Changed password to login to machine, now I can't login

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Level 1

9 points

Changed password to login to machine, now I can't login

After the amount of things I tried to sort this issue, I don't know where exactly to begin at this point. So, I'll try to be as concise and clear as I can be. Hopefully you guys be able to help:

Today I changed the password to login to my machine and when I restarted the machine, I couldn't login with the new password. After changing it a few times still the same problem. No new password seemed to work and even the old password stopped working.

The funny thing is that when I changed the password the first time, I gave a 'hint' of 'None', then I gave other hints to the other subsequent passwords, but all the time I was trying to see the password hint, it was always 'None'.

Calling Apple Support they were even surprised it didn't work and this issue was happening. Still, Apple Support haven't been able to help me.

Just to give a bit of context, my HardDisk is encrypted and is my guess that there might be a bit of a unsync issue between my machine password and the FileVault password. Not entirely sure, though.

I try going in to recovery with Cmd+R on restarting, tried using on the Terminal diskutil coreStorage unlockVolumen LVUUID, diskutil coreStorage revert LVUUID, diskutil coreStorage decrypt LVUUID, diskutil coreStorage decrypt LVUUID, and a couple other alternatives and pretty much everything this guy sugests here.

Last thing I tried before getting to this forum was the reset password and between the option 1) I forgot my password; 2) My password doesn't work when logging in; 3) My keyboard isn't working when typing my password to log in I chose option #3 as I read that you can disable the FileVault. Trying this with the correct password I get the confirmation message "Are you sure you would like to disable FileVault on your volume?" in which I click "Disable Vault" and then again tells me "Incorrect password". Looking at the terminal while performing this action I can see this line:

2017-08-24 15:08:20.979 KeyRecoveryAssistan[505:27099] Decryption error: Error Domain=com.apple.DiskManagement Code=-69749 (null)
Decryption error: Error Domain=com.apple.DiskManagement Code=-69749 "(null)"

So, I don't know. I'm trying this alternative to get help before having to wipe the disk and reinstall the OS. Any help that can shed light into this issue would be muchly appreciated. Thank you!

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Aug 24, 2017 3:16 PM

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Answer 1

iFrantar Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 25, 2017 4:54 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric! In the end, the lady on Apple Support walked me through a solution with an external drive to install MacOS there, then from the external drive installation reach the Macintosh HD and get my files. After that, we proceeded to wipe out the disk and doing a fresh installation and grabbing from the external disk my files. I wish there was a better solution but this is what I got advised to do. So today it I was spending it redownloading all my apps and stuff. At least I managed to recover my files.

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Answer 2

Hawkdive

Level 1

58 points

Aug 25, 2017 6:41 AM in response to iFrantar

I am sure this is the password screen you get as soon as system boots and shows a dark grey apple logo. This is the FileVault password which is trying to unlock your startup disk and it has nothing to do with the login password. Your FileVault password is still the same that you selected during encrypting your Start up disk ( while turning the file vault on). Changing the password from recovery mode is not going to help here that will be used on second login window when the OS is about to load the system processes after the boot process is completed.

The only option to get into your Mac is to unlock your disk using the the recovery key if you copied down when you turned on FileVault disk encryption. If you cannot find your recovery key but stored it with Apple, contact Apple Support.

For more information on FileVault password read the following support article:

At the login screen, keep entering a password until you see a message saying that you can reset your password using your Recovery Key. If you don't see the message after three attempts, FileVault isn't on.

Change or reset the password of a macOS user account - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-eg/HT202385

Use FileVault to encrypt the startup disk on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

iFrantar Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 25, 2017 12:17 AM in response to Hawkdive

Yep, password is not an option as I don't remember what I did with it. However, I do have the recovery code saved. But I don't know how to use it instead of a password. Nothing on the GUI steps to recover your disk prompts you to use your recovery key instead of a password. On the terminal on the other hand you have options. The one I tried is:

diskutil corestorage revert UUID_here -passphrase recoverykey_here

Where it says revert I tried other verbs as well i.e., revert, decrypt, unlockVolume, etc. with the option to type in the recovery key, but nothing is happening. So, I don't know what else to try.

One thing I'll be giving a go is what this guy commented here but I don't know if might be something else I could try (?)

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