Getting around a password protected Macintosh

MRL
Welcome to Discussions.
Could you please specify the MAC?With CD-Drive or Floppy,for instance.

And do you have the installation disks which go with it to install its original operating system and any bundled software?

Most schools use Foolproof or some other control panel/extension to lock out the students. Check and see if you have something like that listed in your control panels or extensions. If so restart your computer with extensions off, holding down the shift key while starting up until you see Welcome to Macintosh, extensions off. Once that is done either move the Fool Proof program to the trash OR move it to the disabled folder for the extensions or control panels. Restart you computer and it should startup without the need for a password.

It's been about 2 years since I did this so I may have forgotten a step but I think that is it. Post back if you need anything else.

MRL
Welcome to the Discussions.

Password protection can be implemented at disk (HDD) level or at the System (OS) level. In the former, you may not even get to the desktop without the password. Can you (or, rather, the Mac) get to the desktop? Are you presented with a screenful of largeish framed icons of applications? If so, At Ease may be the installed program (depending on the age of the Mac and its installed OS).

At Ease can be 'uninstalled' with the install (floppy) disk, whereafter there are no further problems of access. However, if you do not have At Ease, which is now quite long in the tooth, your best recourse is to reformat the hard disk totally. This is, generally, the method to remove a disk-level password also. The loss of all software, to which you do not have title unless you have the install disks/CDs, is a collateral that you have to endure.

MRL

I recycle Macs from several school districts and there is one 'foolproof' - pun intended- way to get around password protection. It is called paving over the top. If you want to 'break the password,' you need to use code breaking software. This site is not about unauthorized access.

Therefor, I assume that you just want to use the machine. My personal belief is that anyone wanting to tinker with older Macs needs to find an external hard drive/power supply and an Apple OEM drive that will boot a mac externally. Then your solution is foolproof child's play.

Open the copy protected Mac and disconect just the power plug on the offending drive. Plug the external drive into the back of the Mac and boot from that ( I have found that systems 7.5.3 or 8.1, both on a partitioned drive will boot almost anything). Choose that drive as the starup volume and shut down.

Reconnect the power to the original drive and restart the computer. Go to drive setup and reformat the original drive. You now have eliminated the Foolproof software or anyother software and you have protected the privacy of the former user's files.

As an example, when one school converted the middle school computer lab to IBM, they took all the Macs to the elementary wing of the school. Using an external SCSI tower, my son confirgured 21 Macs for their new destinations in the time it took the hired professional to configure one new PC.

That tower has a CD-ROM-ID 3 ( power disabled when connected to a Mac w/ internal CD-ROM, a Yamaha CD burner, ID 4, a zip drive for booting from systems not on the hard drive, and a 4 gig Apple OEM HD partitioned for multiple OS configurations. The tower has started hundreds of Macs and has not crashed in several years.

Find some external tools and enjoy playing with old Macs.

Jim

MRL
You may check the internal backup battery(4,5 V Alkaline), look at whoopis.com(Performa 630,LC 630,Quadra 630) for repair,battery-check,troubleshooting).
To initialize the HD you will at least need a DIsk Tools disk.
You may look for this at(jpl!)at:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1358076&#1358076
By the way,as question is answered already,you perhaps should post again to get some more replies.
Good luck

These Macs use "soft power" and use the power key on the keyboard to start up. Some models like this also have a bump in the plastic next to the display connector, which covers a restart button.