reset mac password from single user mode

I teach and holiday graphic designs are stored. Is it possible the disk is only one use? or is there anything else I can try to reset the adminstrator password without knowing the origional user account etc.? I also do not see any license agreement or language selection or anything else when I double click on install. I have tried various UNIX commands from the terminal but these havent worked either. I have tried to reset the password by installing the snow leopard disk I have (meant to work for 5 licenses and only installed on my own Imac)but everytime I try to install and go to utilties the install program asks for my user name and adminstrator password which I don’t have. He deleted all his data along with his user name and administrator password before passing it over and since then I cannot update any software or change system preferences or anything requiring the adminstrator password. (snow leopard) that a friend has given me as he longer uses it.

I have an old Imac (2006) loaded with Version 10.6.8. I have a similar issue though not exactly the same. Hope this helps you out with your new PowerBook! Just something to keep in mind, securitywise! One important note here for anyone with a Mac: your admin password is only of limited security because anyone with an OS install disk can restart off their disk and reset your password without knowing your existing password. Then choose Quit from the Installer menu and when your computer restarts, you’ll now know the admin password. Sorry!Īnyway, using this tool, you’ll be able to change your password to something you know.

I’d show this menu as a screenshot here, but can’t figure out how to get a screenshot of the install process. One of those menus is Utilities and one of the choices on that menu is Reset Password….

Click on it, and your PowerBook will restart and go straight to the install process.īut don’t install the OS again! Just click through windows far enough until you get the regular set of choices on the menu bar. Once you have an install disk in hand, double click on the Install Mac OS icon and you’ll get a window with a big graphic (this is one place where Apple isn’t subtle!) and a restart button. You might also ask yourself if you need to run Tiger, or whether Panther would work for you – it’d be a lot cheaper. One smart way to accomplish this: look for Mac OS X on eBay. If you don’t have this disk, then your best bet is to buy a copy of Mac OS X, even though you already have the OS installed on your computer (you could try calling Apple (800 SOS-APPL) and asking for a replacement boot disk too). The key to unlocking your system is the Mac OS X install disk. I bet you’ll be surprised how easy it is to change the administrator (known in Unix parlance as “root”) password on a Mac OS X Tiger, Panther, etc., computer.

Reset mac password from single user mode