Air keeps wifi password even if disk wiped???

[OSMac]

The new Air reinstall process is interesting,
the system seems to retain your wifi password
even if you wipe the OSX partition...

Deleted the users accounts, cleared the auto connect wifi setting.
Reboot Cmd R, to recovery utility and wiped the main partition.

Rebooted held nothing ... to a flashing question mark.

Rebooted option held down ... to a prompt for selecting wifi/password which I ignored

Rebooted Cmd R held ...
A spinning globe pops up, and it tells me
'Starting the recovery process from network this may take a while'
I confirmed on my router it was connecting
after the globe stopped spinning (5-10 minutes), it ran the recovery utility.

How was it downloading with a wiped partition and no wifi password entered?

 

[OSMac]

No concerns that wiping the boot partition leaves your wifi password on the system?

 

[dekadent]

The new Air reinstall process is interesting,
the system seems to retain your wifi password
even if you wipe the OSX partition...

Deleted the users accounts, cleared the auto connect wifi setting.
Reboot Cmd R, to recovery utility and wiped the main partition.

Rebooted held nothing ... to a flashing question mark.

Rebooted option held down ... to a prompt for selecting wifi/password which I ignored

Rebooted Cmd R held ...
A spinning globe pops up, and it tells me
'Starting the recovery process from network this may take a while'
I confirmed on my router it was connecting
after the globe stopped spinning (5-10 minutes), it ran the recovery utility.

How was it downloading with a wiped partition and no wifi password entered?

My experience is that Wi-Fi password is stored in PRAM, but I cannot find any documentation to support this. When I reinstalled my Air with Lion I reset both SMC and PRAM after wiping the disk entirely clean, and my Wi-Fi password was not remembered.

 

[wolfenkraft]

My experience is that Wi-Fi password is stored in PRAM, but I cannot find any documentation to support this. When I reinstalled my Air with Lion I reset both SMC and PRAM after wiping the disk entirely clean, and my Wi-Fi password was not remembered.

I've heard this. Like the OP, I used the recovery thing and reinstalled a fresh lion, and the recovery partition knew my wifi pw and autoselected my normal wifi router.

On another new mba, I used disc utility to wipe the osx partition, and then recover just to see how it works and same thing, it knew my router and pw and selected it.

 

[OSMac]

So if you sell your Air the buyer has free Wifi at your house for life?

Guess the remembered password only works in the reinstall process?

How do you clear SMC and PRAM on the new Airs?

 

[aristobrat]

How do you clear SMC and PRAM on the new Airs?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

 

[Ztormie]

So if you sell your Air the buyer has free Wifi at your house for life?

Guess the remembered password only works in the reinstall process?

How do you clear SMC and PRAM on the new Airs?

Wouldn't it be easier to just change the password?

 

[OSMac]

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Thanks, it fully reset now to stock.