How to resset administrator password MAC OS X
recently i sold a power book G4 apple to a customer.
he came back couple of days later saying that the power book G4 asking for administration password from last owener.
so as i was not to get in touch with the last owner i had to by pass it.
i googled around and found some ways.
2) changing the root password (currect admin) from user single mode.
i tried that one too. for some reason it didnt work. as u see it is about 26 pages of comments from poeple saying that it is not working on some versions.
i put time and read most of the comments and problems. but could not get any thing usufull unfortunatly. and then i found the answer from some other site.
BUT HERE IS THE BEST WAY AND EASIEST
3) Creating a new Admin on Mac Os X:
Here’s how to reset your OS X password without an OS X CD.
the Working solution for me was to create a new admin
you can create new admin like this by deleting a specific file.
You need to enter terminal and create a new admin account:
1. Reboot
2. Hold apple + s down after you hear the chime.
3. When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line):
* mount -uw /
* rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
* shutdown -h now
4. After rebooting you should have a brand new admin account. When you login as the new admin you can simply delete the old one and you’re good to go again!
Apple stores wont reset it for you. Computer shops may charge you $50 to $200 trying to reinstall the Mac and failing at end.
This tutorial is FREE. Here is all about you.
Please Donate if you wish as mush as you wish.
if it worked for you i think it deserves a comment at least, i would be very encouraged.
I' ll share 
thank you so much…
does this actually work on PowerBookG4
Yes it does work for All apple computers.
Yesterday i tried on Macbook pro
Why dont u test, ? It is just 4 lines to type.
so ur telling me itll also work for a Mac PowerBook G4 laptop?
YES IT DOES,
TESTED ON G4, G3
WE THANK YOU ENORMOUSLY FOR YOUR NOTE ON PASSWORD BYPASS. WE WERE AT OUR WITS END BUT YOU CAME THROUGH TO HELP US. THANKS.
you save my life, we use an ibook to test our website in my financial company, and a little comic, had change my admin password and uninstalled my anti-virus !!,
Anti-virus? On a MAC?
This was absolutely brilliant…. respect and thanks for sharing
Thank you soooo much.
Yeah It really works, thanks a lot, Dude yoiu saved the life of my laptop
Thanks!
If I can do it anyone can!
Very simple and worked like a charm!
I bought a used G4 Mac Tower with OS 9.2, but although it had 10.5 installed, it wouldn’t open…so, I installed OS 10.3.1 and couldn’t open it either because it asked for a password for what was apparently the previous owner’s ID. Now I couldn’t even use the 9.2 OS…
I was stumped!
After trying this Blog’s directions my “new” computer is working like a charm!
Thanks again!
THis option worked great. Thanks for your time and effort in this matter. Apple’s Rock
Cheers Mate I was wondering why i couldnt boot up from the cd/dvd drive, cos ive reset my passwords previously this was, but with my new macbook pro it wouldnt boot up cos of previous owner restricted it lol, well this way worked perfectly Cheeers mate i was 1 hour away from paying this Guy £30 to reset the password for me.
Now if Only Reseting Laptop/pc passwords was this easy….
well this works like a charm, thanks a bunch! Cheers.
You have made my Christmas thankyou so much.I am a single mum and have spent all my money on a second hand ibook for christmas for my little girls, only to find out on its arrival, that it had a password set up on it and that I couldn’t do anything with the laptop. I was so disappointed and couldn’t afford to buy some install discs for it. You do not know how grateful I am . THANKYOU
Similar Christmas story here. MacBook Pro. I could’ve gotten the password from the previous owner, but it was late and I needed to get this thing set up for the kids. THANKS!!!
confused as hell :S lol this isnt lkie a windows dos is it? because i type one command press enter then type the other :S or type them all as one line?? :S confused as hell
dint work.Am I supposed to use the shift button for spaces between anything?
outstanding! i owe u guys
i shall donate
Thanks a million… worked a treat
You rock!! I just did this and it worked… The mac was in Read only so i used this firstly:
Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
Then did your items and walla.. I’m in…
With the addition of this post, I finally got it to work on my Macbook. Thanks for this post, seriously, I tried everything and I can’t even believe it was this easy. Thanks again.
The reset pw thing worked but my screen is broken but it’s plugged to A regular screen so I wasn’t able to see whY rePly happened can anyone help me or does Nyons know whAt it exactly changes the pw and username toooo pleasedee
It will delete the config file which force OS to create new one.
so you wll be redirected to create new admin wizard
It works. thanks a lot our friend…
you are the best! thanks for the tip
Ok so I did that and it turns off and when I turned it back on it’s the same thing nothing changes what do I do
You may have had a typing mistake.
