How to Reset the Admin Password on Your Mac Without an Installation Disc?

Long before the only way to change the admin password on an OS X device is through a CD or a disc. Hence, if you wish to change your password and you have a Mac OS X installation disc for Lion (OS X 10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8), all you have to do is follow the instructions found on Apple’s website. However, if you do not have the installation disc and you wish to access and change your admin password, do not worry you will still be able to change it even without the installation disc. These days, fortunately, you could download without the use of a disc. Furthermore, aside from being able to change your password, if you forgot your admin password, you will still be able to retrieve it through the following options and methods:

Apple ID

This option is one of the simplest method you could do and use. All you have to do is to set up your Mac or upgrade your OS. Once done, your Setup assistant will then ask you to allow your Apple ID to reset your admin password. Ensure that this option is enabled. This could be seen as marked in the Users and Groups in the System Preferences. Take note, however, if this option is not marked and you have forgotten about your password, this option or method might not work for you. Thus, some would not rely solely on this method as there are some security issues involved such as if by chance your Apple’s system gets compromised, your admin password could be at huge risk.

User Another Administrator Account

Admin could definitely reset the password of another admin. This method could work if you have set up two administrator accounts. Hence, if you know the password of the other administrator account, then you could reset the password of the other admin account.

Single User Mode

This is another method which will help you reset your admin password. Though single user mode comes with limited environment, it could allow you to do advanced troubleshooting. In other words, if you boot your Mac into a single user mode, you will have to set up a new admin account. To do this, all you have to do is follow the steps below:

• Reboot your mac
• Hold down simultaneously command + s
• Press until a black screen with white text appears
• Wait until the command prompt appears.
• Type mount-uw / on the command prompt
• Press enter
• Type rm/var/db/.AppleSetupDone
• Press enter
• Once done, this will delete your Apple Setup File and will go back to its original state
• Type shutdown –h
• Your computer will shutdown
• Press the power button to turn on your Mac
• A message prompt will appear and the setup screen will guide you.
• Follow the steps provided for you to be able to create a new admin account.

Recovery Partition

If you have tried all the methods mentioned above and nothing works, we suggest to do the OS X Recovery Partition. Take note, however that this option is only available for OS X 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) and OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). To do this method, all you have to do is follow the steps below:

• Restart your Mac
• Press Command + r
• Hold until you see Apple logo and the spinning gear for Yosemite
• Mac will then boot into OS X on recovery partition
• After booting, you will see OS X Utilities window
• Select Terminal
• Type resetpassword
• Press enter
• Click on the volume which contains user account
• Select user account name on the dropdown menu
• Enter your new password twice
• Click Save
• Go to Apple Menu
• Select OS X Utilities
• Quit OS X Utilities
• Once your Mac restarts, you will now be able to log into the admin account using your new password.