How can I get my iMac (late 2009) to startup in recovery mode? I'd like to reinstall the operating system. I've loaded a backup from time capsule in which I've forgotten the login password.
iMac, iOS 6.1.4
My late 2009 iMac is set up with 4 gb RAM, 8gb of memory and a 3.06 GHz processor. I have had some security issues lately and would like to see what has been done to my computer before beginning the process of cleaning it up and reinstalling a new OS. After two days of attempted encryption I reversed the procedure in file vault, but it remains as journaled, encrypted (process stalled). I want to look into what changes have been made before wiping the drive clean and starting again.
Could I download a new operating system, put it on an external hard drive via Time Machine, scrub the hard drive clean, create a new partition and then reinstall the fresh OS from the external hard drive via Time Machine?
A senior Apple technician mentioned using El Capitan with this near vintage machine. I currently am running Sierra 10.12.3 and am happy with the performance of it (although the download was 5 hours). Would the improved graphics performance of High Sierra work well with this machine, with its ATI Radeon HD 4670 256mb graphics card? Any suggestions you could make would be greatly appreciated.
You found a 4+ year old thread. Information provided is likely out of date and Mr Davis no longer participates here. Please start a new thread--some senior helpers avoid "tag-ons" to ancient threads. With a new thread you are assured of getting the help you deserve.
First, make sure caps lock is not on.
You must back up all data before continuing, unless you've already done so. If you need to back up but can't log in, ask for instructions.
If the user account is associated with an Apple ID, and you know the Apple ID password, then maybe theApple ID can be used to reset your user account password.
Otherwise*, boot into Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window opens.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Follow the prompts to reset the password. It's safest to choose a password that includes only the characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9.
Select
▹ Restart
from the menu bar.
You should now be able to log in with the new password, but your Keychain will be reset (empty.) If you've forgotten the Keychain password (which is ordinarily the same as your login password), there's no way to recover it.
*Note: If you've activated FileVault, this procedure doesn't apply. Follow instead the instructions on this page:
How can I get my iMac (late 2009) to startup in recovery mode? I'd like to reinstall the operating system. I've loaded a backup from time capsule in which I've forgotten the login password.
