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User profile for user: ratephi
ratephi Author
User level: Level 1
24 points

mac mini M1 - unable to authenticate administrator & to enter recovery mode

I've just purchased and setup a brand new mac mini M1 and I'm experiencing the following extremely annoying issues:

  • while I can authenticate with my admin user and password at login, I'm unable to install any software, including the Big Sur update, or change any of the system settings which require to be unlocked by an admin account. The OS simply refuses to accept my administrative password (which is obviously the same that I use to successfully login...)
  • I wanted to try restore the OS to its original status but it turns out that when I reboot and try to enter any of the Recovery statuses (e.g. CTRL + R) the OS ignores me and goes on with the standard boot up procedure


SO I'm basically stuck since I have apparently no way to resolve the issues from within the OS and at the same time I'm unable to enter the Recovery mode which would allow me to install a fresh copy of Ben Sur.....


Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

Posted on Nov 19, 2020 3:35 PM

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User profile for user: mingpenn
mingpenn
User level: Level 1
4 points

Posted on Jan 11, 2021 4:56 PM

PLEASE fix this issue. I, too, just bought a new MBA M1 yesterday. Mere moments after entering my password (and setting up the biometric authentication), my laptop insists that I'm entering an incorrect password. I try again hours later, and it works. I try again this evening, and once again, I am locked out. I am certain I was using the correct password as I was being locked out intermittently.


I came here to find and enact this solution and further to reinstall Big Sur, but it requires the same password for which I want to reinstall Big Sur in the first place!


This is extremely frustrating. Please help.

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User profile for user: mingpenn
mingpenn
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 11, 2021 4:56 PM in response to Matti Haveri

PLEASE fix this issue. I, too, just bought a new MBA M1 yesterday. Mere moments after entering my password (and setting up the biometric authentication), my laptop insists that I'm entering an incorrect password. I try again hours later, and it works. I try again this evening, and once again, I am locked out. I am certain I was using the correct password as I was being locked out intermittently.


I came here to find and enact this solution and further to reinstall Big Sur, but it requires the same password for which I want to reinstall Big Sur in the first place!


This is extremely frustrating. Please help.

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User profile for user: Rockinrobstar
Rockinrobstar
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jan 1, 2021 9:55 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Brand new Mac mini M1 out of the box running 11.0. Same issue - I can't use any escalated actions (says password is wrong) and when it auto logged out I couldn't get back in. I can get into recovery mode - and have deleted the .AppleSetupDone file so that I can create a new 'user', but when I log in with this user I still can't use any escalated actions (including updating macOS to 11.1). I also can't change the password of the original user (unlocking this control panel works) simply saying "Reset password failed".

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mac mini M1 - unable to authenticate administrator & to enter recovery mode

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