What to do if you can't boot into Single User Mode?

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What to do if you can't boot into Single User Mode?

Recently I was gifted a iMac G5 and I wanted to maybe play some retro games on it so I attempted to install Halo: Combat Evolved. In doing so I had to go through the installation menu which required me to put in a admin password. I asked the person that gifted me the password but they could not think of it as they had not used the computer since 2014 and had not used it as a main computer since 2007-2008. I found multiple articles stating many ways to result this require single user mode so I decided to try to boot into it. with multiple attempts and me plugging in and out my keyboard (which is windows only but the windows key serves as a command key) I attempted to boot into SUM but failed. Is it because of the architecture? OS? the keyboard? what else could be the problem

Powerbook

Posted on Feb 19, 2023 12:24 AM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

Level 9

69,338 points

Mar 9, 2023 7:53 PM in response to G3_mac

You need to press the Command + S keys immediately after hearing the startup chime (you may actually have a few seconds on such an old system). You will need to be using a wired USB keyboard since a wireless keyboard won't go ready soon enough to issue those special startup keys. A Windows keyboard should be fine to use, but it has been many many years since I used a PPC Mac.

Try using another USB port and even another keyboard (even if it is a Windows keyboard). Some Windows keyboards can be a bit unique and may not behave as expected, but most should work.

You can also boot to an OS X DVD compatible with that Mac since there is a reset password option on one of the menus when booted to those old installation DVDs.

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Answer 2

chuckbl

Community Specialist

Feb 20, 2023 2:45 PM in response to G3_mac

Hello G3_mac,

You may be able to change or reset the password using the steps from the resources below depending on the configuration of your Mac:

Change or reset the password of a macOS user account in macOS Mojave or earlier - Apple Support

If you can't reset your Mac login password

Hopefully that puts you on the path to getting this addressed.

Take care.

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What to do if you can't boot into Single User Mode?

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