i just bought a new 2015 MBP 13" and it came with Yosemite which I used for a few days. I attempted to perform a clean install of El Cap from a USB stick. I booted from the USB, erased the Macintosh HD and renamed it the same, then installed El Cap from the USB. However, when it booted up, it asked me for my iCloud credentials. I entered it in, and then it said everything was setup. All my trackpad settings and wifi network from Yosemite automatically appeared in this supposedly fresh El Cap install. How did these settings show up in my clean install? I would have expected to have had to re-enter everything just as I had when I first used the MBP.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Performed a "clean" install but all my settings remained?
- Thread starter acribb
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Are you sure that your trackpad settings were different? Wi-Fi settings can be synced with iCloud Keychain, so if you turned that one on it will add your saved Wi-Fi networks. iCloud may sync some settings that aren’t immediately obvious, like keyboard text replacements.
I'm absolutely positive.
Is there some kind of hidden partition on the SSD that would have saved this information that I didn't erase?
While I don't know all the details, I do know that when iCloud is enabled, it's used for quite a bit in addition to the stuff you explicitly send to it (i.e. it does stuff in the background that you aren't aware of). I'm guessing the settings of your previous installation were saved to iCloud and automatically retrieved on your new installation when you logged in.
If you don't want it importing your setting like that, just skip signing into iCloud during setup (just set it up later in system preferences). Also, some settings could potentially be saved to the EFI.
If you don't want it importing your setting like that, just skip signing into iCloud during setup (just set it up later in system preferences). Also, some settings could potentially be saved to the EFI.