How to recover the admin password

Question

Level 1

0 points

How to recover the admin password

Enabling the parental control function has changed the admin status to a managed one which was not intended.

How can I recover the admin status? I have tried to follow a few instructions found in the internet that suggested to use the single mode, but I could not find the necessary admin files that needed to be removed so that the Admin Assistant program would start at booting. Instead, the system is not starting at all.

How can I solve this problem?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.3.x)

Posted on May 4, 2014 7:55 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Melophage

Level 5

7,213 points

May 4, 2014 11:59 AM in response to Chong007

Chong007,

which model MacBook Pro do you have, and which version of OS X is installed on it? (It’s most certainly not Mac OS X 10.3.x.)

Reply

Answer 2

Chong007 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 4, 2014 4:49 PM in response to Melophage

Melophage,

thanks for the query. You are mostly right re the OS X version.

After rechecking via the serial no. I have found that I have a 13 inches A1278 model from early 2011.

One of the support sites suggests that it might be then OS X 10.6.6.

It could be even up to version 10.7.2 if it was a later model.

Thanks in advance.

Reply

Answer 3

Chong007 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 4, 2014 4:59 PM in response to Melophage

Melophage,

Pls disregard my previous comment.

The version is OS X 10.9.2.

Model A1278.

Reply

Answer 4

Melophage

Level 5

7,213 points

May 4, 2014 7:21 PM in response to Chong007

Chong007,

boot into Recovery mode by holding down ⌘R as your MacBook Pro starts up. When the OS X Utilities menu appears on your desktop, select Utilities from your menu bar, and from there select Terminal. In Terminal, run the following command:

resetpassword

Follow its instructions, and your administrative user’s password will be changed accordingly. Exit Terminal, then select Restart from the Apple menu to reboot into normal mode. When the login screen appears, log in as your administrative user, and then reset your administrative user’s password keychain so that it won’t constantly ask you for your administrative user’s password when you need to do administrative tasks.

If you find that your administrative user is still parentally managed, you could reboot into Single User mode, and enter the following commands there:

/sbin/mount -uw /

/bin/rm -f /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

/sbin/reboot

These should allow you to create a new administrative user, from which you should be able to reset your original administrative user to a non-managed state.

Reply