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I Forgot My Mac Computer Password, What Do I Do?

Lucas Watson
Lucas Watson

Updated:

"I forgot my Mac computer password, what should I do? I installed a dual system on my Mac computer. I've been using Windows instead of Mac OS X for a long time. Today I started Mac OS X but found I forgot the login password. What can I Do?"

Take it easy if you forgot Mac computer password for login to Mac OS. This tutorial introduces how to reset Mac computer password after you forgot it.

What do you do when you forgot Mac computer password?


Method 1: Reset Mac computer forgotten password with Mac OS installation disk

Step 1: Connect a Mac OS installation disk to your Mac computer that has forgotten its password.

Step 2: Boot Mac OS from the installation disk.

Step 3: Once Mac OS boots up from the disk you need to choose your language. Then Mac OS will prepare the installation environment.

Mac OS installation environment

Step 4: Then select the Utilities menu and choose Reset Password.

Select Reset Password

Step 5: Select the volume containing the user account whose password you forgot, and select the user account from the drop-down button. Then type your new password and then click on the Save button to save changes.

Reset a new password

After Mac OS forgotten password is reset to a new one, restart your Mac computer and boot Mac OS. Then you can log onto Mac OS with the newly reset password.

Method 2: Reset Mac OS forgotten password in Single-User Mode

Step 1: Start or restart your Mac computer while holding the Command + S key. This will open up Terminal in Single-User mode.

Step 2: Once access to Single-User mode, you can see the command line input port that starts with root. ( If you can't see that, press Enter key twice. ) When you see root#, run the following commands one by one.

fsck -y

mount –uaw /

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

reboot

Step 3: Then your Mac computer will reboot, and it will display the Mac Startup screen.

Step 4: Follow the steps on the screen to create a new admin account on the Mac computer.

Step 5: When you are logged in the newly created admin account, you can go to System Preferences -> Accounts. Then select the account that forgot the password and click on the Reset Password button.

Click on the Reset Password button

Step 6: Type your new password and password hint if you desire. Then click on the Reset Password button.

Type your new password

So, you have successfully reset your Mac computer forgotten password to a new one. Now, you can log out the newly created admin account and log in your original password is forgotten account with the newly reset password.

In addition: If your Mac computer is with the dual system installed and you forgot Windows 7 admin password or forgot Windows 8 password on your Mac computer, it should be also simple to reset Windows password on Mac computer.