recovering lost passwords (mac os 10.3)

Steven C. Peterson scp at mainstream.net
Wed Dec 8 08:30:01 EST 2004


Solution found, thank you. the following is a summery of the problem
and the solution

Situation
-------------------------------------------------------------
I found(got, received) a Macintosh dual g3 workstation that was not
powering on (ram was forced in to the slot the wrong way)
once i fixed it it booted into mac os 10.3 auto login to the admin
account.

Problem
---------------------------------------------------------------
in order to add user accounts, install software, enable root user, etc...
you need to admin password. douh
in this situation i did not have it

Solution
---------------------------------------------------------------
boot the machine into single user mode (When system is rebooting( not
cold power on) press and hold command-s)
this presents you with a prompt. execute "/sbin/fsck -y" then
"/sbin/mount -uw /" finally run "/sbin/SystemStarter"
once that is done execute "rm -rf /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb" then cd
to "/private/var/db/" and remove the file ".AppleSetupDone"
type reboot.

the machine will then restart and run the oobe (Out Of Box Experience)
this will allow you to create a new admin user and rename the machine

Thank you to
Bill McGonigle
for this solution



Steven C. Peterson wrote:

>  The NetInfo service trick did not work passwd just sits their for
>  about 45 seconds then drops back to shell
>
>  any other ideas
>
>  steven peterson
>
>  Bill McGonigle wrote:
>
> > On Dec 5, 2004, at 16:15, Steven C. Peterson wrote:
> >
> > > the machine does have an os on it (os 10.3) it has an admin
> > > (root) password set and i do not have it, i need to rest it the
> > > password file is not in the normal linux/uninx/bsd place and the
> > > passwd command does not work proporly in single user mode
> > > (command -s )
> >
> >
> > Ah, no CD's - I thought you meant no hard disks.
> >
> > Did you make sure NetInfo was running before changing the password?
> > That's most likely where the password is stored. e.g.:
> >
> > boot single user mount -uw / SystemStarter start NetInfo passwd
> > root
> >
> > SystemStarter should work out whatever dependencies NetInfo needs
> > to start for you.
> >
> > -Bill ---- Bill McGonigle, Owner Work: 603.448.4440 BFC
> > Computing, LLC Home: 603.448.1668
> > bill at bfccomputing.com Cell: 603.252.2606
> > http://www.bfccomputing.com/ Text: bill+text at bfccomputing.com
> > AIM: wpmcgonigle Skype: bill_mcgonigle
> >
>

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