iMac from eBay - strange tech issue

bartsimpson123

My father in law recently bought a refurbished iMac from eBay. Looked a great deal on paper but here’s the problem: 

When he loaded it up there was no usual Apple set up process where you choose a name, select the WiFi network etc - it just booted straight into an ‘Admin’ user account which was pre-loaded with Microsoft Office (part of the deal). 

The problem is that you can’t create new users from this Admin account, even though it has administrative permissions. You go to Settings > Users & Groups and fill in name/permissions etc for the new account, but then when you submit it the new account doesn’t appear on the list of users or at the Home Screen when you reboot. 

Should he be sending this back? Only had it a week or so. 

tronator

I would reinstall MacOS, as I wouldn't trust a random seller from Ebay. Who knows what else is installed on that machine.

There is a key combination which you need to press at the start. It then downloads the installation files from Apple and installs MacOS. Just google the procedure. I don't have a mac but helped a friend with it in the past.

Were_Doomed

Before you do the above, make sure you have a note of the activation code / certification of authenticity for the Office installation. If you reset the machine then you'll lose this and will need to reinstall / reactivate.

datostar

Re-installing the OS alone won't affect any previous installed software or machine settings and It's doubtful that there's anything wrong with the OS anyway. Depending on the age of the machine, it will re-install either from a recovery partition on the boot drive or via internet download.  It might run a bit faster without accumulated crud but won't solve your problem.  
This looks as if it might help by letting you generate a new config file and getting rid of the existing stored user account:-
https://appletoolbox.com/mac-user-account-disappeared-fix/