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Forgot my administrator password

I can login to my Mac, but I am unable to update anything because I forgot my Administrator password. When I try to unlock to make changes, it asks for my password and I have entered everything I remembered that it could be, but nothing works. How do I reset the administrator password?


iMac 27" 5K, macOS 10.13

Posted on Apr 29, 2020 7:42 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 29, 2020 8:47 AM

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860

12 replies

May 31, 2020 12:49 PM in response to 4kicker

How to change the admin password on a Mac…

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/change-admin-password-mac-3535328/



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, except all your data will stile there. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

Forgot my administrator password

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