It IS Activation Locked. I got the circle with a slash through it, went to the web to see what that meant and it said I needed to do a restore (Command - R). Since I wasn't able to log into my Apple ID, the only option was to erase the drive and do a restore over the net. I did that screen showed a spinning globe and went through a countdown, then asked for my Apple ID and password but since my Apple ID is locked (email was closed and although I did find my Apple ID password in Chrome, I still cannot log in). The only options were send an email or answer the security questions.
The normal recovery mode ( Command - R ) is not going to ask for your Apple ID. If filevault is turned on then it can ask for an admin user for that Mac before recovery starts. If don't know that password and try to "reset the password" with AppleID ( as opposed to recovery key) then there is an Apple ID authentication involved.
There is narrow chance there is another 'bad practice' here and the Mac Pro 7,1 was set up with an macOS that has been rolled up since the era where Apple had 'bright idea' to let folks log into their Macs using their AppleID ( instead of a local account. Windows has a similar mode ).
In that case, it initially wouldn't have been the AppleID (just looked like it) , but root cause problem boiled up because went into password recovery ( which is technically different than the nominal Cmd-R recovery ).
Disk Utility was not an option after doing the Command - R startup. The only option was to Erase the disk and do an internet system recovery, which I did.
That isn't correct. Disk Utility is part of the normal recovery mode.
"...
Apps available in macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac
The following apps are available in macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac:
...
- Disk Utility: Repair or erase your disk. In the Recovery app, select Disk Utility, then click Continue. To return to the Recovery app, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility. See Erase and reinstall macOS.
..."
Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support
I don't thin the 7,1 can do "Internet recovery" , but there is a cmd-option-R ( or cmd-option-shift-R ) to reinstall a some version straight from Apple's side ( where get a subset of the normal Recovery mode ).
After doing the Internet System recovery you have to enter your Apple ID and Password, which again is locked or have an email sent or answer the security questions. (I did set up a new Apple ID with my gmail account but I can't "Add" my Mac Pro to the new account. Also, If I try to log into my Apple ID on my 2009 Mac Pro I get a different set of security questions than I do when I try to log into my 2019 Mac Pro - WHY is that?)
You can't securely "attach" a Mac remotely to a random Apple ID. Apple has to know that you have ownership possession of the Apple device to assign it to your AppleID. ( or that you/organization clearly purchased the Apple device. There is MDM management ways of doing deployment. )
The core issue is that you have screwed up your AppleID account. Your Time Machine restore pragmatically borked the drive. (if regular Cmd-R doesn't work anymore than damaged the recovery OS image in the AFPS . A small contributing factor is Apple puts the recovery image inside the APFS container. Not on a seperate partition that isn't touched by a Time Machine restore. ). The secure lock that the T2 has on this is a secondary issue.
I NEVER enabled "Find My" and yes, after it does the internet recovery it asks for my Apple ID.
Pragmatically, probably not true. Every time you do a substantive macOS upgrade or update the installation process asks for your AppleID. And Apple tends to ask if they can set Apple service setting things up for you. So first, this notion that you can ignore the decayed status of your AppleID is loopy. If Apple is asking for this over and over again, then it is probably worth paying some responsible attention to it. ( Even if you skip the AppleID at install , the OS will nag about "you should be using your AppleID " at numerous points after install in a modern macOS. )
Even if you say "skip" at install Apple tends to make changes to the Apple service settings. Even more so if do that 'blind' AppleID authentication at install. [ I always skipped AppleID at install and still will find Apple cloud services settings changed after a install or account migration. You should check your cloud service settings after every major upgrade. ]
The fact is you never gave your Mac Pro your AppleID then it never could have passed your AppleID to the Apple to put it on the locked list. Decent chance, your Mac Pro was at least made a "Trusted device" attached to your AppleID.
(whether it was done at this upgrade or previously it was attached. ). Similarly with the T2... must have given the T2 the AppleID at some point or else it couldn't use it as a authentication token for it.
