Don't know my administrator password

Question

Level 1

9 points

Don't know my administrator password

I just got my macbook air back from a repair place. They inserted a nice hard drive since I was unable to remember my administer password. About a hour ago I was able to make changes to any being lock just by typing

Name: User

Password (was left empty)

I wanted to change the User name to my personal name, which I believe I did. After I did that, it asked me to unlock the key to make any changes and wasn't able to use User or my personal name. The administrator (who is me) has no password. Can someone help me out?

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Apr 18, 2015 1:17 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 18, 2015 1:19 PM in response to melvinrocker

Forgot Your Account Password

For Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks

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.

When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu.

Enter resetpassword at the prompt and press RETURN. Follow

instructions in the dialog window that will appear.

Or see:

Reset a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Password

OS X Mountain Lion- Reset a login password,

OS X Mavericks- Solve password problems,

OS X Lion- Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.

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Answer 2

melvinrocker Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 18, 2015 1:30 PM in response to Kappy

I tried doing the way you indicated and also from the links you provided, but the system won't let me. When I try to rebooted, it says i'm not permitted.

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Answer 3

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Apr 19, 2015 11:19 AM in response to melvinrocker

Not permitted is a feature of the 'normal OS' – you either haven't rebooted correctly, or you may not have a recovery partition on the system.

Please try again…

Recovery mode

Power off
Hold cmd + r
Press power
Keep holding cmd + r until you see an list of tools (or the normal desktop).

It can take a few tries to get right.

If that still fails try Internet recovery - this is much slower because the OS is downloaded from the internet - please connect to a wired ethernet connection for the internet if possible - it is more stable & generally faster too.

Internet recovery

Power off
Hold cmd + r + alt
Press power
Keep holding cmd + r +alt until you see an list of tools (or the normal desktop).

It can take many tries to get right.

Internet recovery has the same basic tools as Recovery mode, follow the guides Kappy linked to once in recovery or internet recovery mode

If this all still fails please describe what you see & let us know what other Macs you have access to - it may be simplest to create a USB installer to use as a recovery system.

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 19, 2015 11:19 AM in response to melvinrocker

Forgot Your Account Password

For Snow Leopard and earlier with installer DVD

Mac OS X 10.6- If you forget your administrator password,

OS X- Changing or resetting an account password (Snow Leopard and earlier).

For Snow Leopard and earlier without installer DVD

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

Reset OS X Password Without an OS X CD — Tech News and Analysis

How To Create A New Administrator Account - Hack Mac

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