Mac Account/Login Disappeared...

Question

Level 1

17 points

Mac Account/Login Disappeared...

Hi. After a short break during a days work on my iMac I returned to the usual login screen where my profile name and image appears - however when entering my password it was denied... just repeating the "shake" animation on the password field after each attempt. I restarted the computer and now my user account does not appear at all and instead a blank profile image with the text "Other..." below it is seen, and when clicked, a "Name" field and "Enter Password" field appears. Entering my account name and password here is rejected every time... and I am unable to log in at all. Has anyone experienced this problem before? Any advice on how I can log back in, access my files and return using my iMac normally would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Sep 1, 2017 3:08 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

687,081 points

Sep 1, 2017 7:52 PM in response to LeifVarvick

Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart) and select Recovery Volume. Run Disk Utility and select First Aid. Then re-install the OS.

OS X Recovery

OS X Recovery (2)

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Answer 2

hokoonho

Level 1

17 points

Dec 26, 2017 8:14 PM in response to LeifVarvick

I have this problem too, and find out the solution. At least works for me...

The idea is to delete a config file, and make the Mac think it is a new Mac, then the Mac will bring me to the setup screen, just like what you see in a new Mac.

After that, the Mac will create a new admin account for you, and with this account, you can create back your lost account, or recover any file. The whole steps only spend me 15 minutes.

After the fix, make sure that your Mac got at least 2 GB of free space.

here is the detail instruction

Mac password / account recovery (English subtitle) - YouTube

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Answer 3

LeifVarvick Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 2, 2017 12:35 AM in response to tygb

This solution looked promising but when I ran 'resetpassword' the app started normally and asked to "select a user to reset the password for:" ...but nothing was listed, just a blank box, no users/accounts... So I think now I will copy the most recent files I've worked on via the Terminal to an external drive and then restore my Mac from a Time Machine backup that was made a few days ago, I'll loose some work and hours but oh well, could be worse...

Definitely a very strange failure, I hope it doesn't happen again as it appears there isn't a fix.

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Answer 4

tygb

Level 9

65,182 points

Sep 2, 2017 8:18 AM in response to LeifVarvick

The computer has entered in the internet recovery mode , click on drop down arrows , I do remember somewhat , it happened in my system months back , I had slow network speed so couldn't sort out and submitted the machine in apple authorised service centre they took two days and reinstalled the OS once again .

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Answer 5

LeifVarvick Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 1, 2017 7:13 PM in response to LeifVarvick

I have also tried restarting the Mac to Safe Mode which still leads to the same open/blank user login screen... entering my account name and password is still rejected, offering no way to log in... 😟

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Answer 6

LeifVarvick Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 1, 2017 8:24 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for the response Eric, unfortunately I have tried this but with no luck. I have run First Aid on my disk and no errors were found and everything "appears to be ok". I have also done a new re-install of macOS which when completed just restarted back to the same login screen with no user profile. Do you know of anything else I could try?

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Answer 7

LeifVarvick Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 1, 2017 9:49 PM in response to tygb

Thanks tygb, but no joy either... as I am unable see my user account or successfully enter the details in, I can't login to complete step 1 of the support article. My iMac is just my personal machine with only a single user account, myself - which no longer appears at startup.

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Answer 8

tygb

Level 9

65,182 points

Sep 1, 2017 9:09 PM in response to LeifVarvick

See if this article helps OS X: Deleted user account reappears; or, cannot use automatic login for a certain user account - Apple Support

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Answer 9

tygb

Level 9

65,182 points

Sep 1, 2017 11:11 PM in response to LeifVarvick

Please contact in apple support , entering in recovery mode , selecting language , click on utilities > terminal > resetpassword and click on enter , then upcoming steps are there and lengthy , I tried in my system was successful and I have to create a new login keychain in the end .

As I was having four digit iCloud verification code in records , I was able to configure iCloud Keychain successfully .

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