Need help accessing macOS user account

Question

Level 1

4 points

Need help accessing macOS user account

For the last 5 years, I have been locked out of my primary user account on my Mac (spec details below). Background details: I was unable to gain access to my primary user account, despite knowing the correct password. With someone’s assistance, I was able to gain access to my admin account and have been using that account ever since.

When I attempt to login into my primary account (not admin) with the correct password, the spinning wheels spins for eternity and I have to reboot the machine. When I enter the incorrect password, the password bar shakes its head as normal and indicates a wrong password entry.

Any help to gain access to my primary account?

Mac Specs:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, early 2011)
macOS High Sierra (Version 10.13.6)
Processor: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on May 27, 2024 2:09 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

240,677 points

May 27, 2024 2:45 PM in response to weswork

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

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.)
Check and repair the drive by typing /sbin/fsck -fy then ↩ enter - as directed by the on-screen text.
Mount the drive as read-write by typing /sbin/mount -uw / then ↩ enter.
Remove the Apple Setup Done file by typing rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone then ↩ enter.
Reboot by typing reboot then ↩ enter.
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!!

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Answer 2

weswork Author

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2024 3:39 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for your reply. I followed the steps and entered the Terminal commands you suggested and was able to create a new admin account. I am still having the same problem logging into the primary account (for future reference: "user1"). After typing in the correct password, it just gives me an eternal spinning/loading symbol. The issue does not seem to be related to the password.

Any other suggestions?

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

56,762 points

May 31, 2024 5:33 PM in response to weswork

Check the health of the hard drive by running DriveDx (free trial period) and posting the complete report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper on the forum editing toolbar. Sounds like you may have a failing hard drive since you were unable to run the file system check.

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

56,762 points

May 28, 2024 1:32 PM in response to weswork

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if you can log into that "primary" account. This will disable the Login Items so if a Login Item is causing the problem you should get in and resolve the issue.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

240,677 points

May 27, 2024 4:15 PM in response to weswork

Well. my thinking was... if you can log into an adsmin account you can assign a new PW to that other account, or at least scrape the data you need.

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Answer 6

weswork Author

Level 1

4 points

May 31, 2024 2:28 PM in response to HWTech

I tried logging in while in Safe Mode to no avail. Thank you for your recommendation.

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