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Resetting administrator account password

How can I reset the administrator account password in my Mac (OS X Lion), if this is the only account activated, and I cannot remember my password even if I tried all possibilities? I didn't even link my Apple ID to my OS X user account, so the help offered in Apple support is not useful to me.

Due to this problem, all my software updates are paralized for over a year now.

¿Cómo puedo restablecer la contraseña de la cuenta de administrador de mi Mac (OS X Lion), si ésta es la única cuenta activa que tengo, de cuya contraseña no me acuerdo por mucho que haya intentado todas las posibilidades, y si no tengo activado que mi ID de Apple restablezca la contraseña de usuario de OS X?

Llevo más de un año con todas las actualizaciones paralizadas porque para cualquier tipo de instalación me solicita esta contraseña que de ninguna manera consigo encontrar.

Posted on May 6, 2015 9:01 AM

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Posted on May 6, 2015 10:27 AM

Note: If you've activated FileVault, this procedure doesn't apply. Follow instead these instructions.

Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities window appears, select

Utilities Terminal

from the menu bar at the top of the screen—not from any of the items in the OS X Utilities window.

In the window that opens, type this:

resetp

Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

resetpassword

Press return. A Reset Password window opens. Close the Terminal window to get it out of the way.

Select the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected. You won't be able to do this if FileVault is active.

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 the Keychain will be reset (empty.) If you've forgotten the Keychain password (which is ordinarily the same as the login password), there's no way to recover it.

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 6, 2015 10:27 AM in response to Xomorro

Note: If you've activated FileVault, this procedure doesn't apply. Follow instead these instructions.

Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities window appears, select

Utilities Terminal

from the menu bar at the top of the screen—not from any of the items in the OS X Utilities window.

In the window that opens, type this:

resetp

Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

resetpassword

Press return. A Reset Password window opens. Close the Terminal window to get it out of the way.

Select the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected. You won't be able to do this if FileVault is active.

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 the Keychain will be reset (empty.) If you've forgotten the Keychain password (which is ordinarily the same as the login password), there's no way to recover it.

Resetting administrator account password

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