[whskiller]

Wow i thought that my mac book was the world. but apparently not. i goes on "vacation" for three months. come back "home" to get on my wonderful mac book and wut happens ..........can some one guess!!!! i guess not but my password some how either deleted it self, changed it self or just doesnt work period... and wuts even more screwed up is a certain family member thought it would be okay to clean my room and lost my OS disk so now i cant use that to get by and change my password. i really dont feel like buying a whole nother OS disk and dont want to take to a apple authorized retailer and have them charge me for it. SO!!! my thing iz this can ne body tell me a way around the disk or want to loan me the disk i promise i'l give it back.....plz!!!!!! some one help me .

[wgood]

You might be able to find a cheap OS X disk on eBay, but make sure that it is for the same model of computer you have. If it isn't, you'll invite more trouble.

As far as I know, there is no other way to replace a password without the disk.

[MacosNerd]

If the computer is still with in the warranty period, call apple. They're generally pretty good about shipping out replacement disks.

Short of that, go the ebay route.

Another helpful suggestion, use spell check. You'll come off better if you use actual english words when requesting help

[Heyoka_Happiness]

Are you comfortable messing around with Unix in single user mode?

I am not brave enough to try it but if you don't anything to lose maybe it's worth a shot. I am sure it'll work.

Yes and English would help. Most web browsers have some kind of spell check and Safari has an
"Check Grammar with Spelling" option

[Tom_Diola]

Sounds like someone changed the password on you. Where have you been for 3 months without your mac?
Take it to the Apple Store for help.

[minischneides]

Use a command line is Terminal, you don't have to worry, it's only three lines:

- #sh /etc/rc
- #passwd yourusername
- #reboot

Be Warned If You Have Firevault Enabled On Your Computer This Will Render Completely Useless As You Will No Longer Be Able To Access It!

[Heyoka_Happiness]

But does he know his username?

First fsck the disk and then mount it read/write. Then use passwd username

reboot

He can chance the password on any user

[chrislaf]

This post sounds 'fishy'. If your macbook sat unused for 3 months I don't see any way it could have reset its password. Why would someone who 'cleans' your room just throw an OS disk away? Was it just sitting out on your desk? Normally people put valuable things like computers and the disks needed for them away when they go away or are not going to use them for a long period of time.

The only other reason I can think of for someone being locked out of a computer and wanting to get access is if the computer wasn't really theirs in the first place! Again, this post sounds fishy.

[rickcarl]

Obviously, that's true. More than likely what's involved is a forgotten password. It was changed and the change is not remembered, remembered out of order or it was autobooted by a family member while the user was gone and the password changed. If the computer had been left plugged in it might have been electrically zapped and might not even boot regardless of the password. The event may not be described correctly due to language difficulties.



Wholesale cleaning, without checking, may account for it. Like some people experience, it could simply be looking directly at it but not seeing it in plain sight.

Since this is a help forum, let's help. What can be done, should be done. Information is the key for all of us.

[Tom_Diola]

I agree fishy - we've seen posts like this before. Things don't
add up.

[Heyoka_Happiness]

If it is fishy or isn't we will never know if the person does not responded back to any of the helpful comments.

[mauiskychick]

I just found this thread and am hoping that someone will have some ideas for me. I just got in from my two hour flight and turned on my MacBook (running Leopard) to find that my passwork will not work and I am locked out. I just used the computer several hours ago at the DEN airport (they have free wifi) and it worked fine. I changed nothing. I have inserted my intall disc and am unable to get to settings because of the way I have set up my password. Normally, I insert the disc, hold down the option key instead of the c key and a screen comes up prompting me to enter the password. This does happen, however my password no longer works!! Help! I just used this password the other day because I reformatted my HD and it worked fine. I have all of the security setttings on my computer enabled and am not running any windows programs on it, do you think someone has hacked my system? I am still under the 90 day warranty period, but Apple support is closed for the night. (You would think they'd offer 24/7 support) Does anyone have any other suggestions or advice. I have removed the battery from my computer and have it unplugged now. Thanks alot!!

[rickcarl]

Sounds like you enabled the firmware password. You'll have to take it to the Apple store.

[whskiller]

it "may sound" fishy but its not. The vacation was unexpected. and i leave my macbook on the desk along with other things. yea ok my cd's may just be spread on a pile on my desk but the fact of the matter is that the disk is gone now and i need other means of getting back on my computer. but i talked to someone on ebay and they said they would sell me a os disk for $25 so i should be fine.