - at least methods that don't break the rules here at MR.

Your best bet is to take it to an apple store with proof of payment, since this is a bought iMac, the original owner may need to be included in this process in some way or fashion.

 

[Oldmopars]

Why not get the password from the seller?

Is this the firmware password, or just an account userid/password? I don't believe there's any way to remove the firmware password - at least methods that don't break the rules here at MR.

Your best bet is to take it to an apple store with proof of payment, since this is a bought iMac, the original owner may need to be included in this process in some way or fashion.

No Password because I am buying it off Ebay, if the seller knew the password, he would have entered it and sold it for more money. I assume that he is a seller that got in a lot from a school or other business.
What do you mean "Break the rules"? I'm not trying to be difficult, but I don't understand what methods for fixing a computer would break the rules.
As I have no idea who the prior owner was, and they are likely from the same area as the computer, they would be living 2000 miles away. Getting them, even if I could find them, to an Apple store would cost way more than the iMac cost, by many times.
If there is a better site, group or forum that I can ask the question and not break the rules, I would appreciate you sharing that with me.

 

[!!!]

Sounds like you need to figure out if it just has a user account with a password the seller does not know, or if it is firmware locked. If it's just a user password, it doesn't matter, as you should be wiping the drive when you get it anyways. If it's a firmware password, then you'll have to figure out if it's possible to remove it.

 

[maflynn]

No Password because I am buying it off Ebay, if the seller knew the password, he would have entered it and sold it for more money. I assume that he is a seller that got in a lot from a school or other business.

So if the seller does not know the password, that would be a red flag for me. If its a school or business computer then it most likely has the MDM profile installed and I don't believe there's any way to circumvent the security but I'm not expert.

What do you mean "Break the rules"? I'm not trying to be difficult, but I don't understand what methods for fixing a computer would break the rules.

What I mean by breaking the rules - you're looking to bypass the existing security using hacks/cracks, that is something the moderators generally don't allow.

 

[Oldmopars]

So if the seller does not know the password, that would be a red flag for me. If its a school or business computer then it most likely has the MDM profile installed and I don't believe there's any way to circumvent the security but I'm not expert.



What I mean by breaking the rules - you're looking to bypass the existing security using hacks/cracks, that is something the moderators generally don't allow.
View attachment 2547463

OK, That is not what I was asking for. All I was asking is if installing a new HDD and battery would reset everything back to factory, or if it would still be locked out.
Getting computers with no passwords is not that odd. I bought some computers off of a guy, that got close to 100 computers from the local school district. None of them came with passwords, but they also came with no hard drives or OS. The government, Fed and Local, schools, big business sell pallets of computers all the time. While most have no hard drives, they also come with no passwords.
No password is not a Red Flag to me. I have 5 Mac Pros from Washington State University, came with stickers, what department, and "Hard Drives Removed" stickers. Again, no passwords, purchased from the source.

 

[Oldmopars]

BTW, I found this on the official Apple Community Support page, so it should not break any rules as it was straight from Apple. I will post it here to help others.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Do a PRAM reset to see whether your iMac has a firmware password.
Firmware password can be erased, but it requires reading/modifying/rewriting the firmware chip on the logicboard.
There are several videos on Youtube guiding the how-to.
Similar as the Basic Input-Output System (BIOS) password on PC, without the BIOS reset switch.

Admin password is (Mac, Windows, Linux etc.) Operating System level password and can be deleted with a clean re-partition/re-formatting/installation of a new OS to the disk. Physically replacing the disk will also be possible with old model iMacs.
It will be very interesting if you can really reset the admin password like the guideline you quoted.

 

[ToniCH]

It will be very interesting if you can really reset the admin password like the guideline you quoted.

I just did it couple of weeks ago to MBP 2010. Cannot remember if I gave it a new password in the terminal (#5) or just rebooted after resetpassword and went through the user setup during the first boot - but in the end I was able to enter, make myself the new admin and delete the old one. I've done it before with other machines too.

 

[Oldmopars]

We, as it turns out, the seller of the iMac had no idea what he was doing (No surprise). It was sold as a 2009 27in with Admin password loc parts only. However it showed a blank screen in the pictures.
It arrived last night and I was eager to get it set up. I plugged it in, it powered on and went to the screen showing the folder. It did not show a drive, so I opened it up and there is a 1tb drive. I formatted it and it was fine.
I rebooted into recovery mode, and then recovered from the internet. I was a bit surprised when it started to install High Sierra. No password lock, it just worked.
The seller was wrong, it is a 2011 with a Core i7 3.4GHz. I came with 16gb RAM, but I pulled it out and put it in my wives 2011 21.5in and I installed 32gb I bought just for this.
So, I now have a very nice 2011 27in i7 1tb with 32gb ram and I paid $130 including the cost of the ram.
I am very happy with that. Now that I know it is all good and works, I will get an SSD for the boot drive.
I also know it has the 3 pipe cooler, so I have to explore the nightmare of what GPU to install. I have read everything I can find on the GPU upgrade and I am more confused now that when I started.

 

[m1maverick]

I see the OP reported the issue ended up not being a firmware password issue. However, for future reference, I believe the firmware password can easily be reset, for many early model Intel systems, by:

• Removing the memory
• Reboot the computer with the COMMAND+OPTION+R+P to reset the PRAM
• Continue to hold down the key combination for the usual three chimes
• Reinstall the memory

I think that's the process.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I see the OP reported the issue ended up not being a firmware password issue. However, for future reference, I believe the firmware password can easily be reset, for many early model Intel systems, by:

• Removing the memory
• Reboot the computer with the COMMAND+OPTION+R+P to reset the PRAM
• Continue to hold down the key combination for the usual three chimes
• Reinstall the memory

I think that's the process.

I don't think the Firmware password can be removed by PRAM reset in your description.
I did it and the computer pop-up a box to key-in password.

 

[m1maverick]

I don't think the Firmware password can be removed by PRAM reset in your description.
I did it and the computer pop-up a box to key-in password.

The key is to remove the RAM.