mac recovery mode password reset reddit

Restart your Mac. While it is restarting, press and hold the Command + R keys until you see the Apple logo. If you see the login screen, you will have to restart and repeat this step again until you get to Recovery Mode. How to Reset Your Admin Password on a Mac Go to the Apple Menu at the top and click Utilities. This will open a drop-down menu. Then click Terminal. How to Reset Your Admin Password on a Mac Type “resetpassword” in the terminal window. Don’t use any space in between the words. How to Reset Your Admin Password on a Mac Then hit Enter. This will open the Reset Password Assistant screen

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Mac Recovery Mode was first introduced in 2011 with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and is stored mostly in a hidden SSD/HDD partition. If you had Lion install then you can activate Standard Recovery mode otherwise it is specific CD/DVD for the Mac To start recovery mode on Intel Macs immediately press and hold one of the following key combinations while booting until you see the startup screen: Command-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery System. … Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. … Option-Shift-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet.

Apple Support

support.apple.com › en-us › 102633

If you forgot your Mac login password - Apple Support

If asked to enter your FileVault recovery key, enter the string of letters and numbers you received when you turned on FileVault and chose to use a recovery key. If asked to deactivate this Mac, allow your Mac to deactivate. This is temporary. If asked to create a new keychain to store the user's passwords, allow your Mac to create a new keychain. After you provide the information requested, you're asked to create a new password for your account. You can then restart your Mac and log in with the new password. If you couldn’t use these steps to reset your password, skip to “Use the reset options in Recovery.”

Videos

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reddit.com › r/macos › resetting macbook pro's password was unexpectedly easy

r/MacOS on Reddit: Resetting Macbook Pro's password was unexpectedly easy

January 28, 2024 -

I forgot the password to my Macbook running Macos Monterey,

Looked up a guide on the internet, and it told me to just turn on recovery mode, go to the terminal, type in "reset password," and it'll work.
I did what it said, and surprisingly it worked, without any additional verification whatsoever. I checked that find-my was on in the settings, and the Apple ID was also logged in. Everything was left the same as before I shut down the computer.

This was very scary to know, making it seem that any person with knowledge of this trick would be able to gain access to any macOS computer. Am I doing/understanding anything wrong here?

Edit: fyi the computer was a 2016 MacBook Pro intel, without Touch Bar

Was File Vault enabled? I'm guessing not. Without disk encryption anyone with physical access to your machine can get your data. Making it difficult to change the password wouldn't change that.

A login password has nothing to do with keeping your data safe. That’s what disk encryption is for. I’m sure most people could be taught the trick of picking a lock on a house door too. Anybody that knows the trick can get into any house.

reddit.com › r/macbookpro › forgot password, what to do now

r/macbookpro on Reddit: Forgot password, what to do now

July 12, 2024 -

As the title says , I forgot my password. I entered into recovery mode, and then decided to try logging in using the settings option. It asked me for a code on my phone and I ended up here, how can I reset my password now and log in as I usually would?

reddit.com › r/mac › anyone know how to reset the password? there are some important files i need to access to.

r/mac on Reddit: Anyone know how to reset the password? There are some important files i need to access to.

January 12, 2025 -

This is a version from 2010-2011

CMD+R, terminal, resetpassword. That year it’s pretty easy. If it’s FileVault, you are stuck. https://www.hellotech.com/guide/for/how-to-reset-admin-password-on-mac

I'm not sure if this recovery option goes that far back, but at some point they made it so you can go into recovery mode, and then reset your password by logging into your Apple ID to change your password.

reddit.com › r/mac › halp! mac book pro - i forgot my password.....

r/mac on Reddit: HALP! Mac Book Pro - I forgot my password.....

February 6, 2025 -

Hey!
So I have a MacBook Pro 2015 and somehow I have forgotten my password.

The thing is, it was linked to my Time Machine and that had a file of photos I would LOVE to get!

Tried the Apple ID way to reset but is coming up with an network error.

Any advise or help would be great!

To reset your Mac password using Recovery Mode, you can do the following: Restart your Mac Press and hold Command + R Continue holding until you see the loading bar Select Utilities from the menu bar Select Terminal Type resetpassword and press Return Select the main hard drive Select the user account you want to reset Follow the prompts to reset your password Restart your Mac and log in with your new password For M1 Macs Turn off your Mac Press and hold the power button until you see the options button Click the options button and select Recovery Follow the steps above

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If there’s one nearby you can always go to the apple store for help.

reddit.com › r/apple › i'm shocked by how easy it is to reset mac's login password

r/apple on Reddit: I'm shocked by how easy it is to reset Mac's login password

January 3, 2015 -

So I was forgot my MacBook password yesterday, then I saw this page! (just open terminal on recovery mode and type "resetpassword") and I successfully reset my password and login without losing data at all.

