How can the password be reset on 'no optical drive' Mini?

I have to guess about the version of OSX and I don't think

the owner upgraded from the original - as the Mini is

fairly recent but pre-Lion will assume it's Leopard or

Snow Leopard. The links you provide look helpful.

Am also wondering if Remote Install app might

over Target Disk Mode. Thanks for the support -

I won't know the outcome until I drive up there

over New Year's. Tom

I went to the home prepared to start up the Mini with the

correct Snow Leopard install disk and as luck would have

it the optical drive was inoperative. After confirming with

another disk I went to use TDM and found this mid-2011

machine had FW 800 port and I'd forgotten to bring an

adapter. I'm now back at my place testing the approach

(TDM) with an old Mini here. I don't understand how to

get to Accounts, etc. without the ability to open System

Prefs on the target Mac and I'm chary about turning to

Terminal because of the need to delete/create a new

Keychain Password after a reset of the Admin password.

Can you please provide any more instructions on how

to use TDM to reset the Admin password? Thanks, Tom

TDM didn't work but one of the links you provided:

How to reset your Mac OS X password without an installer disc | MacYourself

let me create a new admin account to log in and retrieve

all the original user/owner/administrator's desktop and

data.

Thanks very much.

Tom

Let me correct that - the new admin can get to iPhoto but

can't Export from it - a warning state . . "unable to create

desktop (with path to the deceased owner's name)."

So even though I can get in to the computer not having

the original owner password restricts what can be done

in his account. Evidently I need to continue in my efforts

to reset his password. Next, trying TDM - first attempt

on his actual computer.

Yes that works - thanks! But now have the problem of not

being able to get any of his pics out of iPhoto - export,

drag or anything even to Desktop or external drive even

though I seem to be logged in now to his old account

where all his files are. iPhoto just refuses to yield them

up. Have done the normal checks, tunes, rebuilds - but

do I need DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory or something?

The Mini is running 10.6.8, iPhoto '09.

Now thinking the pics aren't actually in iPhoto, which is

reporting 440 photos. The error messages upon dragging

or exporting always cite an inability to create the destination

(desktop, the external disk, etc. On the other hand, there

are 7,000 photos in Pictures. The owner wasn't adept in Mac

apps and may have imported a few into iPhoto and later

moved them back into Pictures. As a test, I imported a

single pic into iPhoto and was able to export it at will. It

seems like the containers persist in the app perhaps as

the residual of previous residence there - but no longer.

Thanks very much for your help.

The permissions are all good - it's just that some, not all

of the pics can't be exported. When you dbl-click a thumbnail

it comes up with the big exclamation point. Terence Devlin

advises this in another post and I'll take the steps he lists.

Terence Devlin Sep 7, 2007 11:59 PM
Re: big exclamation point in response to nelson ram

The ! or ? turns up when iPhoto loses the connection between the thumbnail in the iPhoto Window and the file it represents.

The most common cause of this is User Activity in the iPhoto Library Folder in the Finder.

Have you altered, moved or renamed anything in the iPhoto Library Folder?

If you haven't, then try rebuilding the database. Hold down the apple and option (or alt) keys and launch iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose the top three options.

If you have made changes in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder then your choices are:

1. Return things to precisely the way they were or

2. Create and populate a new library:

Note this will give you a working library with the same film rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, books, calendars etc.

Move the iPhoto Library Folder to the desktop

Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.

Go into the iPhoto Library Folder on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual rolls to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.

When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library Folder on your desktop.

In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.

It is strongly advised that you do not move, change or in anyway alter things in the iPhoto Library Folder as this can cause the application to fail and even lead to data loss