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My eldest, a former Windows user, has inherited an old iMac of mine which is currently running MacOS 10.6.8(?) Snow Leopard which, due to age, cannot take any later OS updates. He took it home before theCovid-19 lockdown and there is currently no way that I can travel to him to help out. He is not yet a comfortable Mac user as it is unfamiliar to him.

To the best of my understanding he has previously had an Apple ID which he used with a now deceased iPad, but he cannot remember the password and, on the Snow Leopard iMac he has been unable to get a password reset. I cannot understand why but I can't be sure exactly how he is trying to get it reset.

I suggested, therefore, that he create a brand new Apple ID with a new email address but he says that when he tries he gets an error message "To make changes to your payment information, you need to upgrade your Mac to the latest version of macOS."

I am at a loss as to how, at a distance, to advise him on where to go next.

Is it, perhaps, because the machine is still recognising that it is attached to my ID? has he not logged out of my ID? Is it a restriction caused by Snow Leopard? Could I create an Apple ID, using his email address, on my Catalina iMac then tell him the password I used thus allowing him to log in on his machine and change the password to one of his choice?

Or am I being a completely blind idiot and overlooking the bleeding obvious?

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

I am having a similar problem with an iPad I got from my son. On your end you need to remove the iPad from your Apple ID account before he can do anything. That can be done in iOS, MacOS, or iCloud:

On Your Mac (assuming Catalina or Mojave) go to Systems Preferences > Apple ID
On Your iOS device go to Settings > your name
On iCloud click on your name in the upper right corner of window then select Settings from the drop down menu
Then in all cases scroll down to the list of devices associated with your account select the device to be removed and remove it. (You may get a warning that Find My may no longer be used to locate the device).

Until that is done the device is essentially unusable and unchangeable by anyone that does not have your Apple ID and password. Once you have done that the new user can do whatever they want on the device including logging onto their Apple ID which will register the device to them.

Thanks. I've had a look but it isn't listed as being attached to my account - unlike an old iPad I now notice is still registered but which died when it accompanied me to the bottom of the Duddon River in The Lake District.

But that's another, embarrassing, story.

I think that he has set up his own Admin user on the old iMac but wheter or not mine us till there I cannot ask until tomorrow.

Whether that would make any difference is another matter.