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Where is the "Master password" of OSX stored?
- Thread starter generik
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Pop in a Mac OS X Install disc or the disc that came with your computer, and look under the menu options. You'll be able to reset the password there.
-Chase
-Chase
You could just have searched the forums... this has been answered LOTS of times...generik said:
Mac OS X: Changing or resetting an account password
Nobody answered the second part of the original poster's question: is the password stored in a text file somewhere? No doubt it's encrypted therein, but would deleting it prompt for a new password? (Never mind about the permissions & ownership of such a file for now.) Or maybe doing so would put one up the creek without a paddle?
It would have to be stored somewhere (otherwise OS X couldn't know the right password), but I'm sure it is well hidden in one of those folders only your Mac can access.
They're not answering because the thread is 5 years old and the OP was banned from this site 3 1/2 years ago. Please check dates of the last post in a thread. And Mitthrawnuruodo answered the OP with the only information needed to resolve the problem.
Keychain =/= text
Deleting keychain is a bad idea. "Forgetting" your master password that you have to use every time you install software? Unlikely.
Holy thread resurrection.
It's the new search. =p We need to make a song, the thread search song!
If you want to post a thread please search
If you found a old thread please check last post date
Now sing with me!
I hate to criticize your songwriting skills, but you gotta rhyme!
Before you post, use your head
Search to find what others said
If you find a related thread
Check to see that it ain't dead.
Search to find what others said
If you find a related thread
Check to see that it ain't dead.
I hate to criticize your songwriting skills, but you gotta rhyme!
Before you post, use your head
Search to find what others said
If you find a related thread
Check to see that it ain't dead.
Nice. Need to make a Macrumors song!
I hate to criticize your songwriting skills, but you gotta rhyme!
Before you post, use your head
Search to find what others said
If you find a related thread
Check to see that it ain't dead.
I was singing it as "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands". Is that right?
From the on-point, helpful, useful, generous replies thus far today, I've been able to glean the following (do I have this straight, that it would give someone the opportunity to enter a new login password if, e.g., one has lost the install disc or the optical drive is inoperative?):
boot in single-user mode (Cmd-S)
mount -uaw
rm /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone
reboot
boot in single-user mode (Cmd-S)
mount -uaw
rm /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone
reboot
I couldn't come up with a tune right now because my wife is playing "More Bounce To The Ounce" by Zapp.
Ever hear of Google?
http://www.google.com/search?q=mac+...y&sa=X&ei=RVZUTO-OE5D-8QaYl7HODA&ved=0CAgQpwU
How to reset your Mac OS X password without an installer disc ...
It would have to be stored somewhere (otherwise OS X couldn't know the right password), but I'm sure it is well hidden in one of those folders only your Mac can access.
No, it doesn't. A properly implement password system never stores password, but instead stores the password hash.
Install discs are specific to the model they shipped with. A MacBook install disc won't work on a MBP, for example.
If you have the computer, all you have to do is boot up into single user mode and delete the "AppleSetupDone" file.
This tells the computer to redo the first startup sequence asking for the setup and administrator password.
Schmye Bubbula tells you how to do this, really easy way to kill off the administrator password and gain entry to a machine.
This tells the computer to redo the first startup sequence asking for the setup and administrator password.
Schmye Bubbula tells you how to do this, really easy way to kill off the administrator password and gain entry to a machine.
Right, but this wouldn't leave my homefolder exposed if it is encrypted with filevault?
What about keychains?
As far as I know, there's no way to reset the master password for filevault if you forget the original. All the people above are talking about resetting admin passwords or creating a new admin user (neither of which will give access to a filevault protected user directory).
Not sure where the master filevault password stored on a global scale, but it (or more likely a hash of it) is saved as part of the encryption keys on the encrypted volumes of Filevault protected users.
I'm pretty sure it's not in one of the keychains and it's possible they only save the master filevault password in each encrypted user sparsebundle file.
Basically, you can only mount a user's encrypted volume with their password or the master filevault password
But in the end, if you're hoping to open a filevault encrypted file, you need the user's password or the master filevault password. If there's some backdoor or way to reset the master filevault password without the master filevault password (which I hope they aren't stupid enough to have done), then Apple's got a HUGE security problem.
Right, but say I have an .sparsebundle outside the home folder and have the password in my keychain, could the password get exposed that way?
So basically I'm asking the same thing again, if someone makes a new admin password, does that open up my keychain to them?
good to hear, I just got parts of my sanity back....
Annother security concern I spotted: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/981859/
Not if it's in your 'login' keychain, since that keychain is stored in your home directory which is protected by filevault.
Of course, even if you have a keychain saved elsewhere, you still need the user's password to access it. I don't think admins have access to keychains without the user's password. I remember having to delete a lot of login keychains when the user forgot their password or changed it and it didn't change their keychain password for some reason.
But if it's in your filevault disk image, you're pretty safe.
Personally, I don't save the passwords for my sensitive encrypted spareimage files in my keychain just to be extra safe.