Picked up a used computer and need to reset login password

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hello Genius bar!



I have been a mac user for a few years now and am trying to get my dad to convert. He picked up a used G5 17" which has no install disc's and which is password protected. I dont know which version of OS X its running. I believe 10.3, but not sure.



I had tried the root login thing where you hold the command key and s key but was never able to get proper steps for changing the password.



I also tried to use my 10.4 install disc's but when i did this it told me that it cannot install or boot them. (Curious if this is because of a hardware requirements not being met, computer only has 256K ram.)



can anyone help me with this. I would love to just wipe the entire system clean but would settle for just being able to create a new password and go from there.



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 1
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by RyanPerrella View Post


    I had tried the root login thing where you hold the command key and s key but was never able to get proper steps for changing the password.



    /sbin/mount -uw /

    /sbin/SystemStarter

    passwd root



    That will enable the root user so you can change anything - you can disable it later. You can try using the name of a user that exists to see if it will allow you to just change the password.



    If you don't get that to work, you can try:



    mount -uw /

    rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

    reboot



    Use the tab key when you enter pathnames to auto-complete especially when using the rm function. That should get you into the OS X intro setup, which should allow you to make a new account.
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