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EFI - Firmware Password

Y

yochiii

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 26, 2020
5
2
My father accidentally locked the system by entering the password wrong many times (or so he told me), and upon doing a quick google search I found myself flooded with what I would say were scams on how to unlock it.

We only have two Apple Stores near us and they are closed due the pandemic.

Questions:

1) Is Apple my only option to unlock the MacBook?

2) Can it be unlocked without receipt?
he bought it around 6 - 7 years ago and he doesn't have any proof of payment anymore


Thank you


efi.jpg
 
He entered the macOS login too many times?

The screenshot is not a result too many log in attempts on macOS afaik. The screen is asking for an EFI password. Here's a tutorial on how to turn it on: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455#turnon, turn if off: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455#turnoff.

If the MacBook is not running a recent OS, you may be able to remove the lock by removing one of the ram sticks and booting the machine.

If that doesn't work, you would need to have it removed using an EFI programmer.
 
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Audit13 said:
The screenshot is not a result too many log in attempts on macOS afaik. The screen is asking for an EFI password.
Click to expand...

Well that's interesting.

Yea, he told me he turned on the laptop at night without wearing his glasses, apparently entered it wrong many times and that's where he ended.

Now that's his story, I don't know if something else could've happened.

What else could put him there?

Audit13 said:
If the MacBook is not running a recent OS, you may be able to remove the lock by removing one of the ram sticks and booting the machine.
Click to expand...

Last time I updated it was a year ago, to the most recent OS (at the time)
 
yochiii said:
Well that's interesting.

Yea, he told me he turned on the laptop at night without wearing his glasses, apparently entered it wrong many times and that's where he ended.

Now that's his story, I don't know if something else could've happened.

What else could put him there?



Last time I updated it was a year ago, to the most recent OS (at the time)
Click to expand...
I know people who have also forgotten their OS login password but I've never seen a situation where it causes the EFI password screen to appear.

I know of no way to get that EFI password screen to appear other than setting a password in recovery.

Is he the original owner? Has he loaned it out?

Removing the ram trick isn't going to work. Each OS update will sometimes contain a rom update and Apple eventually patched this trick.
 
Last edited:
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Audit13 said:
I know people who have also forgotten their OS login password but I've never seen a situation where it causes the EFI password screen to appear.

I know of no way what to get that EFI password screen to appear other than setting a password in recovery.
Click to expand...

Any idea how he could have ended there? like, what triggers the EFI?

He is the original owner, bought it around 2013 - 2014 I believe

Chances are I setup the EFI password a year ago when I updated the OS (moved everything to an SSD), and if I did... I don't remember it :(
 
yochiii said:
Any idea how he could have ended there? like, what triggers the EFI?

He is the original owner, bought it around 2013 - 2014 I believe

Chances are I setup the EFI password a year ago when I updated the OS (moved everything to an SSD), and if I did... I don't remember it :(
Click to expand...
From my own personal experience, setting the EFI password isn't something that can be done unknowingly because you need to be in recovery mode and select the correction option to set the password rather than the OS. As further confirmation, a user is asked to enter the password twice.

Have you tried all passwords that may have been used?

If you purchased the MacBook directly from Apple or purchased AppleCare+ for it, they may have a record of the purchase and accept that as proof of ownership.
 
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Audit13 said:
From my own personal experience, setting the EFI password isn't something that can be done unknowingly because you need to be in recovery mode and select the correction option to set the password rather than the OS
Click to expand...

Yea I was there in recovery mode when I was setting up the SSD, so chances are I did set it up without really knowing what it was for... facepalm, We are going to try a couple passwords that I could've used


Audit13 said:
If you purchased the MacBook directly from Apple or purchased AppleCare+ for it, they may have a record of the purchase and accept that as proof of ownership.
Click to expand...

It was purchased directly from Apple, so I guess if everything else fail we just gotta wait for them to open


Thank you Audit :)
 
Now that you have it working again, REMOVE the firmware password.
They're nothing but trouble unless one has good reason to have one implemented.
 
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