Of course, as the new owner, you might want to just use the new account you create and delete the old one. Select your language preferences and then under the Utilities menu select Password Reset (it may say Reset Password instead, depends on the version of Mac OS X) Select the hard disk that the forgotten password is on, then select the username of the forgotten password, you’ll then be asked to select a new password.

Keep in mind that if you do this you will lose all stored passwords on the original account, at least until the original owner is able to give you the old password. Also, without the discs, look at Mac OS X Tip - No Password, No Root, No CD No. This will let you create a new admin account when you reboot your computer.

type without the quotes: 'rm /var/db/.applesetupdone. The original account will be intact.Īfter you've created the new user account, you can go to System Preferences, Accounts (might be Users & Groups, they keep changing the name!), and reset the password on the original account. type without the quotes: '/sbin/mount -uaw' 5. Hit OK, close the reset password window, and reboot your Mac. Once you are in single user mode you will need to do the following:ģ) remove a special file that tells the computer it's already been set upĥ) go through the set up process to create a NEW admin accountĦ) log into the new admin account and reset the password on the original password via the system preferencesīoot to single user mode, then type the following: mount -uw /Īt this point the system will reboot and go through the 'out of the box' setup process which will allow you to create a new Admin account. Choose the user you want to change the password for, and type in the new password twice.

Change mac password without cd