# Older iMac preservation



## lawmom (Apr 24, 2014)

I bought a used iMac from a resale warehouse ( think a step up from a garage sale) and while it works beautifully, generally speaking, I cannot save anything- updates, software, etc. Nothing. I cannot turn it off or I lose everything. Apparently when the previous owner wiped the drive they failed to remove the admin passwords. I spoke with Apple but since I am not the original owner nor did I purchase from authorized dealer, aside from its age, they won't touch it. 
I was wondering what parts can I replace to remove the current admin passwords and preserve the computer for myself? Do I remove the memory? New hard drive? It won't even let me update the OS without the password. This limits some of the things I can do more each day. Otherwise its a beautiful machine- color is great, audio, video streams better than my laptop, it doesn't lag at all. Its a 2010 iMac 27" OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
Any guidance and or ideas are welcome. Thank you


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

If the drive was truly wiped, there should be no admin passwords.

Used computers should always be completely reformatted - everything goes and os and software reinstalled from scratch.

I don't know macs well but you probably need an os install CD and it would give the option of reformatting/partitioning the drive.

10 year old hard drive used in a mac is likely slow ready to go - i would replace it with a cheap ssd.

Trouble is imacs are hard to work on, i believe the screen glass has to be removed to get in for service but not 100% sure.


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## lawmom (Apr 24, 2014)

Even with the CD I'm going to have the password situation because I'd be making changes to the computer. 
It won't let me access any of the recovery remedies that would reset password either. I attempted the obvious remedies with phone tech support and it was concluded the previous owner did not remove the passwords in vault I believe the program is called. No I cannot remove any of the security software because it requires an admin password to make changes. 
Believe it or not, this thing runs pretty fast. When I do shut it off (after I transfer my stuff to external hard drive) when it boots up again it does it in under a minute. 
Thank you though for your input!


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## user_12345a (Nov 23, 2014)

The OS CD should be bootable - you should be able to bypass the installed os, restart and run off the cd and do a reformat/reinstall.

Your mac may have a recovery partition, allowing for quick restoration to factory state without CD. Brand name PCs have you hit a specific f key on bootup to do a system reset to factory state and I'm sure macs are similar.

You can probably find youtube videos showing how to do this all. I couldn't tell you, not being a mac user.

The idea is not to get the password, it's to start with a completely clean slate.


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## lawmom (Apr 24, 2014)

You are correct that there is a recovery partition- however, for some reason it does ask for admin password and will not allow me to access recovery without it. 
That is why I'm trying to find out if it is the hard drive, memory, or whatever that I can replace to get that 'clean slate'
Whatever or wherever the former admin password settings exist in I want to replace that part to rid myself of this issue.


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## iamrfixit (Jan 30, 2011)

My guess is you are logging into the computer as a guest user? The guest account doesn't let you save anything or modify the computer.

There is no hardware parts to replace that will fix this. You could replace the hard drive but then the OS will be gone and you have to start over. As mentioned, changing the drive is fairly involved. If opening the case is done incorrectly it can cause serious damage.

The only hardware related password I can think of would be a firmware password. With that enabled you can't even boot the machine without the password. Anything else is going to be software related. You may be able to just reset the admin password, here is a link to try that. To do this you must boot directly into the recovery partition at startup.

If this process doesn't work you'll probably need to wipe the drive and start over. First you need to download a version of Mac OS. Since all macs are made by apple and include the operating system, the OS download is provided free. 

You will need to create a bootable USB stick or usb drive, follow this link for both download links and instructions. In this case you would boot the machine from the alternate drive and then completely wipe the internal hard drive to install a new operating system. You then setup the computer as if it were new, any software programs or files that were on the computer before will be gone.


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## adamz (May 13, 2018)

Step 1:
Insert the Mac OS X install disc and restart your computer while holding down the C key on your keyboard, so the Mac boots from the install disc.
Step 2:
Double-click the “Install Mac OS X” icon.
Step 3:
There will be an opportunity to click an “Options” button to save existing files, a setting to “Archive and Install” and “Preserve Users and Network Settings.” However, if you want to erase everything and reinstall, select “Erase and Install.” From here the install disk should guide you through the reformatting process.


Do the above steps work?


https://www.geek.com/apple/geek-101-how-to-format-a-mac-hard-drive-1485995/


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