My MBP doesn’t want to delete disk because Find My is active, and I can’t reinstall the OS. Help!

[felixroqu3]

I have a 15” 2018 MBP that I was trying to erase before trading it in at Apple. I restarted my computer while holding command + R. Went to disk utility, and erased Macintosh HD DATA, and then I tried to go to Macintosh HD to erase that as well *as per apples website* and it proceeded to ask me for my OLD iCloud email password. I changed my iCloud log-in email a long time ago, so I’m not sure why it’s on this computer. I tried putting in my current passwords and old ones, but none worked. I tried changing my current iCloud email log-in to the old one *an old gmail email address*, but couldn’t because apparently once you Start using your actual iCloud email as your main log-in, you can’t go back.
So now I tried to just reinstall the OS and it gave me an error. So I’m basically suck here. Also, I deleted the MBP from the Find My app on Apples website, but on my MBP its showing as if it’s still active. Not sure what to do anymore. Any suggestions?

 

[Velin]

Yes. Create a bootable USB Catalina install using another mac. Plug in the USB drive to your 2018 MBP. Restart your 2018 MBP, hold down the option key, and then when it asks you, select the Install Catalina USB. But don't install Catalina. FIRST, go to "Disk Utility," erase the 2018 MBP hard drive and all partitions, and then reformat using APFS if it's an SSD. And make sure you're erasing what I would call the top-level of the HD, not any of the partitions (or "containers" as Apple likes to call them with APFS). You want the whole thing wiped.

Do that, exit out of Disk Utility, then install Catalina on your newly-formatted SSD. And if it's not an SSD, but instead is a platter, use Extended Journaled.

 

[felixroqu3]

Yes. Create a bootable USB Catalina install using another mac. Plug in the USB drive to your 2018 MBP. Restart your 2018 MBP, hold down the option key, and then when it asks you, select the Install Catalina USB. But don't install Catalina. FIRST, go to "Disk Utility," erase the 2018 MBP hard drive and all partitions, and then reformat using APFS if it's an SSD. And make sure you're erasing what I would call the top-level of the HD, not any of the partitions (or "containers" as Apple likes to call them with APFS). You want the whole thing wiped.

Do that, exit out of Disk Utility, then install Catalina on your newly-formatted SSD. And if it's not an SSD, but instead is a platter, use Extended Journaled.

Thats where the problem lies, I can't erase the HD because its asking for me to input the password of my old gmail Apple ID to turn off Find My Mac. I changed that Apple ID to my @me email address long ago. So when i try to input my password, it says the apple id with the gmail address does not exist and rightfully so because i changed it. And there doesn't seem to be a way for me to put in a different email address.

 

[Velin]

Thats where the problem lies, I can't erase the HD because its asking for me to input the password of my old gmail Apple ID to turn off Find My Mac. I changed that Apple ID to my @me email address long ago. So when i try to input my password, it says the apple id with the gmail address does not exist and rightfully so because i changed it. And there doesn't seem to be a way for me to put in a different email address.

Read what you wrote:

I restarted my computer while holding command + R. Went to disk utility, and erased Macintosh HD DATA, and then I tried to go to Macintosh HD to erase that as well *as per apples website* and it proceeded to ask me for my OLD iCloud email password.

You booted your computer off the internal drive. I provided you with an entirely different procedure:

Plug in the USB drive to your 2018 MBP. Restart your 2018 MBP, hold down the option key, and then when it asks you, select the Install Catalina USB.

My suggestion is to NOT boot off your internal drive. Boot off a USB drive. This may make all the difference, because booting off the external drive will effectively bypass the security issue you have.

 

[ThirteenXIII]

You will have to use internet recovery shift command r

depending on the version of macOS you can erase your Mac completely at the language choose in recovery