System preferences pane will not accept administrator password
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9), Exporting photos cancelled
When I click on the lock to open, it asked for my password to unlock it, I enter my admin password which is accepted to login to the computer, but this password does not unlock the users and groups nor the privacy pane.
So you do not see this after entering your password:
If the password works elsewhere, then I'm thinking there is a problem with your System Preferences application. Unfortunately, the only way to fix that is to reinstall OS X.
If you wish to try you can try resetting the admin password:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears.
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.
But, if this doesn't solve the problem, then you will need to try:
Reinstall El Capitan Without Erasing the Drive
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.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the indented Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless and more reliable.
Actually, my response was premature--the reinstall did not solve the problem. The correct answer is: Re-start in recovery mode, go to terminal in the menu bar, type in reset password (one word), then use something simple like apple for a password, then try to unlock users and groups, if that works, and it did, then change your password. I was using more than 16 characters and some of my characters were dashes. That appears to have caused the problem. I have now correctly installed a new password and it works. Thanks to a long chat with Senior advisors at Apple.
thanks, I kinda thought it would come to a reinstall. Will do and thanks again.
System Prefs is just an application. Exactly where are you trying to use the admin password? What error do you get? Are you sure the password is correct?
Sorry, trying to open users and groups specifically, although the privacy pane won't unlock either,
Does this happen when you click on the lock icon? It is not prompting for or not accepting your admin password? Is the password accepted elsewhere such as when you log onto the computer?
system preferences will not accept admin password
