Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment

Reset the Admin or Root Password in Mac OS X

Forgot the admin password in Mac OS X? Well, Apple let’s you boot computers into what is known as Single User Mode. To boot a Mac into Single User Mode, boot the machine holding down Command-S. Once the system boots up, you should see a command prompt. Here, run fsck:

fsck -fy

Then mount the file system:

mount -uw /

Then reset the password using the passed command

passwd <username>

For example, if the user is root:

passwd root

When prompted, provide the desired administrative password.