Hello again…..

lost your admin password ? No big deal at all. Just follow the following steps and enjoy your admin account with a new password.

Requirements:

• Mac OSX Install CD/DVD
• The user account created while OSX installation has to be still available.

Step by step:

1. Start up from a Mac OS X Install CD (one whose version is closest the the version of Mac OS X installed). You should first disable Open Firmware password protection, if it is enabled. Hold the C key as the computer starts.

2. Choose Reset Password from the Installer menu (or Utilities menu in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger). Tip: If you don’t see this menu or menu choice, you’re probably not started from the CD yet.

3. Select your Mac OS X hard disk volume.

4. Set the user name of your original administrator account.

5. Important: Do not select “System Administrator (root)”. This is actually a reference to the root user. Do not confuse it with a normal administrator account.

6. Enter a new password.

7. Click Save.

After following these steps, you’ll want to also follow the steps in Mac OS X 10.4: Keychain Access asks for keychain “login” after changing login password.

After reading that short howto, you should keep on thing always in mind:

Your admin password is only of limited security because anyone with an OS install disk can restart off their disk and reset your password without knowing your existing password. Just something to keep in mind, securitywise!

Tags: 10.4, admin-priv's, install-disk, password