Quick way to wipe Mac account password??

[d3v]

Hi guys I use Spotmau boot CD to wipe Windows passwords however I have no idea what to use on a Mac for this task. Can someone point me in the direction of something as quick & easy as Spotmau is for Windows. Thanks in advance.

 

[E Bell]

For OS X Mavericks (10.9), Mountain Lion (10.8), and Lion (10.7) with Recovery Mode:

1. Boot into the Mac OS X boot loader menu by holding down the OPTION key at system start
2. Choose the Recovery drive to boot into recovery mode and wait until the “Utilities” screen appears
3. Pull down the “Utilities” menu and choose “Terminal”
4. At the command line, type “resetpassword” without the quotes
5. Confirm the new account password, then reboot the Mac as usual

 

[altrenda]

Just remember that this process does not reset the keychain password, so after resetting the user password, when you log in you will be asked to create a new keychain password. If you don't you will be asked for the old password each time you open something like Safari or try to login into anything that has a saved password.

more info here https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18681?locale=en_US

 

[E Bell]

Correct @altrenda and neither will any of the third party software (that I've seen) that allows you to bypass or remove the account password.

 

[Markverhyden]

And if you reset the keychain password they WILL loose all of their saved passwords. Of course that's not a problem with most users as we know they have them all memorized. LOL!!! (of course I'm being sarcastic)

 

[d3v]

For OS X Mavericks (10.9), Mountain Lion (10.8), and Lion (10.7) with Recovery Mode:

1. Boot into the Mac OS X boot loader menu by holding down the OPTION key at system start
2. Choose the Recovery drive to boot into recovery mode and wait until the “Utilities” screen appears
3. Pull down the “Utilities” menu and choose “Terminal”
4. At the command line, type “resetpassword” without the quotes
5. Confirm the new account password, then reboot the Mac as usual

Hi there. When I hold OPTION key upon powering-on it presents a login screen, and I do not know the password! I tried admin, administrator, ect.

The Mac is a A1418 and according to google is running 10.8.2 Mountain Lion. The Mac does not have an optical drive.

I think I'm going to try simply reformatting with a OSX usb flash drive, but will have to ask first if there is any day that needs saving first.

 

[altrenda]

Are you using a wired or the apple wireless keyboard?
I've had problems with the wireless at boot up sometimes.
Also, Try holding the option key before pressing the power button and keep the option key pressed until you see the boot and recovery drives icons.

 

[Markverhyden]

Are you using a wired or the apple wireless keyboard?
I've had problems with the wireless at boot up sometimes.
Also, Try holding the option key before pressing the power button and keep the option key pressed until you see the boot and recovery drives icons.

^^^^ This. Actually I've had problems with the wireless KB's and the PXE environment almost all of the time with Mac's. I always make sure my customers have a wired kb onsite just in case when I'm talking to them on the phone.

 

[d3v]

i've got an OSX image on an external USB hard drive but cannot use it to install on this Mac because I can't get passed the password lock when I hold OPTION key. Anyone know a way to wipe this firmware/BIOS password?

 

[Markverhyden]

i've got an OSX image on an external USB hard drive but cannot use it to install on this Mac because I can get passed the password lock when I hold OPTION key. Anyone know a way to wipe this other password?

You did not confirm whether you have a wired or wireless KB.

 

[d3v]

Hi it's a wireless Mac keyboard.

edit: would resetting the internal cell battery work like it does with Windows PC's? Wouldn't want to take the time to teardown an iMac unless I know for sure as I read post-2011 iMac's can only have their firmware passwords removed by Apple store technicians!?!?

 

[Markverhyden]

Hi it's a wireless Mac keyboard.

edit: would resetting the internal cell battery work like it does with Windows PC's? Wouldn't want to take the time to teardown an iMac unless I know for sure as I read post-2011 iMac's can only have their firmware passwords removed by Apple store technicians!?!?

I know I'm sounding a bit harsh but did you even read the posts by myself and altrenda. We both stated that wireless KB's are a problem when accessing PXE boot options in the Apple world. If you do not have a Apple wired KB you can just use any USB KB.

The key mapping

Windows Apple
Alt Option
Windows Command

 

[altrenda]

your missing the point. There is a good chance that the wireless keyboard is not being seen, so your keypress means nothing.
Hook up a wired keyboard, windows, mac, whatever.

Hold Windows key and r key while powering up to get into recovery mode.

EDit, Mark and I had the same idea.

 

[d3v]

Ok I just linked up my Windows USB keyboard and held WINDOWS+R and still being asked to type a password! This password is just like a Windows PC bios password. Question is how to remove it?

 

[altrenda]

Are you getting to this

or something else like this

 

[altrenda]

If the Open Firmware Protection is set and you don't have the Admin password, try this

Force Removing Password Protection

1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.

2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).

http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php

And with the newer Macs having the RAM soldered to the board, this won't work either.