Q: I have forgotten my admin password and need to create another user

You need an installer disc in order to reset an admin password. I don't know if the following will work on your system, but give it a try:

You can also reset the password by printing out (or writing down) and carefully following these steps.

First, find the short name of the admin user on the machine. The easiest way of doing this is by looking at what their directory is called in the Users folder.

Now, start up the computer while holding down Cmd-S. It should boot into a command line. (If it doesn't, you may need to reset the firmware password, which is detailed elsewhere.)

Type these exact lines:

mount -uw /

ifconfig lo0 up

cd /var/db/netinfo

netinfod -s local

Now you'll need that short name. (You did write it down, didn't you?) Type "passwd", a space, and the short name of the admin. For example, if the admin was - rather prosaically - called "admin", you'd type "passwd admin".

The computer will now prompt you to change the password for "admin" (or whatever the short name was). Go ahead and type a new password.

Now, type:

sync

reboot

and the machine will reboot. The admin password should now be changed.

Creating a new Admin on Mac Os X:

Here's how to reset your OS X password without an OS X CD.

the Working solution for me was to create a new admin

you can create new admin like this by deleting a specific file.

You need to enter terminal and create a new admin account:

1. Reboot

2. Hold apple key + s key down after you hear the chime.

(command + s keys on newer Macs)

3. When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line):

mount -uw /

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

shutdown -h now

4. After rebooting you should have a brand new admin account. When you login as the new admin you can simply delete the old one and your good to go again!

Okay, so I know this is an old discussion but I really need help. I tried iAwesom33's way to get in, and the computer is acting as if it is factory default, asking what language and welcoming me to the Mac as if its the first time it was ran. An I supposed to continue through with it? I do not want I lose everything because it is a shared computer and has many important files that are not backed up anywhere else! Please answer as fast as you can, the other users I the computer are very upset with me right now and I do not know what to do!