Comments on: Mac OS X Single User Mode Password Reset

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:13:37 +0000

Hi,

thanks a lot for this. Just saved me quite some trouble.

One correction: At least in my case, I had to type ‘quit’, not ‘exit’, to leave ‘dslc’.

Simon

By: Jesse Cole

Jesse Cole — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:39:43 +0000

@Bill Remember i how i specifically mentioned how that doesn’t work? I’ve been getting lots of email, etc. about this from people who think that works so let me just say one last time, it doesn’t. When booted, OS X pulls all user data from the directory database. This includes the root user. In single user mode, you are root, true. However, the directory services are not running so setting a password here does not change the root password of the booted system.

Sorry, i wish it were that easy but i’ve even tested it. It isn’t. Please stop emailing me.

By: BIll

BIll — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:06:43 +0000

There is a far easier way to do this:
mount -uw /
chroot /
passwd
Done and done.

By: straff

straff — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:53:36 +0000

just to make you aware the command is not launchtl but launchctl

Cheers
Straff

By: Lee Buck

Lee Buck — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:44:33 +0000

Thank you for this information Jess. A friend of mine made a big mistake and purchased at a yard sale a Mac G4 with OS X on board. The Salee wrote the admin/root password down for my friend, but the P/W was immediately lost in his family chaoes.
(They paid $450.00 for this machine)

By: John Evans

John Evans — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:28:28 +0000

tried the reset password from therm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and now cannot boot the system only the please wait motive appears and does not go away, and cannot find user pops up in the Dos mode, how do I fix this worse problem now, Im not happy. Please reply asap

By: Carl Clement

Carl Clement — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:10:03 +0000

Thanks - just did this on the second hand iMac G4 we got into the office. Worked a treat on OS X 10.4.11 - finally Admin access to tbe beast

By: Leonard

Leonard — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:13:03 +0000

THANKS! -_- now i got my macbook superbricked. showing apple logo and spinning wheel of death. what now? inserted installation CD and got all my settings deleted. be safe, be careful, and beware.

By: Easkay

Easkay — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:36:17 +0000

Hi, I’ve got a problem, when I use the
sh /etc/rc
command to get all the daemons and services running, it spends ages saying “Couldn’t find root user. Sleeping and trying again.”
and I cannot write any code to actually bypass this or to create a root user. And when I try the registration process, when it gets to the create new user bit, it has a thin grey line in the middle of the window and that’s it. I’ve tried using systemstarter to get round this, but with no luck. I also have no access to a mac os x install disc and am pretty much screwed. Is there anything I can do?

By: Madsailor

Madsailor — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:29:46 +0000

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone, I tried this one but new user is not admin user. Just you can use as a regular user.