Catch 22

[Peter Aretin]

I bought a refurbished Mac and when trying to launch it for the first time, Apple was very suspicious of my identity, and at one point asked me to enter a special code emailed to me. How can I retrieve the emailed code when I can't boot the system and configure Mail? Who thought this up?

 

[Lufbrarunner]

can you access the email on another device?

 

[Peter Aretin]

That's what I'm trying to do, but it gets hairy. Only one computer's mouse/keyboard can be plugged in at a time. The situation has now changed. I will now get a phone call with another secret code sometime in the next 22 hours. It's like a Monty Python skit.

 

[Peter Aretin]

I thought to retrieve my Apple ID PW from the PW safe on the old computer. This allowed me to actually log in! That got me to a page of Terms and Conditions. But the Agree button is grayed out. There's no way to advance past this screen. I think the OS on the machine is Mojave.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I realise that security is paramount but there should be protocols in place for situations like this.