OS X :: Leopard - Admin Reset - Data Recovery From Main User?
Jan 31, 2010
Recently I lost my admin identity password and consequently I was unable to trash applications or any file requiring the admin password. And so I reset this by reinstalling the setup (this is a bit of a hack I learned about through Youtube). After rebooting the system I was asked to create a new admin which I did and then I was asked whether I wanted to transfer the data � I answered no to this option.
All my data (files, folders, photos, music, etc. now resides in an identity called Main User. How do I import all this material into my new admin identity or manage this such that all the preferences, bookmarks, Microsoft email user identity and all privileges are restored to how they were before?
The Macbook of a friend of mine doe not boot anymore after an abordet Itunes-Upadte yesterday evenig.How ever, the Save-Boot-Log tells me, that "The System bootstrapper has crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5" I assume that i have to reinstall OS X to get the Macbook run again. This is where i'm sure, whether the Install via Recovery-Partition -> Reinstall Lion does a complete Clean-Install (all Data that's been on the HDD will be gone) or does "only" some Repair-Install-Stuff which preserve the personal Data and Software on the HDD. Nevertheless i'm going to Backup (CCC) the broken installation to be on the safe side anyway.
When I purchased my iMac a few years ago, I created one user account and just started using my computer. I am trying to implement a few Safe Computing practices by creating a new Admin user account and changing my original user account to a Standard user.
For some reason, I cannot change either of the accounts to a standard user after I type in the password. I've logged in as both and tried to change the other user profile to a standard user, but the checkbox is greyed out on both of the Admin User accounts.
I can create a new standard user, but I have everyting set the way I like it on my current Admin user account. It would be much easier to have a new Admin User account and "Downgrade" my original Admin account to a standard user account.
why the option to change from an Admin user to a standard user would be "Greyed Out"? The support articles walk me through, what should be a few simple steps, but I can not change the settings because the checkbox is greyed out.
I just used migration assistant to transfer to my new macbook pro. When i was doing this i needed to set up a new account/user as the one already on my new macbook pro is named the same as the one i was migrating from. With me?
What i want to do is delete the ORIGINAL account and be left with the new one, i migrated over, as the sole account (bar guest account and whatever else is usually there).
I can't seem to see any option for deleting the original account, the minus option is faded out when i highlight the Original account in "Accounts" in the System Pref. window.
I have forgotten my admin password. I have a Mac OS X Install DVD (version 10.6.2), but it doesn't appear ro have a reset password facility. The Mac has operating system 10.6.8. Any ideas please for resetting password?
I was running my iMac just in admin, which I know is frowned upon but that's the way I had it. I had a corrupt preferences file and I couldn't save any of my passwords etc Finally created a new user and reinstalled everything and it works fine. Had to replace all my passwords for my apps etc but other than that not that big a deal.
Question is can I now delete the other user now that I have a new admin login?:
It is just taking up storage space with a user which is corrupted but I don't want to erase the data in that user and also delete all my data in the new user as well.
I want to turn on parental controls on the main account. But yeah, OS X wants me to make an extra account. I'm only asking because I want to have all my files on that account while using Parental controls. If not i'll just make another account
I have a EMac with Mac OS X vs 10.3.9 Prior user erased hard drive. Took to ADR data recovery and they scanned the hard drive and were unable to recover any data. Looking for input on other techniques to recover data from hard drive or other companies that specialize in Mac data recovery.
I have a MAC G5, OS 10.5.8. I wanted to change some settings on the computer, but when I entered the administrator password it did not work.I was told that I had to boot up with the system CD and then enter a new admin password, which I did. It seemed to work fine.Now I would like to eliminate the password entirely, but when I go to that section and enter a password, it reads "Incorrect Password"! It seems to work for individual applications, but when it comes to eliminating the password completely, no luck. Could it be looking for the old (UNKNOWN) password? If so I have tried everything and still nothing.
So, I'm trying to recover some lost files. I put it on Data recovery 3. Everything went fine until the power in my house went out, stopping the entire process. NOW when I try to run the process, it just stalls at 33,3%, with no indication of how much time left...
Reports have been cropping up on the Apple Support forums that users have been losing all their data due to a nasty bug in Snow Leopard, Apple's latest Operating System. Many users are reporting that all settings are being reset and most data is gone, according to iTWire.
