My dad died; how do I access his account?

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Level 1

8 points

My dad died; how do I access his account?

My father tragically died over 4 weeks ago at the age of 58. I am trying to gain access to his account on one of his macs because my mother is in need of some important documents. Unfortunately, the password and master password that he had written down a few months ago are no longer the same.

Therefore, how do I access his admin account without knowing his password or master password?

Should I call or email Apple over this? I am not so certain if this would go under tech support or something else.

Thanks.

iMac

Posted on Aug 4, 2012 7:02 AM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Aug 4, 2012 12:14 PM in response to nhwxman

Which operating system version? There are different ways of proceeding.

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Answer 2

nhwxman Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 4, 2012 1:28 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for your response.

The operating system version is...... Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4

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Answer 3

Paul_31

Level 6

14,172 points

Aug 4, 2012 1:37 PM in response to nhwxman

Sorry to hear of your loss. Have a look here for resetting the admin password:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/24/reset-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-password/

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Answer 4

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Aug 4, 2012 4:09 PM in response to Paul_31

Thanks for jumping in. I got tied up with a outside repair project.😉

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Answer 5

nhwxman Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 4, 2012 6:17 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the link. I did try the first method. It gets to the point where I can change the password, but no accounts come up for me to be able to change anything. When I have a chance I'll try method #2. If all else fails I can do more research. Worst case scenerio means my mom will have to wait until his macbook and iphone come back. Those have his password to this imac. My dad passed of natural causes on a vacation in another country, but getting his belongings back could take many months. Anyway, thanks again for your help.

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

250,409 points

Aug 4, 2012 8:53 PM in response to nhwxman

If it'a Master Password for a Filevault account, you'll definitely need the PW, but the admin PW can be worked around, just no good if he used Filevault.

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