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Can't change my administrator name

I can't seem to change my admin name on my iMac.

When it gives the pop up "System Preferences is trying to unlock Users & Groups preferences", I enter the username shown in the left under current user, and I enter my password, but it won't unlock. I've changed the password and still no luck. Seems like it's the username problem and not the password. Also, I cannot go into the user (via Advanced) to view the username, as it is locked (and to unlock I need to enter username & password).... Please help.

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 16, 2019 11:52 PM

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5 replies

Dec 17, 2019 9:44 AM in response to Barney-15E

No, I can't create new users or switch to guest user (as this is turned off).

I have not as I've never had the need to, but now that I want to install new apps, I need to be able to do so as nothing new can get installed and nothing that is existent can get updated. I know for sure the password is correct as I can still log into my iMac on startup.

Dec 17, 2019 9:56 AM in response to Jaansie

Yes.


You can create a new administrator account by restarting the Setup Assistant:

1. Boot into Single User Mode: Start/restart your Mac. As soon as you hear the startup tone, press and hold ⌘ + S until you see a black screen with white lettering. (If you end up back on the login screen after a flash of the black screen with white lettering, enter your password and it will return to the black screen.)

2. Check and repair the drive by typing /sbin/fsck -fy then ↩ enter - as directed by the on-screen text.

3. Mount the drive as read-write by typing /sbin/mount -uw / then ↩ enter.

4. Remove the Apple Setup Done file by typing rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone then ↩ enter.

5. Reboot by typing reboot then ↩ enter.

6. Complete the setup process, creating a new admin account.

Be very careful to notice the spaces in those Terminal Commands.

Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

Dec 18, 2019 6:28 AM in response to Jaansie

Also, when in Users and Groups, where my user is listed, it states "Standard" not Admin as on my Macbook Pro...
Does this have any affect as it's a standard user and not the administrator??

Yes, but there isn't any "the administrator" on Unix and macOS. Users can be marked in a way that allows them to elevate their privileges through authentication, when needed. Any user can have this power, so there isn't a single administrator account on macOS.


The first account created on the system is given the ability to administrate the computer. I don't know other ways to lose that capability, but the most common here is trying to change the short user name of the account while logged into that same account.


BDAqua has provided the steps to have the system create a new user that has admin privileges.

Can't change my administrator name

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