Macbook Air can't go into recovery mode

[TerraMati]

Hello, I recently bought a 2011 11' Macbook Air. The person that sold me it has forgot to remove the password so I messaged him to ask what it was. No reply yet. The MacBook has an unsupported OS on it (Mojave), the guy probably used some kind of patcher like dosdude's. But the point is I tried to get into recovery mode by holding Power + Command + R and it shows a circle with a line through it. I know that it means an unsupported OS but if I can't get into recovery mode I can't really reinstall MacOS. I am still waiting for the reply from the seller but I still need help with the recovery mode.

 

[raythompsontn]

I am still waiting for the reply from the seller

Good luck. If the seller does not respond, congratulations on your new paper weight. What are the chances you purchased a stolen device? Probably high.

 

[TerraMati]

I actually figured out a way to change the password. As I said before I couldn't get into recovery mode but the internet recovery mode worked and after typing resetpassword in terminal I changed the password to my password. Turns out there's no iCloud account.

 

[raythompsontn]

I actually figured out a way to change the password.

Glad you got it work. Does not seem like a very secure system if the password can be easily retrieved, or reset, via the internet. I would like to think if my device got stolen it would be locked out for good to keep the nefarious cretin from acquiring something for which they were not entitled. Maybe things would be different if there was an iCloud account associated with the device.

 

[chrfr]

Glad you got it work. Does not seem like a very secure system if the password can be easily retrieved, or reset, via the internet. I would like to think if my device got stolen it would be locked out for good to keep the nefarious cretin from acquiring something for which they were not entitled. Maybe things would be different if there was an iCloud account associated with the device.

This is where firmware passwords and FileVault matter. Without those, then when someone has physical access to the computer, they'll almost always be able to access the data on the computer.

 

[MBAir2010]

I have recovered many MacBooks from this era
what I would do is instal that USB that came with the MacBook Air
I think one with Lion.
then plug that in, restart holding the option key down
then reinstall LION OSX
that will erase everything and install LION
then go to ELCap
them Mojave or High Sierra
then:
enjoy your new MacBook Air 2011!