recovery mode ask for a password

Did you have FileVault switched on?

Can you boot into Single User Mode (hold cmd+s at startup until you see scrolling white text)?

No FileVault was not activated

When booting is single mode I get also the locker icon and ask for password also.

tested all these combinaisons :

Command-R Boot to OS X Recovery Mode : ----> Locker icon ask password

Alt/Option Access Mac Startup Manager: ----> Locker icon ask password

C Boot to CD, DVD, or USB : ----> "?" Icon

N NetBoot : ----> "?" Icon

Shift Safe Boot : ----> "?" Icon

Command-V Verbose Mode : ----> "?" Icon

Command-S Single User Mode : ----> "?" Icon

Command-Option-P-R Reset PRAM : ----> "?" Icon

T Enable Target Disk Mode : ----> "?" Icon

I think I'm in trouble :-)

Yep, I'm afraid you need to ring AppleCare and you might have to take it in for a harware fix...

yes thank for you help Max108

Hi Max108

some news ...

the Locker Icon asking for a passowrd when booting in "cmd-R Recovery Mode" and also "Alt/Option Access Mac Startup Manager" was the SSD firmware password I set up old time ago in the DIskutil tool .

Unfortunatly the key board was in English at thisi level and some characters was not corresponding to the French keyboard ... so shame on me not to thaught about that at the first time .

Apple care give me a phone apointment with a local french compagny to help and repair the material. and after some minutes the guy explain me what was this password and to take car about EN/FR keyboard.

After typing the good password I could :

A/ retart in recovery mode

B/ Remove the password

C/ Restart again in recovery mode

D/ Erase the SSD

E/ reinstall OSX 10.11

F/ Restaure the imac from Time machine

Now it's Ok everithin is in order

Thanks for you help again and hope this coudl help also some people.

Glad you got it resolved 🙂

so I had an issue that I can use my Mac but if I tried to get into the recovery mode using the cmnd+r or option+cmn+r
it would ask for a password with a lock on a black screen . I searched a lot on internet and couldn't find any answer .
Finally found out that my dumbass put up a firmware password using the terminal so if you did the same and can't remember it just open the terminal and type the command
sudo firmwarepasswd -check :-this command will let you check if there is a password
it will ask for your Mac's login password type it
to remove the firmware password
sudo firmwarepasswd -delete. :-this command will delete the password
type your Macs login password

I was returning my new Mini (OS 11) within the 15 day return limit. I had copied any of the data I needed and just wanted to return a clean device.I followed the Apple Support suggestions " What to do before you sell", etc.
I got to #7 and kept getting the message, "no users available for authorization". Concerned that "Data" was still there, I erased that also. Not particularly optimistic, I went back to "reinstall from the internet". Eureka; no longer asked for authorization. MAC OS reinstalled and restarted in pristine like new state.

I encountered this issue soon after turning on FileVault on a 2019 MacBook Pro with the T2 security chip. Things seemed to be running smoothly until I had a WindowServer crash during a Skype session. On rebooting, my password was accepted at login, and in various other places, but not to unlock Safari passwords or change Touch ID settings, and when I tried to reinstall Ventura from Internet Recovery Mode, I could not get started by unlocking the boot volume with any of the user passwords.

I could not repair permissions from Recovery mode either, because a password was required to unlock the Data volume, and neither my login password (nor any of the login passwords on the other accounts) were accepted.

The fix was to reset the SMC functions in the T2 security chip (the first step Apple recommends trying BEFORE resetting the entire SMC) by shutting down the MacBook Pro, then pressing and holding the power button (ignore the start chime after first depressing the button) for 10 seconds, then releasing it, and waiting a few seconds before briefly depressing it again to turn on the Mac.

Apple Diagnostics found no issues, nor did Disk Utility after I ran it from Internet Recovery Mode. The T2 security chip SMC reset seems to have fixed all of the aforementioned issues for me. (It was not necessary to do the fully SMC reset with Control-Option-Shift + Power button).