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I lost admin access when I tried to change user name on my Mac. I have entered into single user mode, entered all the commands suggested (including the spaces) and it isn't working. It continues to reboot with zero change. What can I do? I'm open to all suggestions.

user7886229
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MrsTamara Tebbetts
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  • Ok. I did just hit enter after the override question appeared. I've entered all the commands, with the spaces and I've done it multiple times. After I reboot it is as though I didn't do anything. It doesn't allow me to create new admin user and still locked out. – MrsTamara Tebbetts Mar 24 '19 at 03:17
  • We would see all these commands to make a comment. – historystamp Mar 24 '19 at 19:57
  • @historystamp This will probably need to be closed as dupe / unclear. There’s something we’re not being told or we can’t watch over the OP’s shoulder as they type - but let’s give it a week to see if any of the helpful answers get accepted – bmike Mar 24 '19 at 21:30
  • Either https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/202557/new-macbook-had-user-accounts-already-i-deleted-admin-and-cant-get-back-in or https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/353551/mac-logged-me-out-and-can-t-get-back-in would be candidates for the canonical place to answer this general question. – bmike Mar 24 '19 at 21:32

3 Answers3

1

did you do the single person commands? did you type them correctly?

/sbin/mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.applesetupdone
nohillside
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hayden
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I have been in the same state last year when I also did the same i.e. tried changing admin user name. I am not much of a software geek so I resorted to the brute force method, installing the new copy of the macOS. I was running High Sierra at that time.

I followed this apple support link and most probably installed a clean version of latest macOS available by holding cmd+R at startup.

If you can backup your Mac now, it would save a lot of work.

Follow this tutorial to backup to a hard disk. It uses disk utility, time machine and by holding cmd+R during startup, you can go to recover from a time machine backup.

Cheers!

anki
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Get the Mac to set up an additional administrative account. This will work in all releases of Mac OS X so far.

You need to get into single use mode for steps one and two that are listed below. Start with your computer power off. Hold down command-s. Power on your computer. Continue holding down command-s until you see some text on the screen.

This page will give more details on how to get into single user mode. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

Type in the following:

The first two commands will depend on your release of Mac OS X. Look at what is typed out in the console to determine the exact format. You do not need to type in the lines beginning with an ampersand, #, they are comments. 

# Type the follow two instructions to access the startup disk in read/write. 
# Press return after each command. 
# in case of partial success repeat this command until errors go away.

/sbin/fsck -fy 
/sbin/mount -uw / 

# Get setup to activate a new administration account
cd /var/db 
pwd 
#List all files. The l is a lower case L. 
ls -a 

# The move command acts as a rename command in this format. 
# In Yosemite, this file is zero bytes.
# the disappearance of .AppleSetupDone causes a new administration account
# to be added the next reboot. 
mv -i  .AppleSetupDone .AppleSetupDone.old 

# reboot  your mac
shutdown -r now

Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!! macOS will ask you to create a new admin account.

Limnos adds a detailed explanation: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8441597#8441597

historystamp
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  • This is one that I tried twice and it just wouldn't work. I found my problem. I left out one of the 'spaces.' I have it all figured out, now. I really appreciate all of yours as well as everyone else's answers – MrsTamara Tebbetts Mar 30 '19 at 19:28