Forgot Mac Password To Install Software

Apple's macOS is a secure operating system, and at the heart of its security is your password: you will need this whenever you install new software or make changes to macOS via System Preferences. Jan 22, 2013  In order to turn off administrator password request on Mac, go to the 'System preferences'. Click on 'Users & Groups'. In the following window choose 'Change password'. Forgot your Windows password? Mac password? Check out kon boot guide (your best password software for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, Server and Mac). Microsoft 365 for business. If your Office product is one of the following, you have a Microsoft 365 for business product. These products are usually associated with a work or school account, and your Office license (if your subscription has one) came from the organization where you work or go to school. Oct 05, 2017  When you set up a Mac, it lets you choose which password you want to use, and it is not your Apple ID password. Question: Q: Install new software password help? Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a.

  1. Imac Forgot Admin Password No Disc
  2. Forgot Password To Install New Software On Mac

The login screen is your computer's main door to your precious, sensitive data. Even if you are using an iMac that never leaves your home office, you should protect that data with a password. It may be inconvenient (though an Apple Watch makes the process quicker), but your personal security is always worth it.

In older versions of OS X, Apple let you use your Apple ID password as your Mac's unlock option, which automatically changed whenever you changed the password on your Apple ID. That said, you don't have to use your Apple ID password to unlock your Mac. In fact, it's not really a good idea.

Ideally, you should use a separate password for every device and service you log into for safety reasons; it's why a good password manager is invaluable. If a nefarious individual or group somehow gets ahold of one of your passwords, it can't be used to access anything else you want to protect.

If you've been using your iPhone or Apple Watch (or Touch ID on MacBook Pro) to unlock your Mac, it's possible that you might forget what your user account password is. There are a few ways you can change or reset your Mac user account password that you can try to help get you back in.

Before you get locked out: Set up Apple ID unlock on your Mac

If you're reading this and you're not locked out of your Mac and still remember your user account password, follow these steps to make sure you have a backup way to unlock your account using your Apple ID. If you forget your account password in the future, this could end up being the easiest solution. Of course, you'll need to make sure you remember your Apple ID password.

  1. Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner of your Mac.
  2. Click on System Preferences from the drop down menu.

  3. Click on Users & Groups.
  4. Click the lock in the bottom left corner of the window to unlock the settings.

  5. Enter your Mac account password.
  6. Click Unlock.

  7. Select your user account.
  8. Make sure the Password tab is selected.

  9. Tick the box to Allow user to reset password using Apple ID.
  10. Click the lock again to save the changes.

In the future, if you forget your Mac user account password, when you try to log in, after three tries, your Mac will prompt you to reset your password using your Apple ID.

How to change your Mac user account password if you know your current one

If you already know your current password and you just want to change it, you're in luck. That's the easy stuff.

  1. Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner of your Mac.
  2. Click on System Preferences from the drop down menu.

  3. Click on Users & Groups.
  4. Click the lock in the bottom left corner of the window to unlock the settings.

  5. Enter your current Mac account password.
  6. Click Unlock.

  7. Select your user account.
  8. Make sure the Password tab is selected.

  9. Click on Change Password.
  10. Enter your current password under Old password.
  11. Enter a new password. You can use your Mac's Password Assistant to suggest one for you.
  12. Enter the new password again under Verify.
  13. Include a password hint to help you remember if you forget it in the future.

  14. Click Change Password.
  15. Click the lock again to save the changes.

How to reset your Mac user account password using your Apple ID

If you set up Apple ID Unlock when you created your user account, you're in luck. This is the easiest way to reset your password.

  1. At your Mac's lock screen, try entering a password three times. A new option will appear after the third failed attempt.
  2. Click the arrow next to the Apple ID message.
  3. Enter your Apple ID.
  4. Create a new password. Write this one down!
  5. Click Restart.
  6. Enter the new user account password to log in.

If you've reset your account password, it's highly likely that you'll have to create a new login keychain (since it requires your old password to access).

