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Antonella.fi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2017
5
0
Hello,
I tried to change the name of my admin user (the only user I have). It failed, and now it won't recognize neither the old user name nor the new, so I'm locked out of the user and can't install new programs.
What should I do?
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,364
8,342
Hong Kong
I am not sure if this still work in HS, but you can try

1) Hold Command + R during boot to enter Recovery Partition

2) Open Terminal

3) Enter
Code:
resetpassword

4) Select an account available (whatever the name is) and give it a new password

5) Restart

And now, you should able to login with the "new" user name and password.
 

Antonella.fi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2017
5
0
I am not sure if this still work in HS, but you can try

1) Hold Command + R during boot to enter Recovery Partition

2) Open Terminal

3) Enter
Code:
resetpassword

4) Select an account available (whatever the name is) and give it a new password

5) Restart

And now, you should able to login with the "new" user name and password.


Thank you. How do I open the terminal? That option dint show up when I rebooted un safe mode
[doublepost=1513087753][/doublepost]
Can you get in as any User? Do you have a backup?
I can get in, don't have back up
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,364
8,342
Hong Kong
Thank you. How do I open the terminal? That option dint show up when I rebooted un safe mode
[doublepost=1513087753][/doublepost]
I can get in, don't have back up

Once you boot into recovery mode (that's not safe mode. If you want safe mode, that's holding Shift during boot), click "Utilities" on the menu bar, and Terminal is there.

RecoveryMenu-664x500.jpg
 
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Marc_S

macrumors member
Nov 23, 2017
95
44
United Kingdom
Trying to change the Admin name always causes this problem. An Apple support call talked me through recovery which took approx 30 minutes and was fairly complicated involving a number of command entries during recovery after rebooting to boot into safe mode to reset my Admin rights. Suggest you call them.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
27,267
11,633
Trying to change the name of an account isn't a good idea unless you absolutely know what you're doing and what's involved.

Once you get things sorted out, I wouldn't try this trick again!
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,364
8,342
Hong Kong
Yeah, in general, it's much easier (and safer) to open a new admin account, move everything to there, and then delete the old one.
 

Antonella.fi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2017
5
0
Yeah, in general, it's much easier (and safer) to open a new admin account, move everything to there, and then delete the old one.
I reseted the password but it didn't work. Again I could get into the system but when I need to do something with the administrator permission, it doesn't recognize the administrators name.
How do I create a new account?
 

chscag

macrumors 601
Feb 17, 2008
4,622
1,944
Fort Worth, Texas
Member "Marc_S" gave you some good advice above. I strongly recommend you do as he suggests. I've been thru this before with other users and I can tell you that recovering from this is not easy. Creating a new Admin account also has its pitfalls, so be careful.
 

Antonella.fi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2017
5
0
Trying to change the Admin name always causes this problem. An Apple support call talked me through recovery which took approx 30 minutes and was fairly complicated involving a number of command entries during recovery after rebooting to boot into safe mode to reset my Admin rights. Suggest you call them.
Thank you... but they don't even have a number to call from my country :/ If you happen to know how can I contact them, it would be great...
 

Antonella.fi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 12, 2017
5
0
Member "Marc_S" gave you some good advice above. I strongly recommend you do as he suggests. I've been thru this before with other users and I can tell you that recovering from this is not easy. Creating a new Admin account also has its pitfalls, so be careful.
Thank you for the advice, its really appreciated.
I'm in Argentina
 
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