High Sierra shut me out after changing password! Scary!

zab the fabzab the fab
Posted:
in macOS
I changed my password in system preferences
red text afterwards: new password must be confirmed with iCloud (??? no explanation or directions).
After restart iMac did not accept old or new password.
CMD R does not work: iCloud password recovery is not enabled on this machine.
CMD S / V still asks for password

In 25 years using Mac I've never experienced something like this. Scary. I change my password and get shut out of all my data. Backup is useless when you have no login access.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    I changed my password in system preferences
    red text afterwards: new password must be confirmed with iCloud (??? no explanation or directions).
    After restart iMac did not accept old or new password.
    CMD R does not work: iCloud password recovery is not enabled on this machine.
    CMD S / V still asks for password

    In 25 years using Mac I've never experienced something like this. Scary. I change my password and get shut out of all my data. Backup is useless when you have no login access.
    Maybe it's something to do with iCloud syncing your Keychain. It shouldn't lock you out though. Try logging in to iCloud and see if there's any info about your devices in the settings area:

    https://www.icloud.com
    zab the fab
  • Reply 2 of 3
    zab the fabzab the fab Posts: 303member
    Let me rephrase: I changed my password and it would not accept neither my old or my new password.
    I've spent the last 2 days searching through icloud and trying anything I could think off, spent 1 hour with Apple Support and they couldn't help me either though they really tried very very hard.

    How does this happen? You change your password and High Sierra just shuts you out.
    rrgaap
  • Reply 3 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Let me rephrase: I changed my password and it would not accept neither my old or my new password.
    I've spent the last 2 days searching through icloud and trying anything I could think off, spent 1 hour with Apple Support and they couldn't help me either though they really tried very very hard.

    How does this happen? You change your password and High Sierra just shuts you out.
    Did you set your Mac to use your iCloud login password to unlock it?

    http://osxdaily.com/2015/03/24/use-icloud-password-as-mac-login-unlock-os-x/

    If your old iCloud login is different from your Mac login, it might be using an old iCloud password if it refused to change it without verification. Try the password you use to login to icloud.com to unlock the Mac if you haven't already. Also try other iTunes account passwords you might have.

    The reason it locks everything down is because everything's encrypted now. Your drive is encrypted with a random key and your passwords encrypt the key. When you enter the login passwords, it unwraps the drive key. This is to allow you to change passwords without encrypting the drive again. If you don't have the right password, the complete drive will be inaccessible. The prompt when you start single-user mode is your pre-boot drive unlock for the encryption. When you setup the system, it will have shown a recovery key for the drive, which looks like an activation key. That can be used to unlock the drive if you have a note of it and with the drive unlocked, you can change the login password.
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