Password-protecting a user account is generally good practice. It protects your account from unauthorized access and keeps your personal data safe. However, this layer of protection can quickly turn into a disaster if you forget your password. You may think that the only way to circumvent such a situation is to completely reformat your Mac, but fortunately there is a relatively easy way to reset your Mac’s password. The best part? This method can also be used to change passwords for administrator accounts. So, if you forgot your account password, here it is How to reset mac password:
note: I’m showing this on a MacBook Air running macOS Sierra 10.12.4 developer beta. This article is primarily for Macs running any version of macOS Sierra.
How to Reset Mac Password: Reset Password Utility
If you forgot your account password on macOS Sierra, you can easily reset it by following these steps:
- Restart your Mac. When you hear the “boot bell”, hold down the “command + R” keys until you see the Apple logo. This will start your Mac in recovery mode.
- Now, “VehiclesSelect ” and “terminal“.
- type the command “reset password” Enter Terminal and press Enter.
- The Password Reset Utility will open, showing all accounts Those found on Mac. Select the account whose password you want to change and click “Next“.
- Your Mac will prompt you for the new password with a password hint (recommended). Fill this out andNext“.
- You can now restart your Mac and sign in to your user account with the new password.
How to Reset Mac Password: Older Versions of macOS
If you’re not using macOS Sierra and need to reset your Mac’s password, you’ll be happy to know that you can easily do that too. Just follow the steps below:
note: I haven’t tried this method, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. Feel free to give it a shot and let me know the results.
1. Remove applesetupdone File
- Restart your Mac and when you hear the boot chime, press and hold the ” button.command + S“. This will take you to Single User Mode and you will gain access to a Terminal.
- Here, type the ” commandfsck -fy” and press Enter. This will basically check the file system on your Mac and make sure everything is ok before continuing.
- Then, type the ” commandmount -uw /“. This command basically mounts your entire hard drive and makes it writable. This will emake sure your changes will persist through reboot.
- Now, type the command “rm /var/db/.applesetupdone” and press Enter.
note: This command will remove the file named “applesetupdone” from your Mac, basically causing your Mac to think it hasn’t set any users yet.
2. Create a New User Account
You can now restart your Mac. It will walk you through all the steps to take when setting up a brand new Mac.
- simply create a new user accountand make sure the account name is different from the account whose password you want to recover.
- sign in with this user account (it will be an administrator account).
- Then you can simply go System Preferences -> Users and Groups.
- Here, just select account when you want to reset the passwordreset password“.
- Enter the new password, and you’re done. Now you can login to your original account with the new password you just created.
Bonus: Protecting Your Account
The ease of use provided by this method is highly appreciated. However, the fact remains that this method can be used by anyone (with physical access to your Mac) to reset your password. This is a serious security issue. So, if you’re worried about your Mac password being reset without your knowledge, there are a few things you can do to protect your data.
1. File Vault
FileVault built-in encryption utility Apple ships with Macs. This is a very powerful tool and quickly Encrypt all data on your Mac and turn it off with a password (and a recovery key). Each time you log into your account, you will need to unlock your encrypted hard drive by providing the FileVault password.
You may be wondering how this will help. Well, think about it this way, even if someone resets your Mac’s password, they’re going to have to unlock your hard drive before they even remotely do anything bad to your Mac. Then you can use Recovery Mode to unlock your hard drive and reset your password again. It’s that simple.
2. Firmware Passwords
If disk encryption isn’t enough for you and you really need a high level of security, you can actually do it. Lock your Mac at the firmware level. To do this, you need to enter Recovery Mode and “Firmware Password Utility” from the Utilities menu. Firmware passwords are not required to log into your Mac the traditional way. However, if someone tries to boot Recovery Modeor Single User Modeor your Mac Target Disk Mode Your Mac will ask them for the Firmware password for data transfer.
Resetting a Firmware password is not easy and should therefore only be used if absolutely necessary. If you forget your firmware password, you will need to contact Apple and they will be able to try and fix it for you. However, this strong level of security is why Firmware passwords are the best way to go if you’re in a high-risk environment and want to keep your data as secure as possible.
SEE ALSO: How to Lock/Unlock Mac or PC with USB Drive
Use These Methods to Easily Reset Mac Passwords
Booting a Mac in Recovery Mode and using the Reset Password Utility is the best way to reset a forgotten password. It’s easy to implement and fast enough to get back to work right away. Note that this method can be used by people to change your Mac password without your knowledge; That’s it, I’m sure you don’t want to. So, have you ever forgotten your Mac’s password? What did you do? Also, if you know of any other (preferably easier) method to reset a Mac password, let us know in the comments section below.
