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i forgot my admistrator password

I forgot my administrator password and am not able to unlock to make changes to my computer

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2012), iOS 8.3

Posted on Apr 29, 2015 4:48 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 29, 2015 6:27 PM

OS X Lion: Reset a login password

OS X Mountain Lion: Reset a login password

OS X Mavericks: Reset a login password

OS X Yosemite: Reset a login password


Scroll down to Resetting the original administrator account password. Try the procedure under reset your user password with your Apple ID.


If that does not work for whatever reason you can also use the following technique:


  1. Restart your Mac while holding down the ⌘ and R keys at the same time until you see the OS X Recovery screen.
  2. From the menu bar at the top, select Utilities > Terminal.
  3. In the Terminal window type resetpassword and press Enter. A window will open behind Terminal that looks like this

User uploaded fileUser uploaded file

  1. Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD" in the above screenshot), choose your user account from the dropdown selection, enter a new password, complete the password hint field, and click Save.
  2. You may then see a confirmation dialog explaining how this change affects Keychain Access and what to do about it. Remember it or write it down, then click OK.
  3. Quit Reset Password
  4. Quit Terminal
  5. Quit OS X Utilities and restart your Mac.


To fix your Keychain problems, go to your Utilities folder and open Keychain Access. Follow the steps here: Mac OS X: Keychain Access asks for keychain "login" after changing login password.

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Apr 29, 2015 6:27 PM in response to ingridfromnelson

OS X Lion: Reset a login password

OS X Mountain Lion: Reset a login password

OS X Mavericks: Reset a login password

OS X Yosemite: Reset a login password


Scroll down to Resetting the original administrator account password. Try the procedure under reset your user password with your Apple ID.


If that does not work for whatever reason you can also use the following technique:


  1. Restart your Mac while holding down the ⌘ and R keys at the same time until you see the OS X Recovery screen.
  2. From the menu bar at the top, select Utilities > Terminal.
  3. In the Terminal window type resetpassword and press Enter. A window will open behind Terminal that looks like this

User uploaded fileUser uploaded file

  1. Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD" in the above screenshot), choose your user account from the dropdown selection, enter a new password, complete the password hint field, and click Save.
  2. You may then see a confirmation dialog explaining how this change affects Keychain Access and what to do about it. Remember it or write it down, then click OK.
  3. Quit Reset Password
  4. Quit Terminal
  5. Quit OS X Utilities and restart your Mac.


To fix your Keychain problems, go to your Utilities folder and open Keychain Access. Follow the steps here: Mac OS X: Keychain Access asks for keychain "login" after changing login password.

i forgot my admistrator password

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