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A2115 / 2020 / Processors from 3.1 GHz 6-core i5, up to 3.8 GHz 8-core i7. Released August 4, 2020.

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No Administrator Account - iMac Totally Erased

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My iMac has been totally wiped, it has no Administrator account and I am unable to change the security settings so I can boot from an external disk.

1. It will not boot in to single user mode using command + S

2. I can get into Disk Utility to erase the hard drive and use terminal.

3. I have tried to install from the internet using option-shift-command-R and it starts to install Catalina but fails and says it has encountered an error.

4. I took the iMac to an Apple Reseller Store as they would have better access to Apple Servers, they tried to install OS Sonoma over the internet but it came back with an error.

5. Tried deleting AppleSetupDone in Disk Utility/Terminal but it says no such file.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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What is your drive? Is it a HDD or SSD or a Fusion Drive?

Are you able to setup an external bootable drive so we can run Disk Utilities.

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4 Comments:

The drive is a soldered SSD. I can get to disk utilities but not from an external drive because of the security settings, which I can't change because there is no Administrator account.

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@thomasaj - Ouch! You’ll need to get the system into DFU mode using a second system connected via a Thunderbolt3 cable. Best to bring the system into an real Apple Store as it’s a bit tricky. I’m surprised the Apple dealer didn’t try that.

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Hi, I have another iMac, which is a 2021 M1. what's the procedure.

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Thomas AJ will be eternally grateful.
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