{"id":39495,"date":"2023-05-24T15:53:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T19:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=39495"},"modified":"2023-07-11T14:58:20","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T18:58:20","slug":"old-macs-and-activation-lock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/24\/old-macs-and-activation-lock\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Macs and Activation Lock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brendan Nystedt<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Within the secondhand community, even Macs with soldered-down components are looked at as having value, and ingenious tinkerers are repairing, upgrading, and adding software support to old machines long after Apple moved on to something new.<\/p>

YouTuber Collin Mistr, known as dosdude1, demonstrates his skilled approach to upgrading and modifying older Macs on his channel<\/a>. The videos are far from polished but show off how modifications and soldered-on upgrades can give old Macs new life.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

As old Macs are dropped from Apple’s supported list, the Open Core Legacy Patcher<\/a> project swoops in, using tricks learned when running macOS on non-Apple hardware and gives its utilities away for free.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

A hard reality may be coming up for these savvy hardware and software hackers. With the advent of tighter security, things like Apple’s T1 and T2 chips, along with device management software, can turn older Macs into trash, with little hope of resuscitation or repair. “I know Apple claims [Activation Lock] is mostly for anti-theft, which it does prevent, but they try to hide from you that most locked devices you find out there, on eBay or in surplus sales, are locked not because they were stolen, but because the organization that had the devices didn’t know the lock exists in the first place,” opines Colin Mistr. “[Apple] doesn’t care…they’d rather the device be destroyed than reused.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Tom Shouler<\/a> (via Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Jordan works at a small business. On her first day, Jordan purchased a brand new MacBook at the Apple Store and signed into her personal iCloud account. A year later, Jordan enrolled the device in the company’s MDM solution, but shortly after that, she left the company and moved across the country for a new job. Jordan’s device was wiped two days after her last day, consistent with the company’s usual off-boarding procedures. A new hire replaced Jordan and was given that same MacBook a few weeks later, but the MacBook was Activation Locked behind Jordan’s iCloud account. The company reached out to Jordan for help, but she couldn’t remember the device password and felt uncomfortable sharing her personal iCloud credentials. The device was unable to be used, so it had to be eWasted.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

This is an unfortunate story, especially since MacBooks are not a trivial investment for most businesses. We’ve heard from many administrators who have been caught by surprise with Activation Lock and now own a $2,000 paperweight. It’s critical for any company that owns macOS devices to understand this risk.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

To best insulate your business from this pain, we recommend two things[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Activation Lock is tied to Find My, which I have always disabled because I’m more worried about remote wiping than losing my Mac. I kind of wish these settings weren’t all bundled together.<\/p>\n\n

Mr. Macintosh<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

You can remove the firmware password + erase all data on a 2018-2020 T2 Mac with Apple Configurator 2 (Does not remove Activation Lock)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n