I was happy at that moment, but I though that would be so scary if somehow my Mac is stolen and the thief can easily reset my password and see my personal data, that's a nightmare.

Do you know how to prevent reset password on Mac?

This is why you should have filevault and firmware password enabled. /edit: It is true that FV may slow down your boot time, but it really isn't noticeable on newer machines from my experience. This is a small price to pay for a reasonable amount of security if you are security conscious and does not affect your daily use if you just put your machine to sleep.

Apple could have made it harder to reset the password by not having the resetpassword command available via Terminal in OS X Recovery - but most if not all Windows/OS X/*nix PCs/servers/etc can be compromised with physical access to them. So my guess is they include the resetpassword option for user convenience, while relying on the fact that most people don't know about it until they're locked out of their own Mac, and most/many people trust those they leave their Macs around to not also know this command, and if they do, to not use it on a Mac they don't own. However, if you think someone may get physical access to your Mac and reset your password, Apple gives you the best option any company can (short of some kind of two step authentication), which is allowing the Mac owner/user to set a firmware password. However, even this can be bypassed on older Macs with non-soldered RAM, because physical access to any machine often gives someone many ways to find a way around the machine's security. So, if you are really concerned about a thief getting access to your personal data, then enable FileVault, but beware that if you ever need to repair the drive, your data may not be recoverable. For this and many other reasons, I suggest you have a backup of your data, both locally eg on an external drive(s) and in the cloud, as even if your Mac is stolen - it's great if a thief can't access it (eg decrypt FileVault), but as bad if you also can't access it. It will be interesting to see how far TouchID will be integrated in the future into OS X and OS X Recovery, in particular whether it will be able to withstand the kind of technique linked to above that can bypass a firmware password - even with soldered RAM - perhaps by some other hardware 'reset'. My guess is, TouchID security for OS X will make it closer to iOS in regards to boot-time and post-boot security, which will be a good thing. But even then, if someone is targeting access to your Mac (ie an intel organisation), they'll find a way in once they get physical or network access. If that's not something you worry about, which the average user doesn't, then Apple's current and perhaps future (TouchID) security features will be enough to protect your data.

reddit.com › r/mac › i lost my password and can not rest it

r/mac on Reddit: I lost my password and can not rest it

August 21, 2023 -

When I try to reset it is not giving an option to connect to my wifi . It is locked

Boot into Recovery mode then go into the terminal and reset the password.

I had to do this twice over the last few weeks for family members.

reddit.com › r/macos › how to reset my mac password? i want to reset my mac password, but the method i found on apple's support page didn't work, and the password reset options don't appear

Did u look in your couch?

r/MacOS on Reddit: How to reset my Mac password? I want to reset my Mac password, but the method I found on Apple's support page didn't work, and the password reset options don't appear

May 7, 2024 - I hit the power button to enter recovery mode, and open terminal type resetpassword as the video said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsD3XZS5Yfs&t=71s), and reset my password. Have a nice day ;) ... You are most welcome.

Find elsewhere

Google Bing Mojeek

reddit.com › r/mac › help recovering/resetting password

r/mac on Reddit: Help recovering/resetting password

May 15, 2024 -

Hello. My dad had an old Mac all in one. Cira 2010 maybe.

He has a bunch of old photos on it he wants to recover but does not remember the password.

Is there any way to recover these photos or doing some sort of recovery thing?

turn off the imac. hold command and the r key while pressing the power button to turn it on. you should then enter the recovery partition. in the top left, you should see utilities. click that, then click terminal. then type resetpassword and hit enter. then follow the prompts on the screen.

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Okay. Thank you

reddit.com › r/macsysadmin › mac login password reset for locked user account

r/macsysadmin on Reddit: Mac login password reset for locked user account

May 6, 2025 -

Hi, I’m trying to research information and help our enterprise IT support staff to solve an issue with my MacBook’s forgotten login password. Our local business unit has very small fleet of Macs and local IT support is quite inexperienced solving Mac related issues.

