Passwordless on Mac

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Level 1

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Passwordless on Mac

Not very versed anymore with Macs but looking to go passwordless at our company and we have a small but growing number of Mac devices we support. My question... If File Vault is on, is password the only option to unlock at boot?

Posted on Nov 30, 2022 11:23 AM

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Answer 1

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KerryBoehm18 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 1, 2022 04:15 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks for the info and love your name :).

This seems to point me in the direction that typing in an old school password is the only option to unlock File Vault at boot. I'm looking to confirm if the end user has setup biometric login (touch id/facial) they will STILL need to revert back to password every boot.

Really surprised Apple still has this limitation?

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

153,568 points

Dec 1, 2022 05:24 AM in response to KerryBoehm18

Thanks for the clarification. Going "passwordless" is a subject Apple is definitely interested in, so you might find the following of interest: Passkeys Overview - Apple Developer. The banner on top contains a link to two video presentations: Videos - Apple Developer.

To directly answer your question, FileVault itself and the data security it conveys is seamlessly integrated with login authentication on all Macs. Macs with Touch ID do not require typing a password at login, unless there were too many failed attempts to use Touch ID (or Face ID for iOS devices).

The good news is that passwords are going away, for everything... eventually. From a security standpoint they have become unworkable.

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

153,568 points

Nov 30, 2022 10:31 PM in response to KerryBoehm18

The FileVault encryption key is set to the user's login password.

On newer Macs, FileVault is implemented in hardware.

For an introduction read Intro to FileVault - Apple Support.

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Passwordless on Mac

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