how do I over ride a forgotten mac os X powerbook password?

Question

I forgot my password and I tried installing the tiger disc,but it asks me for my passwod??? help plz

Answer 1

For forgotten account passwords:

1. Insert the Software Install disc that came with your computer.
2. Restart your computer and immediately press and hold the C key to start up from the disc.
3. When the Installer appears, choose Reset Password from the Installer menu and follow the onscreen instructions to choose a new one.
4. Burn this password into your memory.

Answer 2

If the system is asking you for a password, that means you are already logged into your account. You can create a new administrative user and then logout / login to the new user. From there, you can change your original user password. It is a peculiarity of the Mac OS X that you cannot easily change your own password if you forgot it but another admin user can change your password for you easily without knowing your old password. Odd...

Open System Preferences, select "Accounts". Then click "New user". Give the user any name other than your name, such as "test". Give it a password such as ... "test". Now, this is very important. Put a check at the bottom for "Allow user to administer this computer". Quit System Preferences and it will ask you if you want to turn off "Auto login". Say yes. From the Apple menu, choose logout, click the logout button. Now login as the "test" user. Open System Preferences again and choose "Accounts" again. Now select your original user name, click "Edit user" and change your password to something simple that you will NEVER FORGET. After that, you can install whatever you want.

Answer 3

Hello streetwize001,

OK, what you need to do is to boot up your Mac, put in the Tiger DVD. Restart your Mac. While your Mac is booting, hold down the "C" Key. This will cause the Mac to boot up from the CD-ROM disk. I'm sorry. You probably know this, but just in case...

OK, instead of starting up the Install part of the Tiger disk, you go up to the Menu Bar and hit the Change Password menu command. This will arrange for you to change your password to what ever you want. Save and reboot without holding the "C" key, and you should now be OK.

I hope that this helps you. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more details. I'm doing this from memory. Best of luck to you.

--Rick

Answer 4

I'm not apple friendly.. but i'll help you give this a shot.

is this a operating password? (to OS X)

or is it a system password on the computer? (like a BIOS password on a windows computer)

If it's a operating system password and you can't figure out how to delete it you have a few options.

If you don't need the data on that drive - simply delete the partitions and start over. If the mac that your on won't let you - pull the drive and put it in another mac and see if that works. If it doesn't - you can definitely put it in a pc and delete the partition using fdisk (BE VERY CAREFUL!).

If you need the data - i would suggest the same but with a added option. Pull the drive and put it in another mac. then pull off the data that you need. then delete the partition - reinstall OS and then recover data.

there appear to be some exploits to get around the password - but i'll leave that for the apple experts.

Answer 5

i don't very own a Mac anymore, yet as quickly as factor that does artwork (if reinstalling is all you have have been given), installation OS X to a 2d partition or force and replica over your documents from the previous installation (all your significant documents). Then merely format the previous partition and resize the hot one to soak up the area.