I just got my macbook back from repair at apple store genius bar. It was mailed back to me repaired. I entered the password I wrote down to access macbook but it won’t accept it. Now it is asking for a recovery key which I’ve never set up. So I cannot log into my Macbook now and use it after it was repaired.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.1
Can you click to access the "Hint"? When Apple repaired the laptop, they probably reinstalled macOS & created their own user account. When macOS 26.x Tahoe is installed, it automatically enables Filevault. Hopefully the Apple tech placed the password they used in the Hint.
Otherwise take the laptop back to Apple to have them fix things. They will probably need to perform a DFU Firmware Restore which requires access to another Mac currently running macOS 26.x or possibly macOS 15.7.2+. If you have access to such a Mac, then you can try performing the DFU Firmware Restore yourself.
Edit: Apple should have left the laptop booting to Setup Assistant in order to allow you to restore from a backup.
Do you have turned on restore password with Apple ID?
If so... Try that
I’m not being given the option to
log into the macbook with appleID.
Cannot log into newly repaired macbook received from genius bar repair
