Mac air requesting ADMIN NAME !

Here you go, from OS X: Changing or resetting an account password

In Mac OS X v10.6.8 or earlier, follow these steps to reset a password when there is only one administrator account on the computer, or if the original administrator account needs a password reset. "Original" administrator account refers to the one that was created immediately after installing Mac OS X. If the original administrator password is known, that administrator account may be used to reset the passwords of other administrator accounts using the steps described above. These steps require an optical drive; if your Mac does not have an optical drive and you have a Mac OS X v10.6 Install disc, see below.

1. Start up from a Mac OS X Install disc (one whose version is closest to the version of Mac OS X installed). Usually, you can start from the disc by putting it in your computer, restarting, and holding the C key. Or, put it in the computer and click the Install or Restore icon you see in the disc's main window (after which the computer will start from the disc without you needing to hold C). Or, you can use Startup Manager or the Startup Disk preference pane to select the Install disc.
2. Choose a language, click the arrow button to continue,
3. Mac OS X v10.6 or later: Choose Password Reset from the Utilities menu.
   Mac OS X v10.5 or v10.4: Choose Reset Password from the Utilities menu.
   Mac OS X v10.3: Choose Reset Password from the Installer menu.
   Tip: If you don't see this menu or menu choice, you're probably not started from the disc yet.
   
   Note: The default keyboard layout is U.S. English while started from the installation disc. If you use a keyboard layout other than U.S English, use the Input menu (the flag icon on the right side of the menu bar) to select the desired layout before typing a new password.
4. Select your Mac OS X hard disk volume.
5. Select the user name of your original administrator account.
   Important: Do not select "System Administrator (root)". This is actually the root user. You should not confuse it with a normal administrator account.
   
6. Enter a new password.
7. Click Save.
8. Click the red button in the upper left corner to quit the application.
9. Choose Quit Mac OS X Installer... from the Mac OS X Installer menu.
10. Click Restart.

After following these steps, you'll want to also follow the steps in this article.

When I open Accouts, System preferences My accounts indicates me as Standard not admin.

If I understand you correctly, you have no Administrator accounts on your Mac? None?

This is supposed to be impossible, but if that is really what happened read the following to determine how to fix it:

The administrator account on my iMac has been changed to standard account somehow. How do I change it back to Admin. without any admin account to put password in with..?

Please let me know if this works for you.

Please read and do the following, from this KB article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1278

Please follow the instructions carefully. Follow all the steps exactly as written.

This should change your Standard account to Administrator so that you can administer your computer.

If you find yourself unable to perform each step exactly as written, stop and let me know where you are stuck.

Symptoms

After performing an upgrade installation (the default type) of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, an administrator account may change to a standard one.

Resolution

1. Start from your Mac OS X 10.5 Install DVD. (You do not need to install Leopard again.)
2. From the Utilities menu, choose Reset Password (do not choose Firmware Password Utility).
3. Follow the onscreen instructions to reset the root account password (the root account is not the same as your account).

   Specifically: Select the name of the drive that Mac OS X is installed on, select the user named "System Administrator (root)" from the pop-up menu, type the password in the first field, re-enter the password in the second field, then click the Save button.

4. Restart from your Mac OS X Leopard volume.
5. When the login window appears, select "Other..." and log in as the root user using the password that was created above.

   Note: If Mac OS X automatically logs in, choose Log Out (name) from the Apple menu to get to the login window.

6. Go to System Preferences > Accounts, select your account, then check (enable) "Allow user to administer this computer". Close System Preferences.
7. From the Apple menu, choose Log Out root....
8. Log in as the user account that had this issue.

   That account should now have administrator access.

9. Use Directory Utility to disable the root user via Directory Utility's Edit menu. You may need to click the lock icon first.

From your description, your machine did not boot from the DVD. Try rebooting the system holding down the Alt or Option key (same key on a Mac keyboard).

This will give you a boot menu to select the drive you want to boot from. If you have the OS X Install DVD in the drive you should see it listed in the boot screen (looks like a Leopard DVD). Slect it with the mouse or use the cursor to select thst DVD and hit return on the keyboard or click the arrow with the mouse to boot from that volume.

Once the DVD finishes booting the system you will see an install screen.

Dont install. Go back to step number 2 in the instructions given above.

Hope that helps.

Your machine has a firmware security password set.

This prevents anyone from booting the machine from anything other than the hard drive that is internal unless you know the password.

If the machine is not

Is the machine owned by a corporation that may have set security on this to prevent that?

Unfortunately, if you do not know yor firmware password, then there is no easy way to get around that. You can google solutions on the net but essentially it involves removing and replacing or brute force cracking the encryption on a physical chip.

If you take it to an Apple authorised reapir center they can send it to Apple to have it done.

It is not trivial and there is no software hack to do this.

It is specifically designed to secure a machine physically and be difficult (not impossible) to circumvent.

Good luck.

I start my mac book air with my superdrive connected with no 1 disc in the drive.

I open applications

I Open Utilities I get a list of 24 items commencing at Activity Monitor .app ending in X11.app

From the Utilities menu, choose Reset Password (do not choose Firmware Password Utility).

OK, thanks. You are getting stuck at Step 1.

After you start your Mac from your System Install DVD, you will see a screen like this:

That is Step 1. You should see that screen.

When you get to that point, proceed with Step 2:

2. From the Utilities menu, choose Reset Password (do not choose Firmware Password Utility)

... and go on from there.

john ap jones wrote:

i get a white screen with a locked paddlock and a dialouge box which I can enter into but cannot see the letters

Are you seeing this?

If you are, and you do not know the password, I'm afraid Bruce Stewart is correct.

The EFI Firmware Password is very secure. On a MacBook Air, it cannot be circumvented by anyone but Apple.

MacBook Air (Original), MacBook Air (Late 2008), and MacBook Air (Mid 2009): Recovering a lost EFI firmware password

I wish I had better news for you.

😟