MacBook Pro M1 admin access lost, daughter's account password unknown

Hello! Based on your description, it sounds as though your account may have lost its administrator privileges, while your daughter’s account is now the only administrator.

The dialog in your screenshot is requesting the username and password of a local macOS administrator account, not an Apple Account or iCloud password.

A few things worth checking:

1. Confirm the account types. Open System Settings > Users & Groups and check whether your account is listed as Standard and your daughter’s as Admin.
2. Try your daughter’s usual Mac login password. If her account is an administrator, that is the password macOS is requesting. You would also need her account’s short username.
3. If her password is unknown, try macOS Recovery. Shut down the Mac, then hold the power button until Startup Options appears. Select Options > Continue. Apple’s recovery process may allow you to reset the administrator account’s password using the associated Apple Account or FileVault recovery key.
4. If password recovery succeeds, sign in to the administrator account and restore administrator privileges to your own account through Users & Groups.

Apple’s instructions are available here:

https://support.apple.com/102633

One important distinction: resetting a password does not automatically restore administrator privileges to an account that has been changed to Standard.

Before suggesting anything more involved, could you clarify two things?

• Does your daughter’s account actually show Admin in Users & Groups?
• When you attempted resetpassword, were you running Terminal from macOS Recovery, and what happened when you tried?

Those details should help determine the safest next step without risking your files. I would avoid erasing or reinstalling macOS at this stage.

The important distinction here is between an Administrator Account and a Volume Owner Account, particularly on Apple Silicon Macs (M1).

Volume Ownership is a separate security privilege in macOS. It is not automatically transferred simply because another account becomes the only Administrator.

Normally, the first user account configured on an Apple Silicon Mac receives a Secure Token and becomes a Volume Owner. Additional accounts can also acquire Volume Owner status under certain circumstances.

Before attempting further recovery, I would establish the following:

1. Was your original account downgraded from Administrator to Standard, or has it disappeared entirely?
2. Does your daughter's account now appear as the only Administrator under System Settings > Users & Groups?
3. Is the password prompt specifically requesting her local Mac login password?
4. Is FileVault enabled?

Regarding password recovery:

Apple provides an official recovery procedure through macOS Recovery. On an M1 Mac, shut down the computer, hold the power button until Startup Options appears, select Options, and follow the password recovery instructions.

If necessary, Apple also documents using resetpassword from Terminal within macOS Recovery.

Apple – If you forgot your Mac login password

One important point: resetting a login password does not automatically restore Administrator privileges or Volume Owner status.

I would investigate the original account's status and the Mac's Volume Ownership before attempting further Terminal commands or considering erasing and reinstalling macOS.

Additional technical reading:

The perils of M1 ownership – Eclectic Light

Ownership means two different things in Macs: how to tell them apart

In that screenshot, you must manually enter the user name of a macOS admin user account and its password. You can use either the long or short macOS user name here. The long macOS user names can be seen in the Users & Groups System Settings if you are not sure of the actual spelling of the user name. The short macOS user names can be seen in the names of the home user folders in the Finder which can be found in "/Users".

Chattanoogan wrote:

This is GREAT info.

That special “1st user at initial startup” is essential knowledge.

I know you’ve posted it previously, but thanks for “repeating.”

Thank you too my friend

Something I picked up back on when the first M-Class computers first came out

🦉-53

This is GREAT info.

That special “1st user at initial startup” is essential knowledge.

I know you’ve posted it previously, but thanks for “repeating.”

While I couldn’t find the specifics at the time, I recalled enough to be “deliberate” when setting up my newest M5 Mac.

”Primary Administrator” FIRST … all other admins and standard users later.