Monday, December 12, 2011

How do i change my password on mac os x when i don't know what the password is?

I recently bought a used ibook with the program mac os x on it but i cant install anything without knowing the administrator password. Is there anyway to change the administrator password without knowing the original password?|||If you've hopefully got the setup disks you can insert the OS X disk, reboot and you should then have the option to reset the password.|||It sounds like the system is set for automatic login. Ask the previous owner to tell you the password... unless you found it on a park bench.





You can boot to an OS X install DVD and go past the first screen, to select main language. Then under the Utilities menu (or Installer menu on older versions), choose "Reset password" and then select your account name, not "Administrator".





If you don't have any install disc, you really need to buy one. It is like driving without a spare tire. In the mean time, look in the Users folder for the name of your home folder. Write it down and follow these steps:





1. Boot into single user mode (press Command-S at power on)


2. Type fsck -fy


3. Press Return


4. Type mount -uw /


5. Press Return


6. Type launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.鈥?br>

7. Press Return


8. Type dscl . -passwd /Users/username password (replacing "username" with the targeted user ((name of your home folder)) and "password" with the new password)


9. Press Return


10. Type reboot


11. Press Return





Last resort: delete a file called ".AppleSetupDone" (the dot makes it a hidden file in UNIX). Then when you restart, the Mac will open the same setup program that appeared when your computer was new. You can create a new account from scratch. After you are logged in as the new admin user, you can go to System Preferences %26gt; Accounts and reset the password of your old user. That's a bit inconvenient but, in theory, nothing is actually lost. Then you can log out, login as your old user. Then you can go back to System Preferences %26gt; Accounts and delete the new user.





To delete this secret file, restart and hold two keys together: Command key (鈱? and the "S" key. That starts the Mac in "Single-user mode". You'll know you are seeing single-user mode because the screen will fill up with white geeky text on a black background. Release the two keys when you see this. Wait until the last line says "sh-2.05a#" or something similar. Then go ahead with the steps below. Don't type the " marks and be careful to type the spaces in "/sbin/mount -uw /".





Type "/sbin/mount -uw /"


Press Return. (Nothing appears to happens, no problem. Also, you will see # again. That's fine; ignore it.)


Type "rm /var/db/.applesetupdone" (The normal format of Mac OS doesn't care about upper case.)


Press Return.


Type "reboot"


Press Return. (Now stuff appears to happen. You will finally get past the "Welcome" in a dozen languages and then you can create a new admin user. It should be a different short name from your old user. A few screens later, you come to the registration. Just choose "later". It doesn't come back later to nag.





After you have completed the new user, open System Preferences %26gt; Accounts and delete the old user. It will put all old user's data into a disk image and put that into a "Deleted Users" folder. If you don't need that old user data, trash the disk image.|||Did it come with disks?


If so reset using the disks.


If you dont have the disks can you contact the seller?


Otherwise i would call Apple on:133 MAC|||Reformat.

No comments:

Post a Comment