How to reset your Mac OS X password without an installer disc

Let’s say you totally forgot the password to log on to your Mac. Or maybe you purchased a used Mac from someone else and they’ve got it locked down. There are numerous ways to reset a password with no OS X discs.

This tutorial may ruffle some feathers, but it addresses a topic that a ton of people ask about all the time. Yes, it’s startling to think that anyone could theoretically walk up to your computer and gain access within minutes. Before you go thinking that Mac OS X has a severe vulnerability that makes it less secure than other operating systems, think again. Anyone with physical access to your machine (whether it is Windows, Linux, or Mac) can eventually find a way in if they know what they’re doing. There are ways of bypassing nearly any security measure when a hacker is literally sitting right in front of your system.

The information here has previously been made available from many different sources online and is presented with the intention of helping people with legitimate reasons for resetting their Mac OS X password. A few of the methods floating around the Mac community have been compiled here in one easy-to-reference place. System admins responsible for supporting entire organizations and users who bought used Macs are the folks most likely to benefit from this.

Reset 10.5 Leopard & 10.6 Snow Leopard password

Power on or restart your Mac.

At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.

This step is optional, but it’s a good idea because it checks the consistency of the hard disk before moving on. At the prompt, type fsck -fy and press Enter/Return. Wait for the checks to complete before going to the next step.

Type mount -uw / and press Enter.

Type launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist and press Enter.

Type ls /Users and press Enter. This lists all of the usernames on the computer – helpful if you don’t know or remember what these are.

Type dscl . -passwd /Users/username password and replace “username” with one of the users displayed in the previous step. Replace “password” with a new password of your choice. Press Enter.

Type reboot and press Enter.

Reset 10.4 Tiger password

Power on or restart your Mac.

At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.

Type sh /etc/rc and press Enter/Return.

Type passwd username and replace “username” with the short name of the user account for which you’d like to reset the password.

Type your desired password and press Enter. It won’t show itself on the screen, so be careful what you type. You will most likely have to enter it again to confirm.

Type reboot and press Enter.

Tricking your Mac into creating a new user account

Power on or restart your Mac (should work for any Mac OS X system).

At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.

This step is optional, but it’s a good idea because it checks the consistency of the hard disk before moving on. At the prompt, type fsck -fy and press Enter/Return. Wait for the checks to complete before going to the next step.

Type mount -uw / and press Enter.

Type rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and press Enter.

Type shutdown -h now and press Enter.

The third method of resetting your Mac’s password requires some additional explanation. Rather than simply changing the password like the previous two methods do, this one fools the operating system into believing it has never been started before. This means when you restart the machine, it will take you through the entire setup & registration process all over again. Do not worry, all of your pre-existing data is still available. Just continue with this process and do not choose the option to transfer or migrate information to the Mac.

Once you’re done, log in with your new admin account and go to System Preferences > Accounts. You may have to click on the lock icon in the lower-left corner before making changes here. You should see your original user account(s) in the left column. Try clicking on one of them to convert it to a standard user account (uncheck “Allow user to administer this computer”) and change the password. You should be able to successfully log in to that account now and access all of your files and programs. If you want, you can log back in with your new admin account and re-check the “Allow user to administer this computer” option in System Preferences to grant admin privileges to the original user again.

That should cover it! As always, remember messing with single-user mode and Terminal is risky and may lead to trouble if you make mistakes. Considering you’re already locked out of the computer, though, you’ll probably be willing to take your chances at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3UoDLkYZS8

One last thing… if you have a Keychain Access password, you will probably need to reset that as well. You can do this by selecting “login” under Keychains on the left and choosing Delete from the Edit menu. You’ll lose everything in the Keychain, but you’ll now be able to start fresh and add new ones.

How to Reset Your Mac OS X User Account Password

Resetting password is easy, and there are two ways of doing this. The first requires the user to boot into a single user mode, and the second one is performed by booting into the recovery console. The method you pick is your choice, one way or the other both are same. Booting into a single user mode to reset password, is sort of recreating the admin account from scratch. When you perform the commands, it will then allow you to create a new admin account

To reset password via Single User Mode, you will need to reboot your OS X with the Command-S keys held at start-up.

This will then take you into a bash prompt which will be a black screen.

In the bash command prompt, type the three commands below followed by RETURN/ENTER key.

mount -uw /

rm /var/db.AppleSetupDone

shutdown -h

Once done, and after you execute the shutdown -h command, your Mac OS X System will reboot. You will now be presented with options to create a new admin account, follow the steps on screen to create your new admin account. Once done, and once logged into the new admin account, go to System Preferences.

From System Preferences go to > Users & Groups, click the lock icon in the lower left corner to unlock features.

Then, click the Account for which you initially wanted to reset the password, and choose Reset Password to setup your new password.

Reset your OS X Password via Recovery Console

Startup your MAC OS X holding the Command + R Keys to boot into the recovery console. Choose Utilities -> Terminal from the menu bar on top.

resetpassword

The next window will open the Reset Password Utility. From, under “select a user of this volume to reset their password”, choose the user account and and type in the new password. Then click Save.

reset password os x

Once done, click the Apple icon on the top left, and choose Restart.

How to Set a Firmware Password on Your Mac

Using a login password on your Mac is a simple way of ensuring your macOS user account stays private, and using FileVault to encrypt your startup disk means only users who can log in to your Mac can read the disk's data. However, neither security method will prevent someone from booting your machine from an external hard drive.

mac locked

One way to eliminate this vulnerability is by setting a firmware password on your Mac, which will prevent it from working with any other bootable volume than the one you've designated. However before you follow through with the procedure, there's a potential drawback you should definitely consider.

The password is held in a special area of persistent memory on your Mac's mainboard, so it's not something you can reset easily like other passwords. In fact, if you forget the firmware password, the only way to get it reset is to schedule an in-person service appointment with an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. With that caveat in mind, here are the steps you can take to set up a firmware password on your Mac.

How to Set a Firmware Password on Your Mac

Power off your Mac if it's already running.

Turn on your Mac and then immediately press and hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys to activate Recovery Mode.

set a firmware password on your mac

Wait for the OS X Utilities screen to appear, then select Utilities -> Startup Security Utility from the menu bar.

set a firmware password on your mac 2

Click Turn On Firmware Password....

set a firmware password on your mac 3

Enter the same firmware password in both fields provided, then click Set Password.

set a firmware password on your mac 4

Click Quit Firmware Password Utility.

set a firmware password on your mac 5

Click the Apple () menu and select Restart.

That's all there is to it. With the firmware password set, no one will be able to access your Mac's data by using an external hard drive. If you want to turn off a firmware password on your Mac that you've set up, the process is basically the same as above, except at step 4 you click Turn Off Firmware Password.