account password not working in mojave

William Arnold1 Said:

"account password not working in mojave: Account password not being recognized. Log in times out and tries to restart. How to fix?"

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Which Account is this for?

Use the Login Screen:

Reset it using the login screen. You'd go through your Apple ID to perform this. Find out more here: If you Forgot your Mac Login Password - Apple Support

See if you can create a new administrator account by restarting the Setup Assistant:

1. Boot into Single User Mode: Start/restart your Mac. As soon as you hear the startup tone, press and hold ⌘ + S until you see a black screen with white lettering. (If you end up back on the login screen after a flash of the black screen with white lettering, enter your password and it will return to the black screen.)
2. Check and repair the drive by typing /sbin/fsck -fy then ↩ enter - as directed by the on-screen text.
3. Mount the drive as read-write by typing /sbin/mount -uw / then ↩ enter.
4. Remove the Apple Setup Done file by typing rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone then ↩ enter.
5. Reboot by typing reboot then ↩ enter.
6. Complete the setup process, creating a new admin account.

Be very careful to notice the spaces in those Terminal Commands.

Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine, except all your data will still be there. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

Reset Computer Password - This will change to Admin Account 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

Apple Silicon M1 Computer 

1 - Choose Apple menu > > Shut Down.

2 - Press and hold the power button on your Mac until you see “Loading startup options.”

3 - Click Options, then click Continue. 

4 - Top Tool Bar >> Utilities >> Terminal

5 - Type resetpassword as one word and no spaces

6 - Press Return key

7 - Follow the prompts and remember the New Password

I have tried this after a Big Sur upgrade on a 2015 macBookPro.

I am in single user mode

rm /var... gives me a : No such file or directory error

cd /var gives me the same error

Any suggestions as to how to proceed?

Thanks

When I try and use the above commands - I get an error that I do not have the permissions to do this. Any thoughts?

Is the drive encrypted?

Is this an M1 Mac?

It is an early 2015 MacBook Air - so I do not think it is an M1 chip. Yes - Filevault is turned on so assume the drive is encrypted.

How to Unlock a FileVault 2 Encrypted Mac - Knowledgebase / Desktop Computing and Printing / Apple Macintosh Computers - OIT Service Center (brown.edu)

This there more than one user account on this computer ? Is one the Admin of this computer ?

Can you boot from another drive?