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Forgotten administrator's password

My aunty gave this Mac to me and she didn't remember the password for administrator. How can I solve this problem?

Posted on Apr 7, 2020 1:49 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 7, 2020 3:27 AM

Enter recovery mode.


  1. Restart your Mac. You can only access the recovery mode while the laptop is booting up, which is why you need to restart it. 
  2. While it is restarting, press and hold the Command + R keys until you see the Apple logo. If you see the login screen, you will have to restart and repeat this step again until you get to Recovery Mode.
  3. Go to the Apple Menu at the top and click Utilities. This will open a drop-down menu.
  4. Then click Terminal.
  5. Type “resetpassword” in the terminal window. Don’t use any space in between the words.
  6. Then hit Enter. This will open the Reset Password Assistant screen. 
  7. Type your password and a hint.
  8. Finally, click Restart. Once you get to the Login screen, select the admin user you just reset the password for and type your new password. Click Enter. 


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 7, 2020 3:27 AM in response to amelcs4

Enter recovery mode.


  1. Restart your Mac. You can only access the recovery mode while the laptop is booting up, which is why you need to restart it. 
  2. While it is restarting, press and hold the Command + R keys until you see the Apple logo. If you see the login screen, you will have to restart and repeat this step again until you get to Recovery Mode.
  3. Go to the Apple Menu at the top and click Utilities. This will open a drop-down menu.
  4. Then click Terminal.
  5. Type “resetpassword” in the terminal window. Don’t use any space in between the words.
  6. Then hit Enter. This will open the Reset Password Assistant screen. 
  7. Type your password and a hint.
  8. Finally, click Restart. Once you get to the Login screen, select the admin user you just reset the password for and type your new password. Click Enter. 


Forgotten administrator's password

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