Oh so now apple should stop what they're doing because you made a mistake.
It’s not beyond possibility. Time Machine is pretty shaky at the best of times, I could totally see it locking you out if you tried to restore to a corrupt backup.
Security questions? You really should upgrade your Apple ID to use 2FA. Much more secure, and they no longer use the security questions.
It’s generally not a good idea to close an email account, even if you never plan on using it again. Once it’s closed, it’s nearly impossible, it at all, to get back.
nice joke man, nice joke
That's a lie (by omission) - he didn't fail any system password attempt
I believe the reference to the Apple ID is that he can log into his Apple account and disable the activation lock himself. The problem is he can't log into his Apple account for the myriad of reasons he's provided.That sounds really screwed up, sorry to hear that.
Where does the Apple ID come into all this - is that T2 special sauce or something that only gets hooked up if you follow the macOS install procedure to the letter? I always skip any iCloud stuff and try to stay as offline as possible when setting up.
I also never fill in security answers in earnest and nobody gets mom's actual maiden name so this sounds like it would really bite me too.
Windows 11 Home forces the user to use an online account. You can still use an offline account with Windows 11 Pro.
11 Pro is soon going to require an account too. If that happens only Linux and macOS have the option of not signing in to any account.
if the machine is activation locked and you need it to boot into recovery mode to reinstal the OS, when you press command + R, the machine starts to POST and you are displayed with a world icon and a drop down list of wifi hot spots to connect to. It will not let you go any further if you do not select a wifi point to connect to. Once you've selected the wifi point from the list and entered the password for that wifi, if the machine is activation locked it was ask you for your Apple ID. I have done this on at least 4 2019 macbooks where the company was told they were clean when in fact they wasn't. We sent them back to the company we bought them from. Once you've entered a successful Apple ID it then loads up OS recovery.That sounds really screwed up, sorry to hear that.
Where does the Apple ID come into all this - is that T2 special sauce or something that only gets hooked up if you follow the macOS install procedure to the letter? I always skip any iCloud stuff and try to stay as offline as possible when setting up.
I also never fill in security answers in earnest and nobody gets mom's actual maiden name so this sounds like it would really bite me too.
I guess you'd have to prove ownership of the computer to Apple to make them unlock it? Purchase receipt and a trip to the genius bar.
Btw. @andyherman : since you mention HP workstations: careful with Windows in that regard too. If your accounts are created online like MS wants you to then they too can lock you out of your machine in similar fashion. I had to disconnect ethernet during install to force an offline user in W10, apparently in W11 it's currently unavoidable though.
that would be like car owners breaking their key in the door lock and then blaming the car manufacturers or home owners breaking the key to their front door and blaming the door maker. Humans eh, many not being able to take responsibility for their own actions.
You forgot the 'I closed the email account linked to my Apple ID a couple of months ago'. Bet that's Apple's fault too.
This would be a disappointment and would result in my discontinuing to use Windows.
No, it would not. The way it was described by the OP there are two different issues:
Reading the OP's main post again it is 100% the OP's fault because the OP said he researched what the circle icon was and said it was was due to the machine being 'Activation locked'. This is not the case and proven by the links I provided in one of my posts. I have just done the same, researched what the circle symbol is, typed into google the wording the OP used to describe what was on the screen such as 'mac os circle with a slash through it' the first google hit you get is one from apple support telling you that it is a mac OS issue, not a hardware one. Even the next few hits down the list the websites say it is a mac os startup issue. More so, from the search results I looked at the first 3 pages and not one mentions anything to do with activation lock. So where the OP got the idea that the circle is something to do with activiation lock I have no idea. This is the 100% OP's fault.
