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I would like to set a firmware password on my MacBook Pro, but I only run Linux on it. I know I could download a macOS installer and use that to set the firmware password without installing macOS, but it would be a lot easier simply to set the password from Linux.

Is it possible to set the Mac firmware password from Linux? If so, how?

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  • Have you already tried booting into macOS recovery to use the firmware password tool available there?
    – Nic
    Mar 9, 2020 at 16:15
  • @Nic I wiped that a long time ago.
    – Billy
    Mar 9, 2020 at 23:39
  • But internet recovery should still work even after wiping that partition. What model year of MacBook Pro is this?
    – Nic
    Mar 9, 2020 at 23:47
  • @Nic Mid-2012 (MacBookPro9,2)
    – Billy
    Mar 9, 2020 at 23:48

1 Answer 1

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No, I'm not aware of any software for Linux that allows you to change the EFI firmware password on your Mac.

If you have a recent Mac that supports internet recovery you can reboot straight into internet recovery mode, even if the boot disk has been formatted or overwritten. Once you've booted into a recovery environment, you should be able to use the firmware password tool.

If you have an earlier Mac, then your best bet is to find another working Mac and create a bootable installer to get into recovery mode without needing to overwrite your Linux installation.

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  • Your Internet recovery suggestion worked, so I didn't have to create any install media or use another Mac (which made things a lot easier). Thanks a lot.
    – Billy
    Mar 10, 2020 at 0:52
  • @Billy awesome. Glad I was able to help.
    – Nic
    Mar 10, 2020 at 0:54
  • /usr/sbin/firmwarepasswd is the command line tool on macOS to set firmware password. Maybe tracing or disassembling this can help make a similar tool for Linux.
    – Nic
    Mar 26, 2020 at 15:33

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