Can you mention your OS and type of Mac
Thanks a lot and it works on my G3 ibook. JUST GREAT and saves me looooooooooooooooooot of time !!!
I’ve been stuck with two g3’s with no cd and lost passwords for over a year. Your method worked! I’ve tried so many different things. I feel silly now that I’ve been waiting so long and the solution was right here,
thanks so much
-Noah A
what happens if you have a user and pass input? not showing the accounts what do you type in for that?
does it delete any apps?
What do you exactly mean?!
i dont have the accounts showing on the login screen, since i can not change this what is the login for the new account?
BY THIS YOU CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT. AN ADMIN ACOUNT
It worked on my Macbook Air Thanks!
Worked great! Thank you.
Tried many other codes found on internet. None worked but this one.
I am using OS 10.3.9 on a G4 desktop
I don’t know which key is the Apple key. Can you help?
TURN ON THE SYSTEM AND IMMEDIATELY HOLD DOWN OPTION (APPLE SIGN KEY NEAR YOUR SPACE BAR ) AND S
YOU SHOULD SEE A BLACK SCREEEN. AND LOTS OF LINES
Man you saved my life i was 10min away form going to buy another os X dvd so i could reset my Mac and than i stumbled upon this blog and i couldn’t belive it. EUREKA ThAnKs you’re the Man!
need help i press the right buttons and nothing is working. it goes to the main screen for user password. i get there but the admin. pass does not work.
TURN ON THE SYSTEM AND IMMEDIATELY HOLD DOWN OPTION (APPLE SIGN KEY NEAR YOUR SPACE BAR ) AND S
YOU SHOULD SEE A BLACK SCREEEN. AND LOTS OF LINES
can u create this new account and then delete it later w/o affecting the original admin account? thx
Yes you can. you can create another account which is admin without deleting the old admin files./
how does one access said files? i did this spontaneously (with little thought) and now i’m flipping out. i had a bazillion precious files on the old admin account, just didnt have the old admin password.. please tell me how to get my old files onto my new admin account.
didn’t work for me… was i supposed to type in the asterisk* before each line?
what was the problem?
did u go to prompt mode?
if you can still keep the old admin files then can you find out what the old username and password actually are? and if so, where is that information to be found?
with some software you may be able to find that out.
i am not sure about the password but the username you can
This doesn’t work for me I’m desperate I don’t now what to do please can you give me another solution
Yes. What is your MAC?
when you hold down apple key and s together after just turning the system on what happens?
I had the same issue i went to the root command and typed the lins thiis what i get. the first lne i typed and the root command just came back and then the rm command said it was a directory and the las line it said no such file or directory…. Help please!1
this didnt work for me. my prompt says if you wi8sh to boot the system but stay in single user mode:
sh/etc/rc
localhost:/ root#
up higher it says root device is mounted read only. it is a powerbook G4. my husband got it second hand for me, was told we could buy a disk that “deletes all the old stuff”. hubby knows nothing about computers at all, i have never had an apple. looking up higher on the dos screen, i see numerous errors from before anything I tried, such as failed to read the byte, failed to write to I2C, failed to write the bytes, failed to clear the interrupt, failed to check the result code, failed to send kstartappcomm, startappfailed, CSRHIDTransitionDriver: :probe booting in single user.. do not match, secutity auditing service present, BSM auditing present disabled, BSD root: diskos3, major 14, minor 2, singleuser boot –fsck not done, root device is mounted read-only, it youy want to make modifications to files: /sbin/fsck -fy
;sbin/mount -uw/. If you had the patience or inclination to read all i posted, please let me know if i have any recourse. with all those errors, im wondering if it didnt have a major crash or something! with all the happy posts, i dont doubt that you are very knowledgeable and kind to put this solution out there for the public. I pray you can help me. Thank you for your time!
OWE YOU BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I get to the prop screen followed the steps until the 4th one.
it repeats the command but with a question mark. so i hit enter
then followed step 4. reboot. typed in admin and hit enter with out a password. still doesn’t let me in. can you please help
i get all this written info about the comp,wher edo i go from here?
i tried this on my macbook pro and nothing has changed ….. i saw a comment posted about the computer bein in read only mode …. can i get some feedback on this?
Hey if I do this, I won’t lose any of my files I have on my powerbook G4 right?
and do I put an Asterisk * before each line.