How to reset your Mac user account password if you know another admin account password

It's possible that you know the password for another admin account on your Mac (It has to be an admin account in order to make changes to different user account passwords). If you do happen to know the password for the admin account on your Mac (different than your own), log in to that user account and follow the steps below.

  1. Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner of your Mac.
  2. Click on System Preferences from the drop down menu.

  3. Click on Users & Groups.
  4. Click the lock in the bottom left corner of the window to unlock the settings.

  5. Enter the admin's Mac account password.
  6. Click Unlock.

  7. Select your user account.
  8. Click on Reset Password.

  9. Enter a new password. You can use your Mac's Password Assistant to suggest one for you.
  10. Enter the new password again under Verify.
  11. Include a password hint to help you remember if you forget it in the future.
  12. Click Change Password.
  13. Click the lock again to save the changes.

    If you've reset your account password, it's highly likely that you'll have to create a new login keychain (since it requires your old password to access).

How to reset your Mac user account password if FileVault is on

If you have FileVault turned on, you can use a couple of different methods to reset your password. Lucky you!

To determine if FileVault is turned on, wait for one minute on the login screen for a message saying that 'You can use the power button on your Mac to shut down and start up again in Recovery OS.* If you don't see this message, you don't have FileVault turned on.

Using Reset Password Assistant

  1. Press the Power button on your Mac to shut it off.
  2. Press the Power button on your Mac to turn it back on.
  3. When the Reset Password window appears, tick the box for I forgot my password.
  4. Enter a new password.
  5. Click on Restart.
  6. Enter the new user account password to log in.

If you've reset your account password, it's highly likely that you'll have to create a new login keychain (since it requires your old password to access).

Recovery Key

If you have a FileVault recovery key, you can use this instead of your user account password to log in. Remember, you must have FileVault turned on to use this option.

  1. At your Mac's lock screen, try entering a password three times. A new option will appear after the third failed attempt.
  2. Click the arrow next to the Recovery Key message.
  3. Enter your Recovery Key.
  4. Create a new password. Write this one down!
  5. Click Restart.
  6. Enter the new user account password to log in.

Once you're back in: Create a new login keychain

After you reset your Mac user account password you might get a message that your Mac is unable to unlock your login keychain. Well, that's because you just changed it. No biggie. You can reset it by entering the new Mac user account password you just changed it to.

Click on Create New Keychain when the message appears and enter the new password you just created.

If you keep getting messages asking for your old account password, you can manually reset your keychain.

  1. Click on Finder in your Dock.
  2. Click on Applications.

  3. Double-click on the Utilities folder.
  4. Double-click on Keychain Access.

  5. Click on Keychain Access in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
  6. Click on Preferences.
  7. Click on Reset My Default Keychains.

  8. Enter the new password you just created for your Mac user account.
  9. Click OK to confirm.

You'll need to log out and log back in to your Mac to sync the changes. Once logged back in, your new password and login keychain will match again.

What happens if you still can't remember or reset your password

If you don't fit any of the above options (Apple ID login, remembering the password for another admin account, or FileVault turned on), your last-ditch effort is to burn it down and start over. If you do a clean install of macOS, it will erase everything on your Mac, including your passwords and settings. This should only be done if you don't have any other way to get into your Mac. You'll be starting over from scratch.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions about changing or resetting your Mac's user account password? Put them in the comments and we'll help you out (remember: we can't help you get your password back).

Forgot mac password to install software free

Imac Forgot Admin Password No Disc

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Forgot Password To Install New Software On Mac

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The password of your macOS user account is also known as your login password. It's the password that you use to log in to your Mac and make certain changes, such as installing software.

