Not able to access after upgrade!

Question

Level 2

170 points

Not able to access after upgrade!

Hi there,

Just inherited an iMac (2GHz, IntelCore Duo, version iMac7,1) and performed the upgrade from 10.5 to 10.7.5.

First I used my SnowLeopard installer DVD, which worked perfectly. Then I downloaded Lion (10.7.5) from the Apple Store and installed.

After the installation I can not longer access the computer from the log in window as none of the user passwords are recognised.

I have used the resetpassword trick in terminal, but although it resets the password, still is not recognised.

I have used the reset pasword through Apple ID, and the same thing.

I've tried easy passwords (1, a, etc), and long passwords, and nothing.

I've even created a new Admin account using the rm /var/db/AppleSetupDone terminal approach, successfully created the account with a new password and then... I'm not able to log in.

I think that the problem might be that the computer was previously set up to use remote user log in (log in from a server) and now it is trying to find the old server to start up and check the password.

Is there any way to reset that?

or is it something else?

Thanks!

Posted on Oct 21, 2012 4:04 AM

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Answer 1

jcarvajal Author

Level 2

170 points

Oct 21, 2012 9:22 AM in response to jcarvajal

Nobody?

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Oct 21, 2012 1:01 PM in response to jcarvajal

This may be resulting from a pre-existing problem when you upgraded to Snow Leopard. In any event I think you should perform major surgery which means you need to have a good backup to start. Try the following:

Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Erase the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click on

the Erase tab in the DU main window.

3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero

Data option to one-pass. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

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Answer 3

jcarvajal Author

Level 2

170 points

Oct 22, 2012 8:46 AM in response to Kappy

Thanks, I haven't tried that yet as I managed to unlock the computer by transfering several mobile users from my old computer to the new one. I may still need to do that sometime as it keeps trying to connect to the old server.

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