When I follow this, the last few lines read:
If you want to make modifications to files:
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw/
If you wish to reboot the system but stay in single user mode:
sh/etc/rc
localhost:/ root#
When I enter the commands after this root# it says “command not found”
Any ideas? Maybe I should be entering up where the /sbin/mount-uw line is but i can’t seem to navigate in the Terminal.
Any pointers very gratefully received!
oh sorry i have a ibook G4
IT works
Thanks a lot. This is cool!
Fantastic worked for me , Thank you so much. Powerbook G4
this is not working for me. when i type it into
localhost:/ root#
it just tells me that command not found???
what did i do wrong? typed in the commands and restarted and ever since then it goes into the white screen after the chime then times out and restarts and does that over and over again….idk how going in terminal and entering a few commands can f it up that bad…
what did i do wrong? typed in the commands and restarted and ever since then it goes into the white screen after the chime then times out and restarts and does that over and over again….idk how going in terminal and entering a few commands can f it up that bad…
simply genius ive been trying to get around not buying a new disc for weeks…this worked like a charm
People like you make the world a great place to live in! Thanks soooooo much!!!!!
Wow///////// Super find! WOrked for me!
you just the best,you are indeed a life saver.THANK YOU SO MUCH
CAN YOU TUTOR ME MORE PLEASE.MY EMAIL IS EMMANUEL_PATRICK2008@YAHOO.COM
WHAT IS THE RETURN KEY ON THE MAC OS X POWERBOOK G4
and do i have to press the * key
please help me its not working
pls! help. When I tried this. all im getting now is a light bluish screen with my mouse arrow. the password login screen wont show anymore. 😦
im using macbook g4 os x
Any ideas guys
hi ehssan2
i tried your method on a black macBook with OS X but when i reboot, it asks me to choose a language, & once i choose english, the computer stays on a screen with the apple logo & “MAC OS X”… can you help?? please
I can’t thank you enough. This is true Hacking. The freedom of information for the bettering of humanity without greed!
Do all the original files, photos, bookmarks get deleted from the other users or Admin. when you create another Admin. or are they safe? What if the file Vault is password protected too? Thank you!
will i lose any info thats saved under the old admin. acct.?
Is this going to work on an iMacG5 Leopard 10.5.1 (INTEL BASED)? I tried it on a PPC iMacG5 with 10.4.11 and it worked great!
Another thing. Is it possible that typing the commands that are used to make a new admin account can be somehow blocked by typing other set of commands? Thanks!
You’re a god send!! Thank you for posting this!!
this didnt work for me.. i bought this computer for someone and they dont remeber the password.. i tried to do it twice. all i know is it is a G3 and im not sure how old the operation system is..
I did this and rebooted and its stuck on the apple logo with the spinning wheel under neath and keeps restarting but nothing farther than that
how do i undo it.. it fucked my macbook up
Hey thanks! Saved my butt in a hurry! You Rock whoever u is!
Hi Msherm,
Just wanted to thank you for this blog post. I was setting up a few hand-me down computers for our underfunded public library in our small community, all of which once belonged to other people who all had set up passwords and I didn’t have access to them today. Thanks to your post, I was able to set up the computers so that everyone in our community can access the internet. I’m very grateful for your help–thanks for taking the time.
All the best,
Yves
I lost all of the files on my Desktop. They haven’t been deleted have they!?!? Please help!
Tank you a lot man! 😛
Well, command+s doesn’t work for me (yes I am holding it after the chimes and keep waiting for text but I get nothing) and I do not have the cd that came with it, please help nme?
Uh yeah, everything from step 1 till 2nd to the last worked fine i thinkk. except after i rebooted again after typing in the 3 things, it didnt let me start fresh. )=
this dident worm for my imac idk what to do 😦
Thank you! I just bought an iBook G4, my first Mac, and needed to reset since I bought it used on EBay.
i tried rebooting it but it says not permitted what should i do?
this screwed up my computer the screen is blank
Thanks so much! Worked just fine for me!
So this creates a second admin account? The original admin account is left untouched?
I was so scared to try this! I also purchased a G3 I-book from E-bay and I didn’t know the password. Worked the first time! I am no techie (all I do on my computer is go on the internet) — if I can do this anyone can. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
thanks so much. I had this code before it never worked for me until you explained it better
Worked great.
Problem solved thanks a lot
Question:
Does this new admin account have a password to log into it?
Hi There!
