Mac Mini 2014 password issue

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Mac Mini 2014 password issue

So I bought a refurbed mac mini 2014, when first starting up, entered my apple id and password, password would not work. Clicked setup later. Desktop came up fine. Went to the app store to download something, entered the same password, it logged in fine. Could not download the app said I needed newer os. Downloaded latest os, tried to install but again the password would not work. Restarted and now I can't get in because the password will not work. Trying the password 3 times does not ask to reset password. Command + R will not work, just goes to the screen asking for password. On my ipad and when logging into the apple.com, it shows the mac mini as a trusted device.

Posted on Jun 3, 2023 5:34 PM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

245,423 points

Jun 3, 2023 9:28 PM in response to scottm80

See if you can create a new administrator account by restarting the Setup Assistant:

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.)
Check and repair the drive by typing /sbin/fsck -fy then ↩ enter - as directed by the on-screen text.
Mount the drive as read-write by typing /sbin/mount -uw / then ↩ enter.
Remove the Apple Setup Done file by typing rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone then ↩ enter.
Reboot by typing reboot then ↩ enter.
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 still be there. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

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