I've recently purchased an older, used macbook and need to change the User ID and passwords WITHOUT having the older user ID and password.
Warning: I'm not very "tech savy".
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
This requires you to repartition and erase the drive. You will need a Snow Leopard retail installer DVD.
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
Assistant. After you finish Setup Assistant will complete the installation after which
you will be running a fresh install of OS X. You can now begin the update process
by opening Software Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your
installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Thanks Kappy! Unfortunately I don't have the discs but thanks for your detailed response!
kaz-k, I followed the instructions and was able to create an admin user and reset/change the password! Thanks for the link!
How can I change the admin User ID and password on used macbook?
