Macworld - USA (2022-01)

110 MACWORLD JANUARY 2022

HELPDESK MAC 911

enter your password incorrectly three
times before a prompt appears.
Now, depending on your choice in
setting up FileVault, you will see one of
several options (the text may vary in
Mojave and earlier releases of macOS):
iCloud escrow: If you chose to store
your key in iCloud during FileVault setup,
the sentence above continues, ellipsis and
all, “...reset it using your Apple ID.” Click
the right-pointing arrow and follow the
steps provided to log into the iCloud
account associated with this Mac. This will
recover your key, unlock the drive, and let
you reset your account password.
You kept the Recovery Key: If you
opted to write down the Recovery Key, the
text will continue as “...reset it using your
Recovery Key.” Click the right-
pointing arrow and then enter your
Recovery Key, omitting the
hyphens—macOS adds them
automatically. When you’ve
correctly entered it, your drive is
unlocked, and you can reset your
account password.
Apple notes that in some
cases, which the company doesn’t
define, you might see the text
“Restart and show password reset
options.” If so, click the right-
pointing triangle. After your Mac
restarts, you’ll be asked for either
an Apple ID login or your

Recovery Key as above. Instead of first

selecting a user and then entering that

information, in this mode you enter your

recovery details first and then select the

user for which you’re resetting the

password to regain access.

If none of the above works, you can try

using macOS Recovery.

Recover via macOS Recovery

The Reset Password assistant is one of the

last resorts to resetting a password with

FileVault enabled.

The process differs by processor. With

an Intel Mac:

1.Restart or press the power button

and then hold down Command-R until the

Apple logo appears and the progress bar

The Reset Password assistant is one of the last resorts

for resetting a password with FileVault enabled.