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Log in problem

I have bought an I Mac mini 2nd hand and I had the password for the computer and when I was changing the admin name and my key board suddenly not working and by mistake I put enter and my system preferences stop working and then I shut down the computer and try to log in but can't log in it's asking name and password which I try put my admin name and password but it's not accepting so please help me to solve my problems. Thank you.

Posted on Jul 18, 2019 12:51 PM

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Posted on Jul 18, 2019 2:02 PM

You should always erase the drive and reinstall macOS when buying a used computer unless you purchased it directly from Apple. Depending on the age and whether OSX 10.12.4+ was used, you may be able to use Internet Recovery Mode to erase & reinstall macOS using Command + Option + R.


This is what the seller should have done before selling the computer:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 18, 2019 2:02 PM in response to kashem224

You should always erase the drive and reinstall macOS when buying a used computer unless you purchased it directly from Apple. Depending on the age and whether OSX 10.12.4+ was used, you may be able to use Internet Recovery Mode to erase & reinstall macOS using Command + Option + R.


This is what the seller should have done before selling the computer:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

Jul 18, 2019 1:12 PM in response to kashem224

when I was changing the admin name and my key board suddenly not working

How were you doing this? You need to follow the correct procedure for this. This may depend on what version of macOS you were using.


Get the Mac to set up an additional administrative account. This will work in all releases of Mac OS X so far.


You need to get into single use mode for steps one and two that are listed below. Start with your computer power off. Hold down command-s. Power on your computer. Continue holding down command-s until you see some text on the screen.


This page will give more details on how to get into single user mode.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492


Type in the following:


The first two commands will depend on your release of Mac OS X. Look at what is typed out in the console to determine the exact format. You do not need to type in the lines beginning with an ampersand, #, they are comments.


# Type the follow two instructions to access the startup disk in read/write.

# Press return after each command.

# in case of partial success repeat this command until errors go away.


/sbin/fsck -fy

/sbin/mount -uw /


# Get setup to activate a new administration account

cd /var/db

pwd

#List all files. The l is a lower case L.

ls -a


# The move command acts as a rename command in this format.

# In Yosemite, this file is zero bytes.

# the disappearance of .AppleSetupDone causes a new administration account

# to be added the next reboot.

mv -i .AppleSetupDone .AppleSetupDone.old


# reboot your mac

shutdown -r now

Jul 19, 2019 4:48 PM in response to kashem224

kashem224 wrote:

Dear HWtech

Thank you I normally do that in window but how to do in Mac I don't know and I am not fimiler with Mac so please could you advise me on this how can I do that in without cd. Or how can I get the Mac CD for installation.

Thank you very much for the help.
Kind regards
KASHEM

Check the links I provided in my previous post as they contain steps to reinstall macOS without any CDs since macOS has not been released on DVD for many years now.


If you follow the advice of @rccharles, you will be able to force macOS to run Setup Assistant again which will walk you through creating a new admin user.


You can also boot into Recovery Mode using Command + R as suggested and launch the Terminal app from the Utilities menu and run the following command:

resetpassword



Once you can log in again, then I would suggest creating a bootable macOS USB installer just in case something would go wrong with Internet Recovery Mode after you erase the drive.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


Jul 19, 2019 7:46 AM in response to rccharles

Hello rccharles thank you for reply and sorry for my ignorance as I am fimiler with windows and this is my first time and I am leaving in remote island... still when I press windows key as command key and s is opened the below screen


So please advise me and also my Mac mini is Mac os x10.7.2.


Note: is it possible to reinstall without cd

Again thank you so much for helping me out.

Kind regards

Jul 19, 2019 10:45 AM in response to kashem224

I don't understand.


Start with your computer power off. Hold down command-s. Power on your computer. Continue holding down command-s until you see some text on the screen.


You did follow these instructions exactly? The Windows key is the command key.


You can do the same thing from Recovery mode.


some drill, but use command + r


( I think you have the option of command + r. some older machines do not have option. )


R

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