Change your password

If you know your password and can use it to log in to your account, you can change your password in Users & Groups preferences:

  1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Users & Groups.
  2. Select your user name from the list of users.
  3. Click the Change Password button, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Reset your password

If you don't remember your password, or it isn't working, you might be able to reset it using one of the methods described below. But first try these simpler solutions:

  • Make sure that you're typing the correct uppercase or lowercase characters. If your keyboard has Caps Lock turned on, the password field shows a Caps Lock symbol .
  • If the password field shows a question mark, click it to display a password hint that might help you to remember.
  • Try to log in without a password. If that works, you can then add a password by following the steps to change your password.
  • Try to log in with the Apple ID password that you use for iCloud. If you just changed that password and the new password isn't working, try the old password first. If that works, you should be able to use the new password from then on.

Reset using your Apple ID

In some macOS versions, you can use your Apple ID to reset your login password. At the login screen, keep entering a password until you see a message saying that you can reset your password using Apple ID. If you don't see the message after three attempts, your account isn't set up to allow resetting with Apple ID.

  1. Click next to the Apple ID message, then follow the onscreen instructions to enter your Apple ID and create a new password. You'll be asked to restart when done.
  2. Log in with your new password.
  3. Determine whether to create a new login keychain.

Reset using another admin account

If you know the name and password of an admin account on your Mac, you can use that account to reset the password.

  1. Log in with the name and password of the other admin account.
  2. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Users & Groups.
  3. Click , then enter the admin name and password again.
  4. Select your user name from the list of users.
  5. Click the Reset Password button, then follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password:
  6. Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
  7. Log in to your account using your new password.
  8. Determine whether to create a new login keychain.

Reset using the Reset Password assistant (FileVault must be on)

If FileVault is turned on, you might be able to reset your password using the Reset Password assistant:

  1. Wait up to a minute at the login screen, until you see a message saying that you can use the power button on your Mac to shut down and start up again in Recovery OS. If you don't see this message, FileVault isn't on.
  2. Press and hold the power button until your Mac turns off.
  3. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.
  4. When the Reset Password window appears, follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password.
    If you need to connect to Wi-Fi, move your pointer to the top of the screen and use the Wi-Fi menu to connect. To exit without resetting your password, choose Apple menu > Restart.
  5. When done, click Restart.
  6. If you were able to reset your password with the Reset Password assistant, log in to your account using your new password.
  7. Determine whether to create a new login keychain.

Reset using your Recovery Key (FileVault must be on)

If FileVault is turned on and you have a FileVault Recovery Key, you can use that key to reset your password.

  1. At the login screen, keep entering a password until you see a message saying that you can reset your password using your Recovery Key. If you don't see the message after three attempts, FileVault isn't on.
  2. Click next to the message. The password field changes to a Recovery Key field.
  3. Enter your Recovery Key. Use uppercase characters, and include the hyphens.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password, then click Reset Password when done.
  5. Determine whether to create a new login keychain.

If you can't log in with your new password after restarting your Mac, take these additional steps:

  1. Restart again, then immediately hold down Command-R or one of the other macOS Recovery key combinations until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe.
  2. When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose Utilities > Terminal from the menu bar.
  3. In the Terminal window, type resetpassword, then press Return to open the Reset Password assistant pictured above.
  4. Select ”My password doesn't work when logging in,” then click Next and follow the onscreen instructions for your user account.

Create a new login keychain, if necessary

After resetting your password and logging back in to your account, you might see an alert that the system was unable to unlock your login keychain. This is expected, because the passwords for your user account and login keychain no longer match. Just click the Create New Keychain button in the alert.

If you didn't see an alert about your login keychain, or you see other messages asking for your old password, reset your keychain manually:

  1. Open Keychain Access, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. Choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu, then click the Reset My Default Keychain button in the preferences window. After you enter your new password, Keychain Access creates an empty login keychain with no password. Click OK to confirm.
    If you don't see a Reset My Default keychain button, close the preferences window and select the “login” keychain from the left side of the Keychain Access window. Press the Delete key, then click Delete References.
  3. Choose Log Out from the Apple menu to return to the login screen.
  4. Log in to your account using your new password. Your account password and login keychain password now match again.

If you still can't log in

If you still can't log in with your password, contact Apple Support for help.

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