I bought a used 2.16 macbook and it arrived today. the machine is immaculate from an external appearance, but when it boots up it of course goes to the user name and wants a password! of course the person i bought it from made no mention of this and of course they dont remember the password. story is that it was changed by their teenager and they didnt remember what it is. it has leopard on it. is there a way around this? the original discs were not included. i know how to go that route as ive done that with my ibook before. am i just out of luck? is it possible to buy the snow leopard upgrade, install it and reset the password?? any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
bought used macbook and it has password!! Help!!
- Thread starter Shanewilliams
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
buy SL and install it
won't have an issue
will i still retain ilife and iwoerk thats supposedly installed if i do this?? also, dp i juwst put this disc in and then power it on?? like i mentioned i cant get past the password screen
thanks! Those all seem to be with a disc though. Is it possible without a disc? One more thing, will the password rest function of snow leopard work with leopard? I really don't want to upgrade to sl. Plus, wouldn't the macboo ask for a password to install sl anyways?
So, what are my options then? Sounds like getting a copy of leopard is the only one.
you can create a new account without the restore disc using single user mode. instructions are here. (dont be affraid 
the steps walk you thru)
btw its important to have the restore discs that came with the Mac just in case you need to troubleshoot or reinstall. seeing as though you dont have them you should probably buy Leopard or Snow Leopard. but these wont have iLife on them, so if you need to reinstall only do an "archive and install" or "upgrade" and not a clean install, or buy iLife.
the steps walk you thru)btw its important to have the restore discs that came with the Mac just in case you need to troubleshoot or reinstall. seeing as though you dont have them you should probably buy Leopard or Snow Leopard. but these wont have iLife on them, so if you need to reinstall only do an "archive and install" or "upgrade" and not a clean install, or buy iLife.
you can create a new account without the restore disc using single user mode. instructions are here. (dont be affraid
btw its important to have the restore discs that came with the Mac just in case you need to troubleshoot or reinstall. seeing as though you dont have them you should probably buy Leopard or Snow Leopard. but these wont have iLife on them, so if you need to reinstall only do an "archive and install" or "upgrade" and not a clean install, or buy iLife.
what exactly is "archive and install"? Is it exactly
what it sounds like? Basically archive what you have installed already and just install the os? Sounds like I need to create a new user, delete existing users and do a archive and install, does that sound about right? Or would just creating a new user, delete existing users and just run it the way it is be ok?
upgrade and archive and install (archives you previous system) are just options when reinstalling. you dont need to reinstall, just create a new account and delete the previous account.
im just saying if you need to reinstall down the track do an upgrade or archive and install and not a clean install otherwise you will lose iLife or you can buy the new iLife.
im just saying if you need to reinstall down the track do an upgrade or archive and install and not a clean install otherwise you will lose iLife or you can buy the new iLife.