I didn’t get it to work and i am not sure why if you could please help me out. I have a iBook G4 which i would like to reset the admin password. Also when i tried this what you have wrote when i typed in the mount -uw thing it said it was a illegal command and i think that is the source of error. I am running on OS X version : 10.3.7 it is the 1.2 GHz PowerPC G4 (apple product)
Thanks in advance,
István Bárdi
Have a PowerBook G4 and lost the disc. wanted to reset password and was told to enter following commands
/sbin/fsck -y
/sbin/mount -uow
rm/var/db/.applesetupdone
from there my lapie just gets stuck on blue screen what can I do.
Help
i need some help. i have a mac book and i want to delete the admin, i’ve tried everything above and no luck
Ok I did everything like u said and it didn’t work. Entered everything right then I turned it back on and nothing. Changed. I have a MAC os x I book. Not sure what its running cause I can’t get in. What do I do? I had to enter shutdown -h now two times because it didn’t work right after I entered rm /bar/en/. Applesetupdone.
Works like a charm on my MacBook Pro. Thanks a lot.
Does doing this delete any applications on your computer such as Pages, FIrefox, etc…?
I tried this but when we rebooted, it came up with the user screen and Password and didn’t give us a chance to change them.
thanks a bunch it thought i had to sell the computer i just bought.
so i did all of the commands but now what do I do once I turn the computer back on.
You are so nice to share these with us.
it really works on ibook so thanks
but i cant reset admin password of macbook pro, b-coz it has windows XP also, it is what i forgot both password. so is there any way please
Hey I put in the code that you posted but when I reboot nothing changes… You see I brought this computer from a guy and it didn’t come with the passwords, i typed in everything just like you said and it didnt change anything. I am operating from a powerbook g4 12″…
mount -uw/
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
shutdown -h now plz help me out, i can be reached by email
I can’t thank u enough!!!!!!!!! at first I thought my whole computer was being reseted so I got pissed but I realized that my other accounts are still there xD THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!
lol same here bro, but. What happens if i delete that admin? even though i have two admins and one standard account?
This didn’t work for me. I typed in everything correctly on the screen and after the shutdown command the computer shuts down, I restart it and…nothing changes. It takes me straight to my old desktop with no prompt to create or change ANYTHING. I don’t get any error messages or anything, nothing happens. It appears that I’ve done everything right. What could be the problem? I’m running OS X 10.5.7. Any ideas?
After many frustrating attempts following other site’s instructions and failing – your instructions worked first attempt!
thank you.
I tried, but didn’t work. It responded with “rm: /var/db/: is a directory” and “rm: . AppleSetupDone: No such file or directory.”
I don’t know if i did anything wrong, but i tried several times…
wrong path, typing error
what version is that?
what ibook u r using??
no space while typing
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
What happens if i delete that admin? even though i have two admins and one standard account?
It effin works !!! =D ..this has been driving me nuts, thanks !
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took several tries but finally got it.
Thanks a bunch. I bought an old ibook G3 from ebay and all the old user’s account was still set up. This worked perfectly.
GREAT … Thank you sooo much !!!!
rm: /var/db/.AppleSetupDone:is read only file system what shal i do
you have not done last steps successfully.
You should mount! first
thanks for the good post. keep writing such
articles. recently i had to reset my windows xp admin password and an article on reset windows password at http://letusbuzz.com really made my
day
Thanks you so much. i have been looking for this whole day finally i find. it works with my MacBook Pro. thanks again
ty so much ur a star, its worked nd now i can install stuff
“i typed in”
root#
*mount-uw/
“and it said”
-sh: *mount-uw/: No such file or directory
“whats to do now?”
mount[space]-uw/
Hey i have a laptop from my school and my teacher can see and control my laptop. I was wondering if there was any way for her or my principal to figure out.
Does this work for the schools macs though?
I’ve never liked mac or used it for much more then for short periods to install programs for clients and fix issues. A client came to said she got this new computer from someone and it had a password if I could remove it to do whatever I needed to do. I was going to wipe the whole thing out but I found this instead worked like a charm first try thanks for the great information you saved me a ton of time and effort!
Hi, before I do this i wanted to know if it will erase all of my previous software, as in photoshop etc or if i will have to re-install said software because i dont own copys since it came with a second hand mac.???
it wont
hey man this is just awesome i got a powerbook g4 as a gift and i came with password and i was afraid of trying this staff cus i didnt want to ruin my laptop but i did your instruction and now its working perfec so thank u very much