no administrator 10.13.2

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Level 1

5 points

no administrator 10.13.2

I am running 10.13.2 on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014). In the past few days I have installed the OS update and changed the name on the only user account. This account is no longer an administrator so I am unable to make changes to my laptop. I have tried several solutions including resetting the password and the Terminal solutions that involve launching setup to no avail. I understand that these solutions might not be valid after the security update. I realize I might have triggered this after changing the name of the user account but I cannot recall the individual steps I took to make the change. In any case, all I want to do is either create a new admin account or allow the only

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Dec 14, 2017 5:08 AM

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Answer 1

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Dec 15, 2017 6:55 AM in response to bwgunia

My apologies - typo on my part.

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone (forgot the dot in front of AppleSetupDone)

I'm running Sierra but here's a partial look at what the /var/db looks like from Terminal.

drwxr-xr-x 71 root wheel 2414 Dec 12 17:31 .

drwxr-xr-x 26 root wheel 884 Nov 15 17:03 ..

-r-------- 1 root wheel 0 Nov 15 14:46 .AppleDiagnosticsSetupDone

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 233 Aug 11 08:35 .AppleInstallType.plist

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 0 Aug 11 08:36 .AppleSetupDone

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 288 Nov 24 13:38 .GKRearmTimer

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 182 Nov 15 14:15 .MASManifest

-r-------- 1 root wheel 61440 Oct 11 18:19 .SystemPolicy-default

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 662 Dec 9 12:13 .com.apple.iokit.graphics

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 0 Nov 15 14:15 .configureLocalKDC

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 246 Dec 6 15:54 .installerdiagstate

-rw------- 1 root wheel 2097152 Nov 24 13:25 BRLM.db

-r-------- 1 root wheel 0 Jun 15 2017 BootCache.data

-rw------- 1 root wheel 90560 Dec 12 17:30 BootCache.playlist

drwxr-xr-x 16 root wheel 544 Dec 12 17:31 BootCaches

drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 170 Nov 15 16:54 ConfigurationProfiles

drwxr-xr-x@ 7 root wheel 238 Nov 15 14:15 CoreDuet

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Answer 2

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Dec 15, 2017 7:45 AM in response to bwgunia

Here's a link (dated 11/18/2017) for recreating an Admin account and there doesn't seem to be anything else to do and nothing to say it won't work with High Sierra.

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Answer 3

JimmyCMPIT

Level 7

29,223 points

Dec 15, 2017 6:26 AM in response to bwgunia

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

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Answer 4

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Dec 14, 2017 10:12 AM in response to bwgunia

Try this to create a new Administrator account.

Restart Mac into Single-user mode (Command+S).

Enter the following commands:

mount -uw /

rm /var/db/applesetupdone

Restart Mac

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Answer 5

bwgunia Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 15, 2017 2:19 AM in response to keg55

Thanks but this didn't solve the problem. After entering the command "rm /var/db/applesetupdone", the response was "rm: /var/db/applesetupdone: No such file or directory"

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Answer 6

bwgunia Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 15, 2017 6:24 AM in response to bwgunia

As I could not make changes, I was having to log in each time the computer went to sleep or was closed. Now my login password will no longer work and I am unable even to log in.

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Answer 7

bwgunia Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 15, 2017 6:43 AM in response to JimmyCMPIT

Thanks, after I post the latest, I remembered how to reset my login password in Recovery mode but I still have no admin account.

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Answer 8

bwgunia Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 15, 2017 7:19 AM in response to keg55

Okay, when I entered it this way I got the line "override r-------- root/wheel/ for var/db.AppleSetupDone?" Does this require a response before I reboot?

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