What Is A Recovery Key On Mac

1. What Is A Recovery Key On Mac Hard Drive
2. Mac Recovery Key Commands
3. What Is A Recovery Key On Mac

You can find encryption recovery keys.

You can get a device encryption recovery key by entering a volume or recovery identifier.

Retrieve recovery key (Windows computers)

Mac Recovery Mode is a special mode in macOS that loads native recovery tools that help you restore from a Time Machine backup, get help online, reinstall macOS, or erase a hard disk, and more.

• The standard recovery mode on your Mac is just called the recovery mode and it has all the basic utilities for formatting or reinstalling a new version of macOS on your Mac. This mode does not require you to be connected to the Internet as it loads-up locally on your machine.
• The key was displayed for you when you set up FileVault 2. See OS X Lion- About FileVault 2. I believe the key is unique, so if you lose yours then all the data you've encrypted is lost.

If users are unable to log in to their encrypted computer, you can get a recovery key which is used to unlock the computer. There is a recovery key for each volume of a BitLocker protected computer. It is created and backed up in Sophos Central before the computer is encrypted.

To get the recovery key, go to Computers, select the computer you want to recover, and click More > Retrieve Recovery Key. If you cannot find the computer in the list, you need the recovery key identifier or the volume identifier and use it in the recovery wizard, as follows:

1. Tell the user to restart the computer and press the Esc key in the BitLocker logon screen.
2. Ask the user to provide you with the information displayed in the BitLocker recovery screen.
3. In Sophos Central, go to Computers and click More > Retrieve Recovery Key.
4. Enter at least five characters of the recovery key identifier or the volume identifier provided by the user.
5. Click Show Key to display the recovery key.
   Note If you enter a volume identifier, Sophos Central displays all available recovery keys for this volume. The latest recovery key is the top one.
6. Make sure that the user is authorized to access the encrypted device before you provide the recovery key.
   Note As soon as a recovery key is displayed to you as administrator, it is marked as used and will be replaced at the next synchronization.
7. Give the recovery key to the user.

The user can now unlock the computer. Users of computers running Windows 8 or later are prompted to create a new PIN or password. Instructions for creating the PIN or password are displayed automatically.

What Is A Recovery Key On Mac Hard Drive

After the computer has been recovered, a new recovery key will be created and backed up in Sophos Central. The old one will be deleted from the computer.

Retrieve recovery key (Macs)

If users forget their login password, you can get a recovery key which is used to unlock the computer.

To get the recovery key, go to Computers, select the computer you want to recover, and click More > Retrieve Recovery Key. If you cannot find the computer in the list, you need the recovery key identifier or the volume identifier and use it in the recovery wizard, as follows:

1. Tell the user to switch on their computer and wait until the Recovery Key ID is displayed.
   Note The recovery key ID is displayed for a short time. To display it again, users must restart their computer.
2. Ask the user to tell you the Recovery Key ID.
3. In Sophos Central, go to Computers and click More > Retrieve Recovery Key.
4. Enter at least five characters of the recovery key identifier.
5. Click Show Key to display the recovery key.
6. Make sure that the user is authorized to access the encrypted device before you provide the recovery key.
7. Give the recovery key to the user.
   • For users imported from Active Directory, continue to step 8.
   • For all other users, go straight to step 10.
8. Reset the existing password in Active Directory. Then generate a preliminary password and give it to the user.
9. Tell the user to click Cancel in the Reset Password dialog and enter the preliminary password instead.
10. Tell the user to do as follows:
    • Create a new password.
    • Click Create New Keychain if prompted.

The user can access the computer again.

No new recovery key is created. The existing recovery key remains valid.

This is a good article to bookmark from Apple – I wasn't aware that there were different keyboard shortcuts to boot into the macOS Recovery system, and which keyboard shortcut you use will (potentially) give you different versions of macOS installed on your drive.

The usual one is ⌘-R – this will boot into Recovery and install the latest version of maOS that you had installed on your Mac. I believe this means if you had, for example, High Sierra, but hadn't upgraded it all the way to 10.13.6, you will get 10.13.6 installed, I don't think it will install an earlier release of High Sierra for you.

Mac Recovery Key Commands

Opt-⌘-R is the interesting one, as this will install the latest version of macOS that will work on your Mac. And Shift-Opt-⌘-R will install the version of macOS that your Mac originally shipped with, provided it's still available from Apple.

To start up from macOS Recovery, turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold one of the following combinations on your keyboard. Safari update for mac os x 10 4 11. Command-R is generally recommended, especially if you never installed macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later. Mac studio fix nc 46.

Command (⌘)-R – Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.

Option-⌘-R – Upgrade to the latest macOS compatible with your Mac.

Shift-Option-⌘-R – Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.

What Is A Recovery Key On Mac

Source: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery – Apple Support