Mojave password

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Level 1

11 points

Mojave password

Hi all;

I have the same issue as others here with this Mojave update. All goes well until you want to log in. I enter MY Password and it DOES NOT ACCEPT IT.

Same password I have been using for years and years and years.

Tried resetting password: FAIL it never seems to reset. When I CMD/R, bring up terminal, "reset password" it says right there to change ALL account passwords. But that is NOT possible because one account returns "Credential verification failed because account is disabled" Stopped dead in my tracks.

Tried removing applsetupdone, and it boots to the Language Choice screen. I choose my language, hit enter and it looks like its proceeding, but alas, no, it returns to the Language screen AGAIN.

Around in circles I go.

On top of that, sometimes when this thing reboots, there are NO accounts whatsoever. Just "Other".

If I reboot, sometimes my account comes up. But password still fails.

I never thought I would say it, but this is worse than Microsoft. Wow...

I left Microsoft and Windows world because of their horrific OS and updates that always went south, and here we are in Apple Town who seem to have decided to join Microsoft's abomination ecosystem.

What a HUGE disappointment. Wasted 4 hours of productivity.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.5), High Sierra

Posted on Oct 26, 2018 9:36 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

howard911 Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 26, 2018 11:04 AM in response to W. Raider

Ok....thanks W. Raider.

Booting to safemode. Had to create a new user. Once done managed to login. I then reset my "real" account password and I am back up and running.

Now I will go back and punt the new user I just created.

note: root user is NOT enabled

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Answer 2

W. Raider

Level 3

797 points

Oct 26, 2018 1:14 PM in response to howard911

I would go down a rabbit-hole of troubleshooting now.

First:

I'd boot into safe mode (hold shift while booting until you see "Safe Mode") and see if the Mac operates as expected. Safe Mode turns off a lot of things and 3rd party items etc...

If it works in Safe Mode it's likely a corrupted bit of something or a corrupted user account or Home folder or a 3rd party incompatibility.

If you have issues while in Safe Mode it's likely something got corrupted somewhere or a hardware issue.

While in Safe Mode create a New admin user account. Test that account by rebooting and logging into it. If this works your account is somehow corrupted. Delete it and use a new account.

If it works as expected then, then I'd start adding my 3rd party software back one at a time with sufficient time in-between to see if it's causing any issues.

If you have issues while in a new account, boot into Safe Mode, copy off all important files (unless you have a Time Machine or iCloud backup already) then do a clean re-install the OS (meaning initialize the HD erasing it) and after the OS is installed DO NOT install ANY third party software.

Try the Mac out for a while (add your files back, log-in to accounts and such) and if you still have issues bring it into an Apple store as it could be a hardware issue eg.. failing drive or bad RAM or something.

A clean install of the OS (with no third party software) will be basically like it was new out of the box (unless you've added RAM or something). Have you added any RAM lately? If so. go back to the old RAM and test and/or try re-seating the RAM.

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Answer 3

W. Raider

Level 3

797 points

Oct 26, 2018 1:28 PM in response to howard911

If you can access the other account in Safe Mode you may be able to just copy them off from the problem account's Home folder. I'm not sure where the probably is exactly but it sounds more and more like a corrupted account.

I'd copy stuff from the problem account to some other location like an external drive, then create a new account then delete the old one. Oh, I'd also set the new account to be the auto login or depending on your prefs a log-in screen rather than auto log-in.

Settings are mostly contained in the home folder but there will be some you'll likely have to recreate.

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Answer 4

W. Raider

Level 3

797 points

Oct 26, 2018 10:32 AM in response to howard911

You could try booting in Safe Mode, hold Shift while the Mac boots and see if that helps.

Usually there's no long-term need to have a root user enabled. There was a past macOS bug, now fixed, where a enabled root user would allow access to a system with something like a blank password so many people enabled a root user with a password for added security. This bug has since been fixed.

root user won't really show up in Users and Groups.

Head to System Prefs > Users and Groups > (unlock the pane) > Login Options > Join > Open Directory Utility > (unlock this pane as well). Then from the menubar go to Edit and look to see if it reads "Enable Root User" or "Disable Root User".

Easier way: in the Finder hit Shift + Command + G for the Go prompt then goto /System/Library/CoreServices and look for Directory Utility and launch it then check out the instructions above.

You can also do this from the Terminal with the "dsenableroot" command. Terminal then type "man dsenableroot" to see it's manual.

If its not a root user issue I'm not sure what it could be. Ideas are Firmware Password issue or a Filevault issue perhaps. I think there's something like if you have Filevault enabled you have to boot into recovery mode then mount the boot drive or something and enter a password but my memory on that is fuzzy since I haven't done that in a ages.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,186 points

Oct 27, 2018 6:01 AM in response to howard911

If it works ok in Safe Mode (albeit slow and clunky), then you have something installed that is causing your problems.

While in Safe Mode, download and run this program: http://www.etrecheck.com/

Use the Share Report > Copy Report and then Paste into a reply here.

Another possibility could be that your drive is failing.

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Answer 6

Oct 26, 2018 10:36 AM in response to howard911

Have you tried to enter in Recovery and reinstall the software? Perhaps it becomes solved and you do not loose any data

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Answer 7

howard911 Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 26, 2018 10:09 AM in response to W. Raider

I didn't realize I had to be that intimate with this thing.

How do I know if I had a root user enabled/disabled??

I would say NO, as I never log in as ROOT as that is not my name or account.

What, where is this root user?? I know it wasn't under Users and Groups

Also tried to use my iTunes account and password, that just ANOTHER fail.

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Answer 8

howard911 Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 26, 2018 11:09 AM in response to Mikirubio

Yes I had tried reloading Mojave 2 times.....which of course takes 35 mins each. Thats why it was easy to waste 4 hours on a problem that should NOT exist.

I am now just as scared about Apple updates as I am about that other disgusting company in Redmond.

Sad state of affairs to be sure.

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Answer 9

howard911 Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 26, 2018 11:37 AM in response to howard911

Haaaaa...spoke too soon.

Mojave is now freezing up, Launchpad 2 finger swipe does NOT work. Launchpad refuses to close, locks up menu bar. Everything now frozen.

Opps...saga continues. I rebooted to see if that would help the laggy/freeze issue.

And here we are again with no user accounts available. So cannot even login. What a disaster of epic proportions.

And..another annoying thing is: seeing how I only have "OTHER" to choose from I click it, and asks for password.

A password for what, what User does it want this mysterious PW??

So just below the password area, it says Change User, I click that and it shakes. I type in my username, and it shakes again.

What with all the shaking?? Either way I am fobarred with a an expensive boat anchor.

JUNK!

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Answer 10

howard911 Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 26, 2018 1:23 PM in response to W. Raider

That creates another issue does it not. If I make a new user and use that account, and delete the 'corrupted one', then how do I get all my settings and documents back that are still on this brick.

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Answer 11

W. Raider

Level 3

797 points

Oct 26, 2018 9:55 AM in response to howard911

Were you using or did you have a root user enabled? Sounds like a gotcha with root user since it I think it changes or requires a new password when you disable and re-enable it. I can't recall exactly.

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