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Expert help needed regarding start up cd's for OS X

C

CrazyMacGirl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2009
10
0
Hi guys,

I have been given a white macbook and the startup disk but the laser cant read the cd. I'm really bad with computers but I was wondering if its possible to bypass the admin password with out the disk. If I download OS X .4 ???

Is it possible to do?? Please its driving me crazy because I cant install anything and nobody knows the password and the laser is a bit worn out so its not possible to use the startup cd...

I would be soooooo gratefull for any advice!

Thanx Emma
 
hi !!...
No, my sister's boyfriend was given it by his uncle. And they can't remember what it is. But I'm going to university soon and need it for class. but I cant intsall things :(

Whats fire wire mode?

Thankyou so much btw!!
 
Erm.. Thank you very much for that. Is it really so simple??
And will it work on a 10.4.11 macbook like mine??

Im still now sure what single user mode means ?

such a big help thanks xxxxxxxxxx
 
It's the bowels of the OS, i.e. black and white command line. You don't want to come near it unless you really know what you're doing or unless you've got a guide for something.
 
Right I'm a little frightened by it!

If I try it will it work? If I follow a guideline??

Thats really why I need some expert hints!!!

:(
 
CrazyMacGirl said:
Right I'm a little frightened by it!

If I try it will it work? If I follow a guideline??

Thats really why I need some expert hints!!!

:(
Click to expand...

Just type everything as the guide says. I'd backup if you can, just in case something goes horribly wrong. Chances are it'll go fine.

I did something similar once, got a PowerMac second hand. Worked perfectly on the first go. Guide below.

Reboot the machine, and hold command-s to boot into single-user mode. This is vaguely risky business, as you have complete access to your mac as root, so be careful about what you type.

In single-user mode, the hard drive defaults to being mounted as a read-only volume. This stops you from doing something silly, like accidentally deleting your user account. However, we’re purposefully deleting our user account, so we’ll need to fsck the drive to make sure it’s safe to work with, and then remount the volume with write access. The following two commands take care of that for us:

Code: 
/sbin/fsck -y
/sbin/mount -uw /

The first might not be necessary if your drive is formatted using a journaled filesystem, but it doesn’t hurt anything, so run it just to be safe. The second (note the trailing slash: it’s not a typo) mounts the drive as a writable volume, which allows us to proceed.

Now it’s time to kill off the user we created. We need to do two things: remove the user’s home directory, and remove the user’s entry in the system’s NetInfo database:

Code: 
rm -r /Users/[user's short name]
nicl -raw /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb delete /users/[user's short name]
Click to expand...

[user's short name] is exactly that. It's usually an all lowercase, no spaces version of the full name that you see at the login window. Quick note: Don't type it with the brackets.

This basically makes the Mac act as if you just started it for the very first time, allowing you to create an admin account.

After you've done this, let us know if you need help grabbing files from the other user or deleting accounts.
 
Ok guys Im on another computer now trying to follow the steps in ingle user mode!!!

Ive gotten up to the last bit as instructed.. but Ive forgoten just how to spell the user name acount!! How do I go back out from here???

HELP!! before I end up ruining my mac!!!
 
CrazyMacGirl said:
Ok guys Im on another computer now trying to follow the steps in ingle user mode!!!

Ive gotten up to the last bit as instructed.. but Ive forgoten just how to spell the user name acount!! How do I go back out from here???

HELP!! before I end up ruining my mac!!!
Click to expand...

Do this command:

Code: 
dscl . -list Users | grep -v _

One of the usernames listed should be recognizable as your personal user account. Use that username for the final step.
 
I just posted this in another thread but do this to reset the password:

1. Restart the computer holding Cmd-S.
2. When you get to the command prompt, type: mount -uw /
3. Then type: passwd username (replacing 'username' with your username, obviously).
4. Type in a new password (it'll ask for it twice).
5. Type reboot -r now
Click to expand...
 
so the first thing i type is 'mount 'etc.. do i not have to type any of the other codes mentioned above??

so confusing!!

x
 
CrazyMacGirl said:
so the first thing i type is 'mount 'etc.. do i not have to type any of the other codes mentioned above??
Click to expand...

Well, you said you were on the last step but didn't know what username to use. So, given that situation, do:

Code: 
dscl . -list Users | grep -v _

It will list a few usernames. One of them, you should hopefully recognize as being yours. For example, you recognize the username 'snowkitty' in the list as being yours.

Now you can do the final step (using username 'snowkitty' as an example):

Code: 
dscl . -passwd /Users/snowkitty newpassword

You will want to change 'snowkitty' to whatever username you recognized in the dscl . -list step.
 
Do this command:


Code:
dscl . -list Users | grep -v _

Im trying to work out which key on my keyboard do i press for the symbol after 'users' ... is is an I or a 1 or what .. i dont think i have that key!!
 
Its | which is the input received by pressing shift and the key right below delete/backspace on your keyboard.
 
Hey thanks for that.. I figured it out.. But it says 'e server send error' ??

whats up with that?

It doesn't seem to want to work for me.

Is it different o different macs?? Mines a white one and it says os 10.4.11

I figured out the short name.. but its still not doing what its supposed to!!

Im so close but so far !
 
Is it possible that the 'shortname' could be .. 'Chris local account' ??

because thats what it says the short name is... the account otherwise is Chris Wise..

So do I write.. 'chriswise'? or 'chrislocalaccount' ??

you see my meaning? Im a little confused.. somethings got to work.. aaaarrrgh!!!

thanx for all your support guys
 
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