Some context:

The device is Apple Silicon (M1) MacBook Pro with latest macOS installed.
I device has two local user accounts, one for the main user (= me) and one for IT admin staff. Both accounts have local admin privileges.
The device is managed with Jamf.
I’ve been able to reset my MS Active Directory password to login other enterprise IT services but it doesn’t sync automatically to Mac. In our setup, we use a software called NoMAD to sync the local Mac password to AD.
I have typed wrong login password too many times resulting my user user account become locked. First the account got locked for certain time period (e.g., 3 hours) but now macOS just says “account is locked.” If I boot the Mac in recovery mode and try to login it says “account is locked temporarily.”
The login screen doesn’t offer options for password reset e.g. with Apple ID (maybe because of device management policy).
Our local IT support doesn’t have the recovery key for the device.

My questions:

How long the “temporary lock” will last? How do I know when it has ended and am I able to try to login again then?
Is there some Jamf command that can be used to unlock the user account (I remember seeing something like this in another thread)? If yes, could the command be issued remotely when the device is connected to Internet on my home network or does the device need to be (wired) in the office network?
Is it possible that IT logins with their account and resets my user account’s password? If yes, can the password be resetted while the user account is locked and does it need to be unlocked first? Is the reset done in macOS System Settings > Users & Groups, command line or with Jamf?
Are there any other options to reset the password?

I’d be very happy for any information that I could pass to our IT support to get access back go my Mac. Thanks for the help!

I don't have any specific advice for this situation, as it's been a long time since I used NoMAD. But you should try to boot into Recovery mode, then use the Terminal and type passwordreset to open that utility. That should let you set a new password, that can later be synced to AD. While you are at it, tell IT that they need to update their software; NoMAD was retired years ago. The current utility for syncing to on-prem AD is Kerberos SSO, on a local account.

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Ok, you are are the end user, not the IT team? It sounds like your IT team is pretty incompetent. If you are currently locked out you need to wait the lock out period, it is an escalating period, up to 8 hours after 10 attempts. However, you can boot to recovery and get an other 10. After that, your data is lost: https://support.apple.com/guide/security/passcodes-and-passwords-sec20230a10d/web If the device is managed in Jamf and Jamf is being used to enforce FileVault, then your IT team should be able to look up the FIleVault recovery key in Jamf. (Assuming they enabled FV key escrow.) If they didn’t someone would have had to copy the key when prompted. When you boot the computer do you just see your account or do you see the IT account as well? If you see just your account, then the IT account does not have a Secure Token and will not be able to get past FileVault. If you do see both accounts, then you (or the IT team) can login using the IT account and then reset YOUR password. You will lose anything stored in Keychain (passwords, WiFi networks, etc), but you won’t lose data. If neither of those options are available, unfortunately, your computer is probably toast and will need to be wiped and re-setup, with all data lost. P.S. If you use NoMAD, always change your AD password using NoMAD, not with any other password change tool. That ensures your passwords stay in sync.

reddit.com › r/macos › recover user password on macos

r/MacOS on Reddit: Recover user password on macOS

November 9, 2021 -

Hi everyone.

I'm trying to list different ways to reset a user password on macOS.

Here are the ways i know for now:

use a password hint
use apple ID
with another admin account
with a key if filevault is enabled
with recovery mode > in Terminal with reset password command

Then, i wonder if there is any other ways to do it by booting from another macOs instance.

In Target Disk mode and access to disk from another computer?
Booting from another disk and access to the partition where the user is located?

I'm looking for legal ways, not interested in hacking or anything. Maybe it's not possible.

Thanks for your advices and help!

Regards.

Indeed, you're right u/ulyssesric . This list's goal is to show the current ways to recover password. Thanks for the link.

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Single user mode, in the shell with passwd? Does that still work? (pedantic difference between this and recovery mode, although recovery mode takes longer) I'd be interested which methods retain keychain access vs. those that don't.

reddit.com › r/applehelp › trying to reset mac password with recovery key… not working

r/applehelp on Reddit: Trying to reset Mac password with Recovery key… not working

July 25, 2024 -

So i am using my recovery key to reset my macbook password and I was given a 28 character recovery key, but macbook doesn’t allow me type in the last four digits of the recovery code, i’ve tried entering it anyways but to no avail. Any help?

Sounds like the key you have written down is for something else.

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You can generate a recovery key for iCloud and also for FileVault but they are used for different purposes and are different lengths. What you need here is the latter.

reddit.com › r/mac › forgot mac password and don't have the recovery key, also don't care about keeping any of the files - how can i find the key or reinstall macos?

