How to Change a PW in El Capitan?

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Level 1

10 points

How to Change a PW in El Capitan?

I have a mac mini 7,1 with 2 volumes on it: one on OS10.11 and the other, OS 10.13. The other day I went to hunt up something in the older volume: after not using it for a while, I couldn't remember the PW. (I had made the boot-up volume change on the HS volume, and left the lock open (to allow later changes).

Now, I'm stuck with the 10.11 volume, with no PW. What's worse, the boot-up w/OPT get me nowhere except back to the login of the 10.11 volume.

None of the below work:

https://osxdaily.com/2010/08/10/forgot-mac-password-how-to-reset-mac-password/

as the login field just thinks "Password Hint" and Rest Password" are simply incorrect PWs

Of course I can take it into my local Apple, but I don't want to be without this machine for a couple of days.

TIA

Mac mini, OS X 10.11

Posted on Sep 28, 2021 6:41 PM

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Answer 1

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PRP_53

Level 10

86,119 points

Sep 29, 2021 1:55 AM in response to mrbl

Reset Computer Password

Intel Computer

1 - Restart computer and immediately hold Command + r keys

2 - Top Tool Bar >> Utilities >> Terminal

3 - Type resetpassword as one word and no spaces

4 - Press Return key

5 - Follow the prompts and remember the New Password

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Answer 2

mrbl Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 29, 2021 5:18 AM in response to mrbl

Nailed it! 10Q. (I did have to hold down the startup keys for 100 seconds before the Top Tool Bar showed up.)

I'm trying to figure out how I got in this mess, to avoid it in the future. 2 possibilities:

1.) There's something I don't understand about the Startup Disc preference. I thought that if I didn't lock the preference after changing it to open in the 10.11 volume ("Please lock to prevent further changes"), that the ability to revert back to the 10.13 volume would be allowed.

2.) Norton Utilities. My wife turned up an old slip of paper with machine passwords around the house, and our memory of the 10.11 PW was correct. On my 2-month-old Macbook Air M1, the ethernet out to the ISP was misbehaving badly. I brought it in to the dealer who immediately warned me against Norton's aggressive OCD. I've uninstalled it (and will look for a more effective anti-viral). Maybe it disabled the PW.

Any thoughts?

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

86,119 points

Sep 29, 2021 7:05 AM in response to mrbl

Welcome and thank you too.

Good idea to get rid of Norton anything. It is the worse of the worst for a non existent issue - Viruses affecting macOS.

There are no known windows-like Viruses in the wild that self replicate and affect macOS. This is mainly because of the underlining UNIX of macOS and Permissions aspirated with UNIX.

There are Malware-viruses and Adware-viruses that does affect macOS and are often times downloaded as part of an Application from Third Party UnTrusted Site and get installed along with the Application.

For that purpose >> Suggest downloading from a Respected ASC Contributor the application Malwarebytes for Mac. It is free or paid for added features. Run the Application and it should remove the malware / adware. Once done, restart computer and test.

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How to Change a PW in El Capitan?

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