What's my password?

[skiff]

I bought a G3 iBook several years ago and have always been the sole user. My very first password was, let's say, Bigshot. After I installed Mac OS X 10.3, I decided Bigshot was over arching a bit, so I reset it to Humility. It was very easy to do: System Preferences > Accounts > Password. In the process, I learned that Humility had also become my password for Keychain Access.

I supposed that in some mysterious way, my original Administrator's password Bigshot had morphed into Humility to accommodate my delicate feelings. I've since learned that the only way to reset the original password is by way of the original Installer CD. In the absence of this procedure, my Administrator's password is still: Bigshot! Humility is my account's login and keychain access password and is not privileged to do anything fancy.

Ten persons having spoken out on this subject have provided ten different views. Is there anyone out there who can authoritatively tell me what my Administrator's password is? If so, how can I test it?

 

[MisterMe]

I am very confused. The administrative password is the password for an administrative account. If you have an administrative account and you can log into it, then you know your administrative password. Or, am I missing something?

 

[yellow]

Or, am I missing something?

I am missing it too..

If, after installing Panther, you changed your password to "humility" via the Change Password button, then your password is "humility". It cannot and will not magically morph back into "bigshot" and make your username into "humility".

If you don't know what the password is, you need to get some installer CDs/DVDs that will boot your laptop and reset the password.

 

[wdcglobal]

if your problem is what i think it is you need to go into your terminal. type "su" enter, then type "your current password". once you are in root type "passwd root", then the new password and then it will ask to retype new password. then you have changed your root password.

 

[yellow]

type "su" enter, then type "your current password".

If root isn't enabled, then you can't do this..

 

[skiff]

What's my password?

I'm sorry to say that my question must have been so poorly put that no one came close to understanding my meaning. I'll try one more time.

The new owner of a Mac installs the operating system. In my case a G3 iBook with Mac OS X 10.3 As the original owner and only user, the word I entered as my password, became the Administrator's password because I was elevated to the status of administrator. Foolishly, I chose to use this same word as my login password. This was not a brilliant move. Eventually, I remedied the situation by providing my account with a password of its own (where none had existed before) and this became my every day password. Since I acted almost exclusively as a user from the beginning, I had practically no need for my Administrator's password. As a result both my personalities lived in perfect harmony until recently.

While I can play tiddlywinks with my account password fifty times a day, my original password (the Administrator's password) can only be reset with the original CD. As far as my computer is concerned, I'm still the Administrator and my password is the same one I started with. Now that I'm thinking about adding another user, I need my Administrator's password to provide the necessary permissions.

Since I'm no longer clear on what my original password is because I haven't used it in two years, all I want is a person out there who knows what I'm talking about. I'm looking for a way to test my original password, I need to do something that will draw a demand from my machine for the Administrator's password. I can enter what I remember, if it works, fine. I prefer prefer it to a new one, and I wont have to mess around with CDs.

 

[yippy]

Quick way to test. Drop a file into the Applications folder. If you get no prompt for anything, you are the administrator and you user password is the admin password. If not, you will be prompted for an admin user name and password allowing you to test what you think it is.

We are have not been helpful because, to the technical Mac user, what you are saying is going on is essentially imposible. There are only two possible things going on here. 1. You are the administrator and therefor your current password is the administrator password. 2. At some point in messing around/setting up your computer you created a second account and now are running from a normal user account. You have to have a full administrator account so if you aren't it there is another log in that is. You can find this under Accounts in System Preferences.

Hope this helps.

 

[yellow]

Open Terminal.app, type: id

If "80(admin)" is one of the returned groups, you're an admin, if not, you're not.

The new owner of a Mac installs the operating system. In my case a G3 iBook with Mac OS X 10.3 As the original owner and only user, the word I entered as my password, became the Administrator's password because I was elevated to the status of administrator. Foolishly, I chose to use this same word as my login password. This was not a brilliant move.

Are you equating "root" with "Administrator"? A password does NOT make one admin or non-admin. Having the user's UID (Unique ID) as part of the admin group makes on an administrator. As for testing it, simple lock and unlock the PreferencePanes in System Preferences. When you unlock it'll ask you for an admin password (or should), unless you're logging in as root (AKA, System Administrator).. which is not a good idea to be doing.

 

[Dane D.]

...unless you're logging in as root (AKA, System Administrator).. which is not a good idea to be doing

Why not, I'm the sole user and I want to do whatever I want. I find this to be too much like a network computer. Startup, login, BS. I like the old way better.

 

[yellow]

Well, for one thing, logging in as root is tantamount to logging in as an admin on a Windows box, which is a large source of it's security problems.

 

[Dane D.]

Well, for one thing, logging in as root is tantamount to logging in as an admin on a Windows box, which is a large source of it's security problems.

O.K., I'll buy that for a Windows unit but Macs? An example of what I am talking about that gets my blood pressure up is this:

I am trying to un-install Norton Utilities on a spare G4 here at work. The OS is 10.2.8 and I have found that when I try to move something to the trash from the Library or System, forget at the moment which one, it says this is used by the root or something like that. Now does this mean I am starting up and using the computer as the admin or just a user? The former user of this computer, had no password, and he insisted on installing this piece of crap app.

 

[yellow]

That example is a major failing of Jaguar that has since been addressed and solved in subsequent version of OS X. One is prompted for an admin password now.

O.K., I'll buy that for a Windows unit but Macs?

If you're logged in as root, you typically aren't asked for an admin password to do tasks, so it's a MUCH easier vector for malicious activity. If someone gets your password and connects remotely, they can put ANYTHING ANYWHERE, or INSTALL ANYTHING, or RUN ANY PROCESS without you ever knowing unless you literally stumble across it. If root isn't even enabled, well the only way this can happen then is if someone uses an exploit to gain root access in a shell.

Windows (up to now, Vista will probably change that) doesn't even have a concept of an admin password to install anything. Which is the main reason spyware is such a problem.

 

[Nar1117]

I know a great way to test.

When prompted for an admin password, try "Bigshot". If it works, "Bigshot" is the admin password.

If it doesnt, try "Humility".

If "Humility" works, You are the Admin, and "Humility" is the password.

 

[robyjuan]

stuck

i bought this ibook (version=2.2) it has 2 users admin and guest i want to wipe it and reformat as i donot have the admin PW i tried putting in an OS-X disc and holding down C to no avail.....then i tried holding down options while restarting this showed a paddlelock and space for PW how do i bypass and reformat? anyone got a clue ....i sure don't thanx!

 

[MacsRgr8]

Nothing wrong with enabling "root", as long as you disable it afterwards.

 

[robyjuan]

new to macs

how do i enable root....i'm very limited to what i can do i do have acess to the guest login but it has very limited options . i need administrative power to set any peripherals or set up my isp all that..Hell it won't even allow me to change the desktop .