Tip: Resetting Account Passwords

I was helping setup a new MacBook for a friend of mine today. During the setup process OS X asked her to create an account and to assign a password to it. Everything went well and we were able to setup the Mac in no time at all.

However, when we were updating the OS and the computer asked for a password, it would not work. It kept saying that the password was wrong. Uh-Oh….

Good thing that there’s a reset utility found in the installation disc that ships with your Mac. For the times that you forgot your account password, you can use this utility to reset the account password. It’s fairly simple.

1. Boot up with your install disc by restarting your Mac and holding the “C” key on your keyboard until the Mac boots up using the install disc.

2. There’s a Utilities menu found that will appear during the install prompt. Select that and choose Reset Password. Select the startup hard disc volume of your Mac. Choose your original account and enter a new password. Hit save and it’s good to go. *Important! Don’t choose System Administrator (root).

For the original Apple support article, click here. Make sure to also check out this article that will help you solve Keychain issues that will come up as a result of the password reset.