reset password without reinstall

[lmcintyre]

i got an imac g4 (the uni was gonna throw them away) and i dont know the password. I dont have OS X disks. What can I do.

 

[SC68Cal]

Could try booting into single user mode and resetting the password.

Give this a go:

Boot into single user mode with Apple -S

/sbin/fsck -y [Enter]
/sbin/mount -uaw [Enter]
rm /var/db/.applesetupdone [Enter]
reboot [Enter]

 

[lmcintyre]

i'll try that thanks allot

 

[lmcintyre]

.

 

[geoge000003]

i tired this on my ibook g4 and it didn't work. only command that worked was the first one and it said 'the volume macintosh HD appears to be OK.' is there a different command(s) i can try?

 

[janey]

i tired this on my ibook g4 and it didn't work. only command that worked was the first one and it said 'the volume macintosh HD appears to be OK.' is there a different command(s) i can try?

those are standard commands that should work just fine. are you typing them in correctly?

 

[geoge000003]

when i type in /sbin/mount -uaw
it just come up with another localhost:/ root# thing do i type in the next comand?

 

[janey]

when i type in /sbin/mount -uaw
it just come up with another localhost:/ root# thing do i type in the next comand?

yes you do. some of them will not give you any feedback - in fact, no feedback means it worked

 

[geoge000003]

okay it's rebooting right now how do i know it worked?

 

[janey]

okay it's rebooting right now how do i know it worked?

well the last command was "reboot", so i'd assume it worked if it didn't give you any error messages

 

[geoge000003]

lmfao i think it worked 'cause it's asking for my personal information

THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

 

[gurudaas13]

Could try booting into single user mode and resetting the password.

Give this a go:

Boot into single user mode with Apple -S

/sbin/fsck -y [Enter]
/sbin/mount -uaw [Enter]
rm /var/db/.applesetupdone [Enter]
reboot [Enter]

Hi SC68Cal how would one reset his password in the same situation in a Macbook pro OS X?

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

Could try booting into single user mode and resetting the password.

Give this a go:

Boot into single user mode with Apple -S

/sbin/fsck -y [Enter]
/sbin/mount -uaw [Enter]
rm /var/db/.applesetupdone [Enter]
reboot [Enter]

Or just boot into sing user mode and type

passwd

It will prompt for your new password twice.

 

[janey]

Hi SC68Cal how would one reset his password in the same situation in a Macbook pro OS X?

it works regardless of what computer it is.

 

[SC68Cal]

Or just boot into sing user mode and type

passwd

It will prompt for your new password twice.

Hey, I like the welcome movie

But yeah, you could use that too. I just figured since he bought the machine we start it off with a smile.