The problem, can easily be reproduced when a user logs into the 'guest' account, either on purpose or by accident, and when they log back out of the account and back into their normal one, they find that their account has been fully reset with all data wiped and lost - the account is like a brand new one. The home directory still exists under "/Users/username" but is completely empty.
Users are reporting that the data is unrecoverable and cannot be found anywhere on the hard drive, and the only way to restore it is if the user has been performing backups on a separate hard-drive. Apparently the problem has been present since a few days after launch, as the forum post dates back to 12th September, but as of yet, Apple has been silent.
It seems the only work around at this stage is to disable the Guest account, or at least disable it and then re-enabling it so that it's a native Snow Leopard account. Another suggestion is to create a new account and enforce parental controls, if you really need a temporary account.
It's not clear how many users are affected, but it seems like any user who had Leopard before the upgrade, and had the guest account enabled are affected and are at risk.
Reports of a potentially critical Snow Leopard bug that can erase a user's account data have continued to surface since the operating system's debut [Updated with Apple official comment].
Since Mac OS X 10.6 launched in late August, numerous reports online have detailed the issue, which is triggered by logging in and out of a guest account on a Snow Leopard machine. Upon logging back in to their regular account, users will find that it has been wiped of all data.
The issue has prompted numerous threads (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on the Apple Support Discussions, with reports suggesting the issue cannot be reproduced with any exact certainty. Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge the issue.
"When I logged into my MacBook Pro this morning, it was as if I had logged into my Guest Account and not my standard user profile," user parshallnet said. "No icons on the desktop, the desktop wallpaper was the default 'space' photo and not the one I had assigned, no documents in the docs folder, apps behaved as if I'd never opened them before."
The issue was initially reported when Snow Leopard first launched, but complaints have grown as adoption of the platform has continued. Monday, Engadget highlighted the issue.
A month ago, CNet detailed a potential fix for the issue, which is reportedly caused when users have had a guest account enabled for login prior to the install of Snow Leopard. The easiest way to avoid the issue is disabling the guest account.
If afflicted by the bug, the home folder can be restored, though without a backup, the loss of data is likely permanent. If a user has Time Machine running, they can restore their Snow Leopard installation while holding 'C' at startup and choosing "Restore from Backup" from the "Utilities" menu.
Update: In a brief statement, Apple acknowledged the issue Monday evening, according to CNet
"We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix," a spokesperson said in a prepared statement.
Since its launch in August, Snow Leopard has been received with positive reviews and strong sales. A quick update, Mac OS X 10.6.1, was released soon after, but apparently did not provide relief from the guest account bug.
Mac OS X 10.6.2 is currently in beta and only available to developers. It has nearly 150 general focus areas. [ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
I replaced my daughters drive in her Macbook last fall. The move went without any issue and she had an additional 100GB after the upgrade.
Now it appears the drive is dying. It won't boot to get to the login - it gets to the blue screen and mouse cursor in the upper left, then circular spinning countdown in the center, then repeat, then hang at the blue screen. I can hear the drive making a repeated winding/reading type of noise when it gets to the point where the login should be coming up.
Here's what I've done so far:
- I've tried booting off the Leopard disk and verified disk - it passed. - I also repaired permissions - it repaired about 2 dozen and passed as well. - I've reset the pram with no impact - It won't boot in safe mode - keeps getting some flashing text at the top and won't complete the boot. - I took the drive out and ran Spinrite 6 on it - it got to about 53% and it started making the noise like it was stuck at the blue screen at Leopard bootup. It ran for 3 hours and the drive eventually passed with nothing fixed and no errors found. - I'm afraid to try an archive and install since I think the drive is failing
So here is what I'm going to do.
- Purchase replacement drive and do a clean Leopard install - Put the existing failing drive in my USB powered enclosure
I don't have a time machine backup to work from.
Now my question is where is my daughters user data and system files? She is the only user on the Macbook. Once I find them and bring them over - barring any other issues - where do I put them on the new drive/Leopard install and make her desktop, user data, music, photos, network settings, and apps the same again - like it would be with an archive and install? Is it as simple as copying over a user folder or series of folders? What about user login - does it have to be the same or does that come with copying the folders/data over.
