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brentonstrine
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Joined: 03 Feb 2013
Posts: 5
Location: United States
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 Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 6:10 pm Post subject: Mac just arrived in mail! But it has a user/password. |
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My Mac Mini just arrived from eBay, but when I turned it on, it goes to the login screen for "John" and wants a password.
How do I delete the old user and all their files, etc to start over?
I don't have install discs, etc, which wouldn't matter anyway since the Mac Mini has no disc drive! 
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Edit: just discovered that the disc is encrypted! Gah. |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
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Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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brentonstrine
New Member
Joined: 03 Feb 2013
Posts: 5
Location: United States
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| Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, I just did a lot of crazy hacky things (some of it with an Apple support technician who didn't seem to care that I was trying to break into a computer without a password, surprised me!) and after deleting Bootcamp and a bunch of other stuff, the original owner got back to me with the password, so I was able to log in and create an admin account.
Nice!
So my question is what should I do to wipe out the old stuff? Seems that the old user may have been a "power user" and done lots of modifications to the OS, etc. Is a new user enough, or do I need to reinstall anything to get the system clean? |
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Smithcraft
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Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 3011
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:58 am Post subject: |
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You would be better off by doing a clean install.
What type of mini is it?
SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.
[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8
[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)
Make sure it has pins! |
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macmanmacman
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Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Posts: 1682
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:09 am Post subject: |
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| yea clean install it because you dont want to get busted for piracy and a lot of apple sellers on ebay like to load pirated software and sell it to suckers not saying you are one but most ebay sellers do this and don't really care i would go to apple and purchase mountain lion on a usb thumb stick so you have a good working reinstallation media vs not having one |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5793
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| macmanmacman wrote: | | yea clean install it because you dont want to get busted for piracy and a lot of apple sellers on ebay like to load pirated software and sell it to suckers not saying you are one but most ebay sellers do this and don't really care i would go to apple and purchase mountain lion on a usb thumb stick so you have a good working reinstallation media vs not having one |
Why is this necessary? What's wrong with using the recovery partition that is on the HD?
We are talking about Lion or Mountain Lion already installed? Correct? |
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macmanmacman
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Joined: 25 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:10 am Post subject: |
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| the recovery partition connects to the app store to verify if you legally purchased the software through the app store if it cannot verify the software with the app store it will not install and tell you to purchase a legal copy |
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Bandit Bill
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5793
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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| macmanmacman wrote: | | the recovery partition connects to the app store to verify if you legally purchased the software through the app store if it cannot verify the software with the app store it will not install and tell you to purchase a legal copy |
Interesting.
I've only had the opportunity to half partake in restoring one of the demo models on our sales floor. It had ML preinstalled. We never had to do this. The machine never had an account set up.
I thought it only needs to connect to the Internet to do updates.
What if you've never set up an Apple ID or if you purchased Lion on a USB stick.. Is apple going to force you to set up an account and agree to their terms and conditions? What if you are working out of town in the bush and you don't have an internet connection?
I'm going to have a chat with our techs after lunch. |
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macmanmacman
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Joined: 25 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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| No the usb sticks and the network installation from one mac to another dont require this step if the copy was purchased from the app store and you try to use the recovery partition on that machine it ask's you to log into to verify the download which is a real pain in the can |
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