os x leopard 10.5

[Van]

I got my hands on a used G5 powerpc with dual processors and loaded with adobe editing software galore but guess what, I can't update anything without the main admin user name and password and the only one I've been able to find and change in the terminal has been the login admin and password. Nope I don't have the original install cd's for the computer and the guy I got it from only had it for 6 months before he decided to sell it himself. I've been able to find the original owner through documents he left on the computer ( let this be a lesson to anyone donating or giving away or selling a used computer to thoroughly wipe the drives and reinstall the os or just remove the hard drive all together ) but his wife had no idea what the password was. Looking around on ebay a used legit edition of os x leopard goes for $100 - $150 and new is $200 - $260 and craigslist has been a bust. Anyone here have an idea on what else I can do to try and get this resolved?

 

[lparsons21]

Here ya go!!

Reset an OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard user’s Password Without a CD | Tanner Williamson

How to reset your Mac OS X password without an installer disc | MacYourself

 

[Van]

Tried those with no luck, I think I'm going to need the os x install disc's to get it to work which is going to be a pain since I paid $100 for the computer with keyboard and mouse and various cables. If anyone has a legit version of the os and isn't planning on using it please contact me.

 

[rglore]

Any OSX install disk will work, Mac system software isn't serialized. Find any friend with a disk and you're good to go or take it to an Apple store where support is always free.

 

[Van]

Just so I'm clear on this, any os x install disc will work and the ubber nerds behind the genius bar will not charge me to fix this weird admin account issue?

 

[berck]

I got my hands on a used G5 powerpc with dual processors and loaded with adobe editing software galore but guess what, I can't update anything without the main admin user name and password and the only one I've been able to find and change in the terminal has been the login admin and password. Nope I don't have the original install cd's for the computer and the guy I got it from only had it for 6 months before he decided to sell it himself. I've been able to find the original owner through documents he left on the computer ( let this be a lesson to anyone donating or giving away or selling a used computer to thoroughly wipe the drives and reinstall the os or just remove the hard drive all together ) but his wife had no idea what the password was. Looking around on ebay a used legit edition of os x leopard goes for $100 - $150 and new is $200 - $260 and craigslist has been a bust. Anyone here have an idea on what else I can do to try and get this resolved?

Did you try running 'sudo -s' from the terminal? You only have to use your password, if you have sudo privilege. You can then reset the root password.

 

[Van]

I haven't tried it but I read that it wasn't useful if you don't know the administrator name. This is what's weird about my situation.

During boot up there is a log in window for admin which I have the password for that account. Now any software updates or downloads for that matter require administrator level permission which you would think is the same as the log in but its not and I have used every variation of the original owners name and the name he gave the computer plus the known passwords and assumed passwords to no avail. I have never heard of two levels of administrator access but it looks like that is what I have on this computer and having went through all the options to find this second level administrator and give it a new password has been frustrating to say the least. Some files such as the smart set up wizard won't work because the command string is not recognized.

Oh and when I have run " ls /Users " it only shows "administrator".

 

[berck]

Interesting. Are you not able to log into the machine either, or does it auto login, and you just don't have the password?

FYI: sudo -s will get you to the 'root' account (which is disabled by default, but allowed to work using sudo) and then you can login as any other account on the system and reset the password.

 

[Van]

Consider it to be something like a non admin account similar to a guest or user account.

So I can boot the comp up, after the spinner a login window pops up with admin as the user and a password which I enter and then I can use the computer willy nilly but not make changes to the software such as updating software or downloading software because when I do a box pops up requesting administrator name and password and its not the same as the log on name and password.

 

[Van]

Finally got it to work by using two different terminal commands that I spliced together and tossed out some stuff.

Most every site tells you to type mount -uw then rm/var/db/.appleSetupDone to tell the computer to rerun the setup program as if its a new computer but this isn't quite right. Instead what I was able to figure out was that it needed to be /sbin/mount -uaw then rm /var/db/.applesetupdone then reboot. I couldn't do anything with sudo so I'll have to read up on that when I can.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Finally got it to work by using two different terminal commands that I spliced together and tossed out some stuff.

Most every site tells you to type mount -uw then rm/var/db/.appleSetupDone to tell the computer to rerun the setup program as if its a new computer but this isn't quite right. Instead what I was able to figure out was that it needed to be /sbin/mount -uaw then rm /var/db/.applesetupdone then reboot. I couldn't do anything with sudo so I'll have to read up on that when I can.

The joys of Linux ! Glad you got it to work!

 

[Van]

Me to, now I have to figure out how to install ubuntu on here.