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Achiever

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 23, 2008
536
214
A family member has an old MBA they are passing along. It was apparently functional, just old, but the family member does not recall their log in information. I would like to repurpose the machine for other family members to use. I do not need to retrieve ANY of the data on the machine, just wipe the drive and start it anew. Suggestions on the best way to accomplish this without being able to log in? TIA.
 
Use another Mac to download and create an OS USB installer.

Depending on the Macbook, you may be able to boot into Internet recovery to wipe and re-install the OS.
So, the booting into internet recovery mode worked, but for some reason it only installed OS X Lion on the machine (it is a 2011 model, as it turns out). Running software update doesn't allow for the option to upgrade OSes, despite the machine being eligible for High Sierra, and the App Store only offers Mojave, which won't work on that machine. Suggestions appreciated.
 
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