I do not know the admin password on a used Mac I purchased.

Someone just gave me a used Mac G5. It works perfectly but I can't access several things on it because I don't know the Admin password. I don't have the discs or the apple keyboard. I saw all the instructions you gave in a recent post but I want to male sure. I wanted to know if I had to have an apple keyboard or if I can use another one. I would like if you could answer as soon as possible please

why would you even buy a mac g5

Texas Mac Man wrote:

Here's one method to reset the password without the install disc:

1. boot computer and hold the "apple" key and the "s" key.

2. wait for terminal show

3. release keys

4. type without the quotes: "/sbin/mount -uaw"

5. press enter

6. type without the quotes: "rm /var/db/.applesetupdone

7. press enter

8. type without the quotes: "reboot"

9. press enter

This will let you create a new admin account when you reboot your computer.

Also, without the discs, look at Mac OS X Tip - No Password, No Root, No CD? No Problem.

http://www.macobserver.com/tip/2003/06/16.1.shtml

Here is another way to get around not knowing the admin password on Macs.

To reset your OS X password without an OS X CD you need to enter terminal and create a new admin account:

1. Reboot

2. Hold apple + s down after you hear the chime.

3. When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line):

* mount -uw /

* rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

* shutdown -h now

4. After rebooting you should have a brand new admin account. When you login as the new admin you can simply delete the old one and you’re good to go again!

 Cheers, Tom 😉

I was able to follow the above however, when I selected delete the user and their home folder, I'm finding that it is not completing the deletion. I started this process well over four hours ago now and I still cannot install updates that require restart as System Pref is busy and cannot be closed.

Any suggestions? I don't want to do a hard restart and create a larger problem since I don't know if what I'm experiencing is 'normal' when deleting a previous admin account.

Thanks, Martin

Edit:

After following the previous steps all that was required was a hard restart after which, everything worked as expected.

Cheers, Martin

I had the same problem with my Mac G5 that I still use for video editing....I bought this unit used and started a video project logged in as the original admin....when I started the unit up it did not ask for a password...only when trying to install some software that I had did it ask for it. I followed the info as was listed in this post and was able to create a new admin. But now I can't access the original video files...I cant even log in as the original admin as was doing in the previously. All the files are locked in that old admin account. Any ideas how I can get to those? I have a video project just about completed and needed to send to a client this week and am in a panic!

Thank you for this post. I bought a mac pro and couldn't for the life of me figure out how to reset the admin account. Thanks. You are awesome.

Hi This has worked for me however, it seems that I have lost everything as a completely new desktop has appeared without any of my company work files.

I did read another comment where I could access the Accounts in Preferences and change the password on the original owners Mac and now trying to login again it says.....Mac OS X wants to use the "login" keychain

Please enter the keychain password

What is this and how do I find it?

Many thanks

Tim

Your problem, hardware or software, may not be exactly the same as that of the original poster of this older thread, and it can be very confusing for everybody if we try to answer more than one question in each thread, which can also result in you applying the wrong advice to your particular problem.

This forum covers older (ten years) versions of OS X on non-Intel Macs.

In order for us to give your problem our proper attention to try to solve it, would you kindly start your own thread, describing the trouble you are having in the fullest detail, including completing your details to show what Mac or iDevice you are using, what operating system, and what version of the application in question. Please remember to post in the forum relevant to your hardware or version of OS X. A full list of all the support forums is here:

http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

Its your password.

Paul

Hello,

I just tried this on a iMac and now i have a grey screen only being displayed along with the rainbow circle and it's been 45 minutes like this . I keep getting the language selection screen dialog box and nothing else. Any help would be appreciated.

Your problem, hardware or software, may not be exactly the same as that of the original poster of this older thread, and it can be very confusing for everybody if we try to answer more than one question in each thread, which can also result in you applying the wrong advice to your particular problem.

In order for us to give your problem our proper attention to try to solve it, would you kindly start your own thread, describing the trouble you are having in the fullest detail, including completing your details to show what Mac or iDevice you are using, what operating system, and what version of the application in question. Please remember to post in the forum relevant to your hardware or version of OS X. A full list of all the support forums is here:

http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

Thank you Tom. It worked perfectally

Tom, Thank you for the clear instructions. The first method for resetting without the install disks worked for me.

This was plaguing me for a few days trying to figure out how to get into the new system that was handed down.

Regards,

Vijay

the method Texas Mac man Explained worked for me too.

on Mac mini os x sierra after the cancel of migration assistant deleted the only account on the Mac (probably a unique one time only bug) making it impossible to login (you can't login without a user to log into).

thanks

How would you do this in a late 2013 Macbook ori pro laptop.?