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Admin Password Issues

J

jawsh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2014
21
0
Hello.

I posted on here earlier that I am brand new to the mac world. I bought this one refurbished and there seems to be an admin password on it so I can't download or update anything. I read that I could hold Command S and load the single user mode to reset the password but when I do that my keyboard doesn't seem to respond so I can't type anything. I borrowed a copy of snow leopard so I am okay with wiping everything and starting from scratch. If anyone can advise it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.
 
jawsh said:
Hello.

I posted on here earlier that I am brand new to the mac world. I bought this one refurbished and there seems to be an admin password on it so I can't download or update anything. I read that I could hold Command S and load the single user mode to reset the password but when I do that my keyboard doesn't seem to respond so I can't type anything. I borrowed a copy of snow leopard so I am okay with wiping everything and starting from scratch. If anyone can advise it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...

Did you buy it from Apple as refurbished? I'd imagine they'd have formatted it and sold it with a fresh copy of OS X on it. Can you bring it back to them to troubleshoot?

Otherwise, without the password and clean install with your SL disc may be the answer.
 
No. I just bought it off some random dude. I emailed him but he didn't remember what the password was. So what do I do to wipe it clean? I tried to install it once and it asked me for that admin password again.

Thanks
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Is it a firmware password or an OS X password?
Click to expand...

There's no password when I boot up but whenever I try to install something new or download anything it pops up that I need to enter the admin password. Even when I installed this snow leopard cd I have. I thought I was good and then it asked for it again. It's probably just something dumb but as I said I am brand new to Mac so extremely clueless at this point.
 
So you're logged into OS X then right?

Try making a new user account and use your own Apple ID.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
The name is probably different because I'm on Yosemite and it sounds like you have Snow Leopard. But try this: http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleId=4176
Click to expand...

Yes I have snow leopard.. I try that and it asks me for that admin password. Is there a way to just wipe it all and start over with this snow leopard disc I have? I have nothing on this computer so don't care if I lose it all.
 
OS X will require the unknown admin password to create a new account in System Prefs, so I bet the OP is not successful in doing that.

you don't know what else is wrong with the software, so a reinstall will likely be a lot easier, particularly if you already have that Snow Leopard installer now.
Just insert the installer DVD, restart while holding the C key, which will force the Mac to try to boot to the DVD.
When that boots, go to the Disk Utility, from the Utilities menu. Choose the hard drive, and click the Erase button, then click Erase again to erase the hard drive. You can enter a name for the drive there, if you want.
Quit Disk Utility, then continue on with the OS X install, which won't bother you for passwords until YOU want to provide your own password in the user setup.

Unless - you can't even choose to boot from the DVD, and you get a simple password blank, with a padlock showing. That will be a firmware password, and needs another fix (not software)
 
DeltaMac said:
OS X will require the unknown admin password to create a new account in System Prefs, so I bet the OP is not successful in doing that.

you don't know what else is wrong with the software, so a reinstall will likely be a lot easier, particularly if you already have that Snow Leopard installer now.
Just insert the installer DVD, restart while holding the C key, which will force the Mac to try to boot to the DVD.
When that boots, go to the Disk Utility, from the Utilities menu. Choose the hard drive, and click the Erase button, then click Erase again to erase the hard drive. You can enter a name for the drive there, if you want.
Quit Disk Utility, then continue on with the OS X install, which won't bother you for passwords until YOU want to provide your own password in the user setup.

Unless - you can't even choose to boot from the DVD, and you get a simple password blank, with a padlock showing. That will be a firmware password, and needs another fix (not software)
Click to expand...

Yeah, the last thing the OP was trying was to install SL as a fresh copy. I hope he had good luck and got it going.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Yeah, the last thing the OP was trying was to install SL as a fresh copy. I hope he had good luck and got it going.
Click to expand...

Sorry forgot to respond. I was able to guess his old password. It was pretty lucky but I am up and running now. Thanks for your help!
 
jawsh said:
Sorry forgot to respond. I was able to guess his old password. It was pretty lucky but I am up and running now. Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

Wow, you were able to guess it? Did you have any clues to go on?
 
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