Forgot Mac password and don't have the recovery key, also don't care about keeping any of the files - how can I find the key or reinstall MacOS? : r/mac

November 13, 2023 - You can erase the disk and reinstall macOS. I thought you can use iCloud account to unlock it. But if you can’t find the recovery key and you want to do clean reinstall. This is the way. ... It should allow you to choose forgot password, in that way you can erase the Mac without password.

reddit.com › r/mac › how do i reset password when my macbook screen is broken?

How do i reset password when my macbook screen is broken? : r/mac

November 8, 2024 - To reset your macOS password using Terminal in recovery mode, start by booting into recovery mode (Command+R during startup). Then, navigate to Utilities > Terminal and type resetpassword.

reddit.com › r/macos › i haven’t logged into this macbook since 2015. is there a way to find the password or am i screwed?

r/MacOS on Reddit: I haven’t logged into this MacBook since 2015. Is there a way to find the password or am I screwed?

July 1, 2024 -

This picture is from a non-admin login profile. I can’t for the life of me figure out the password for the admin profile. I feel like I would’ve made it something simple, but I guess not. How good was the password security in 2015? Will it look me out if I guess wrong too many times?

If you set a password hint, you can see it after entering an incorrect password three times. This might jog your memory. If you associated your admin account with an Apple ID, you might be able to reset the password using that Apple ID. Click on the "?" next to the password field then follow the instructions to reset using your Apple ID. You can also try resetting the password using Recovery Mode: Restart your Mac and hold down Command (⌘) + R until you see the Apple logo. In the macOS Utilities window, select "Utilities" from the menu bar, then "Terminal." In Terminal, type resetpassword (no spaces) and press Enter. Follow the on-screen instructions to reset the password. If a firmware password was set (less common, so you probably didn’t do it), you’ll need to enter that before accessing Recovery Mode or making certain changes. As a last resort, you can reinstall macOS. This will erase all data on the drive, so use this only if you have no other options and have backed up your data (or don’t mind losing it). In this case, enter Recovery Mode again, but select "Reinstall macOS". If none of these work for you, you might be best served by an Apple Store (if none are near you, then an “Apple-authorized” service provider instead). [and please report back. It’s good for all of us to later be able to see what worked.)

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Use the Reset Password assistant

Stack Exchange

apple.stackexchange.com › questions › 445033 › how-can-i-reset-my-password-in-recovery-mode

macos - How can I reset my password in recovery mode - Ask Different

reddit.com › r/applehelp › forgot macbook password. now stuck in recovery mode. can i still retrieve my school files?

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Here is the Apple page on where you can reset your password in Recovery mode: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860, and here is the other page (linked on the first page) to try if you didn't have success with the first page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212190. Upon reading those 2 pages, it feels like if you don't have an Apple ID, it seems almost impossible to reset your password, so I hope you have access to an Apple ID.

If you've also tried all the incredible recovery options listed in this CNET link, and you're still locked out, then I don't know. I'm guessing your school has an administrator account with the Macbook as well.

r/applehelp on Reddit: Forgot MacBook password. Now stuck in recovery mode. Can I still retrieve my school files?

June 26, 2023 -

Please assist me retrieve school files from my locked MacBook

Is there any any way I can get files of my locked MacBook. For some reason, I couldn’t log in using my password yesterday. I don’t know if I’m very stupid and somehow forgot my 3 year old password, or if there is another issue. I went through all the phases of “you have to wait 1 hour before you can try again” untill my account got locked. I then went to my school IT, who went into the recovery mode and tried resetting my MacBook from here. We got through the iCloud option, typed in new passwords and submitted. BUT FOR SOME REASON IT SAID THAT THE PASSWORD REQUEST FAILED AND WASNT POSSIBLE. Not knowing what he told me just to contact apple. Well… they can’t help either. I am now stuck in recovery mode, without any option to reset my password, just to log in. I can’t even exit recovery mode, as when I try to do so, and restart my computer I just get sent back to the recovery mode. Is there anyway I can fix this, gain acces back to my account, or retrieve some of my important school files. Sorry for the incredibly long message, and thank you to anyone who can offer help.

P.s the MacBook is still registered on my iCloud, idk if that helps

Try plugging in a keyboard to enter the password, maybe have a broken key not showing up. If the computer is not encrypted with FileVault it could be be gathered via recovery software a few different ways. If it is encrypted with FileVault you are supposed to be able To use iCloud to unlock it. Also see https://support.apple.com/en-us/102633 but sounds like that is what others tried.