Tutorials 

We Don't Need No Stinking Passwords In Mac OS X... Do We ??

By Christian Pickman, Contributing Editor

Anytime you install or update a piece of software you are asked for your password to continue the process. But what happens if you have accidentally forgotten your password. Well, there are a couple of methods in Mac OS X that can be used to resolve this issue.

First, be sure that you are typing your user name and password with the same capitalization and punctuation that you used when you initially installed Mac OS X. If you are still having difficulty logging in, then log in as administrator and open User preferences to change the user name and/or password. Here are steps that you should follow:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.

2. Select the Users icon from the System portion of System Preferences.

3. Click on the lock button if it displays the locked icon.

4. Authenicate with an admin or root login and password. Click OK.

5. Click on the user name for the password that you want to change.

6. Click on the Edit User button.

7. Now click the Password tab.

8. Delete the current password from the Password field.

9. Enter in a new password for both the Password and Verify fields. Remember that the password must contain at least 4 characters.

10. At this point, you can also decide whether or not you want this user to administer this computer from the checkbox. Click on the Save button when you have finished with your changes.

NOTE: Never leave a password field blank, especially if you are editing an adminstrator account password.

But what should you do if have forgotten your only administrator password? If this is the case, then this is the time to locate Mac OS X Installer CD. Unfortunately, I was unable to supply screen shots for the following instructions since I have to boot from the Installer CD which does not allow creation files (screen shots, in this case) on a locked volume, so follow these steps in order to reset the administrator password:

• 1. Boot up from the Mac OS X Installer CD.
• 2. Once you have reached the initial Installer screen, select Reset Password from the Installer menu. This will automatically launch the Reset Password application.
• 3. With Reset Password active, select the Mac OS X volume which contains the password you wish to change.
• 4. After selecting the Mac OS X volume, click on the popup menu for the admin user that you want to reset the password.
• 5. Once you have selected the admin user, type in the new password that you want in both the "Enter a new password for this user" and in "Reenter the new password for this user" fields.
• 6. Now click on the Save button to save the new password for this user.
• 7. After clicking on the Save button, go ahead and quit the Reset Password application which will bring you back to the initial Installer screen.
• 8. From the initial Installer screen, select Quit Installer for the Installer menu.
• 9. You will then be prompted on whether you want to quit, select the Restart button in this dialog to restart your machine.

NOTE: Another user with the Mac OS X Installer CD can gain unrestricted access to the computer, so remember to keep your Mac OS X Installer CD in a secure location.

Basically, this is the Mac OS X way of changing a user password. Yes, there are ways for changing a password in Terminal, but you need to know the password for the account first prior to changing it to a new one.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, feel free to e-mail me: christian_pickman@osxfaq.com