I have several snippets possibly related to the issue:
I lost my admin user (OS X 10.5)
If you are unfortunate enough to delete your only admin user, or remove his admin capability, then as long as you have another user with login capability, you can give that user admin rights as shown below.
Print this post out in a mono-spaced font, and type carefully, paying attention to spaces and punctuation, since you cannot copy/paste in Single User mode.
Caution: in single user mode you have root privileges. Be careful!
Substitute the name of 'youruser' below.
Boot into
single-user mode which will eventually get you to a shell prompt (ending in #). Then type the following (Press RETURN after each command):
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat the above until it says your disk is OK. Then continue with
/sbin/mount -uw /
/usr/bin/dscl . -merge /groups/admin users youruser
If you get a message saying "invalid path", then type these two commands first:
/usr/bin/dscl . -create /groups/admin gid 80
/usr/bin/dscl . -create /groups/admin passwd '*'
and then repeat the "dscl ... -merge" command. Then:
reboot
You will now be able to login as 'youruser' and have administrative privileges.
Membership of the 'admin' group is the only thing that distinguishes administrative users from ordinary users.
Cannot make any user account an admin account
If the directory services entry for the admin group gets corrupted do the following:
Log in as the "root" user. Open the Terminal and paste in the following commands. Press RETURN after each:
rm /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/groups/admin.plist
cp /System/Library/DirectoryServices/DefaultLocalDB/Default/groups/admin.plist /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/groups/admin.plist
Restart and again log in as "root." Open Accounts preferences in System Preferences, select your default user account and make it the admin account.
Credit goes to forum member, biovizier, for this solution.
To enable the "root" user see
Enabling and using the "root" user in Mac OS X
Restore admin user status.
If your admin user loses admin status for whatever reason (and it has happened to a few people), and you do not have a second admin account, then try the following:
Boot into
single-user mode. At the prompt enter:
mount -uw /
nicl -raw /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb -merge /groups/admin users your-username-here
Press RETURN after each command.
To restart in OS X enter:
reboot
I recommend you write down these commands in a monospaced font. Be sure to carefully note where there are spaces in the command line.
And, here are some related links:
I lost my admin user (Mac OS X 10.5);
OS X 10.5- Administrator user changes to standard; and,
Problems with lost Admin account.
