On Jul 17, 2005, at 1:12 PM, Jim Scott wrote:
The only way to prove/disprove this theory about the physical
location of the Master Password is to replace the hard drive with
one that boots in another iMac. If the machine boots (either OS 9.x
or 10.x), then the FileVault password is contained in OS ROM in the
System Folder (OS 9.x) or in a file in the System (OS 10.x) folder.
I don't know if OS X continues the hardware ROM (logic board)/Mac
OS ROM (software) "New World" architecture of OS 9.x or not; lots
of digging around online couldn't get me an answer to that question.
But since Open Firmware master passwords don't work in OS 9, then a
substitute hard drive loaded with 9.1 or 9.2 should boot the
machine. From there, you could attempt an OS X install and then do
a reset of the Open Firmware password (if it indeed is stored in
the ROM on the logic board) by doing Command, Option, O, F while
booting, then typing reset-nvram, set-defaults, reset-all.
Open Firmware is in NVRAM, or non-volatile RAM and is what defines
New World machines. It activates before passing on the boot sequence
to the boot blocks on the hard disk. Open Firmware is used by Sun (in
Solaris) and is well documented on their site.
Also, OF is independent of OSX or OS9, and if an OF password is set
it will block the machine from booting from any external startup
volume (no CD/DVD, no Firewire Target Disk Mode, no NetBoot).
OF is written in Forth and is actually quite extensive, but I've
never been able to find good documentation on Apple's site. From
Terminal type apropos Open Firmware and you'll get many references.
Also, you can see all the commands in OF by booting a New World Mac
into Open Firmware (Cmd-Opt-O-F) and when the OF prompt comes up type
"words". The resulting list is long.
An earlier poster said this worked for him, and indeed is one of
the "Open Firmware Tricks" I found during a Google search.
This is the best source of info.
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