Introduction

Forgetting the admin password on your Mac can be frustrating. You may find yourself locked out of important files and unable to make changes to your system. But don’t worry — you are not alone! In this article, we will discuss four ways to reset a lost admin password on Mac OS X so you can regain access to your device and its features.

1. Use Apple ID to reset the password

If you have associated your Apple ID with your admin account, you can use it to reset the password:

– Restart your Mac and hold down the Command and R keys until the macOS Utilities screen appears.

– Open Terminal from the Utilities menu, then enter “resetpassword” (without quotes) and press Enter.

– Choose your main disk drive, select your user account, and click “Use my iCloud account to reset my password.”

– Follow the on-screen instructions to reset your admin password using your Apple ID.

2. Reset the password using Single User Mode

For those who have not linked their Apple ID with their account, Single User Mode offers another way to reset a lost admin password:

– Restart your Mac and hold down the Command and S keys until a black screen with white text appears.

– Type in the following commands, pressing Enter after each one:

– “mount -uw /”

– “launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.opendirectoryd.plist”

– “passwd [your_username]”

– Replace “[your_username]” with your actual username.

– Enter a new password when prompted, then restart your Mac by typing “reboot” and pressing Enter.

3. Reset the password using Recovery Mode

Recovery Mode provides another method for resetting a lost admin password:

– Restart your Mac while holding down Command and R keys until the macOS Utilities screen appears.

– Open Terminal from the Utilities menu.

– Type “resetpassword” (without quotes) and press Enter.

– Choose your main disk drive, select your user account, and type in a new password.

– Click “Save” then restart your Mac.

4. Create a new admin account

If all else fails, you can create a new admin account to access your important files:

– Boot into Recovery Mode by holding down the Command and R keys during startup.

– Open Terminal from the Utilities menu, then enter the following command:

– “/Volumes/[your_disk_name]/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/[your_username].plist”

– Replace “[your_disk_name]” with your main disk drive’s name and “[your_username]” with your actual username.

– Press Enter, then restart your Mac.

– Log in to your newly-created admin account.

Conclusion

Regaining access to a Mac with a lost admin password can feel daunting, but with these four methods at your disposal, you won’t be locked out for long. Try each method until you find the one that works best for you, so you can get back to enjoying your Mac experience without any password-related barriers.