So long story short I set up an account for my husband a while ago on my Macbook, he had full admin rights and privileges as do I, but he hasn't signed on for a few months. He has a ton of work on his account that he moved over from an old hard drive but he's forgotten his password. We've had history with password issues and he doesn't want me to see his and I don't want to know it. I was wondering if there was any way if I let him log on my admin account if he could simply view his password even though he was another user. According to him he remembers locking a bunch of documents using the same password so a simple reset won't work. Is there any way to use keychain to look at his admin account password without resetting it?
I change my password, and I can't remember which was it. Apple have me a recovery key but I lost it, but I put that it will be saved with Apple and I answer es 3 security question.
I have a powermac in the office with latest version of tiger installed, when the main user logs in I can see his wallpaper but only the spotlight search icon in the top right hand corner and thats it. When I move the mouse over it it beachballs. All other profiles are fine.
I've run into a nasty problem in that my main user account is no longer visible at the login screen, only the guest user account. Basically there is no way I can figure out to get back into my Air other than the safe Safari guest account.
I'm in desperate need for a solution as I need to access files for a conference call in 3 hours.
Info: MacPro, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Power Mac Dual 2GHz G5, Mac OS X (10.5.5)
I have tried very hard to find the answer to my transferring question, but nowhere do I find my answer nor does Apple offer free help or even help by email.
So here is my issue. I want to transfer all my personal data from my HOME user account on my MacBook to a NEW user account on the SAME MacBook. The reason is that my Microsoft Office has a certain issue that is only solvable by starting up in a new user. So now I want to transfer all the personality, data, files, and all that from my home user to the new user on the same computer. After that, I want to delete the old Home user and make the new user the default home user account.
My friend bought a 13" MBP (April 2010) from someone at a cheaper price, but that person didn't provide the original installation disks. I have a Snow Leopard Disc which I bought for $50 as an upgrade from Leopard. Any chance that can be used to reset the password?
I have a PowerPC G3 iBook, running OS X 10.4.11, which I bought a couple of years ago from a work colleague. It works great, but I want to change my broadband provider software, and need to input the Admin password to have the software installed. I have forgotten the Administrator password, so after trawling the internet I have tried to use the install disc that came with the iBook to reset the Admin password.
The install disc is version 10.2.1, and it lets me start (by pressing the C button on restart) and access the Change Password facility. I have changed the password, saved the changes and restarted the iBook. But when I then try to install the new broadband software, the new Admin password I've just set is not recognised! I have seen posts on the internet giving instructions on how to 'hack' after restarting and pressing the Command and S button, but I'm not confident in doing this because I've also seen posts on forums where people with 10.4.11 have had LOADS of issues after doing so! Do I need to try and get a new install disc nearer to 10.4.11, or is there another solution?? I don't want to damage a perfectly good iBook!
I just got back from the Apple store with my new Mac Mini Server (I'm not using it as a server at all, just that the specs were better for me). I set it all up with minimum server settings and once it was all completed and saw my desktop, I rebooted. At the log in screen for the computer, I typed in my name and password as I set it up a few minutes before and it just gave me the shake.
Thinking I typed the password wrong when I set it up, I googled a trick to reset the admin [URL] and did it all again. Now the second time and 100% sure that I'm typing the password correctly, I'm still unable to login.
I have an old 333mhz iMac with os 10.1.5 that I need to reset the administrator name and password on. I am trying to install 10.3 on the Mac but when I put disc 1 in it asks me for the admin. name and password. I got the iMac on craigslist about 6 months ago and can't get a hold of the seller now. I want to go to 10.3 so I can use a printer I have.
Problem arose when backing up hard drive in process of upgrading current 80 gb drive for 250gb drive. Put new 250gb in usb caddy to copy/clone old drive but wouldn�t mount on my powerbook. It did however mount on my G4 tower! Booted powerbook in firewire mode and picked it up on G4 tower. Used disk utility disc restore to put the old powerbook hard drive onto the new one in the usb caddy. This copied over but then when I restarted the powerbook it asked me to log on as user which it never used to do. As it didn�t accept the password I reset the password using the install disc.
