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Making an admin user when there isn't one?
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Asheville, NC, USA
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A colleague has an old G4 iBook, and recently installed Leopard on it. Lo and behold, it seems impossible to install anything else ... because there isn't any admin user on this machine. The only account is a standard one. I have no idea how this came to be, but we need to fix it.
So how does one go about setting up an admin account when anything requiring an admin password (like opening accounts) fails for want of an appropriate account?
TIA,
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Steve Anderson
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Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
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So the root /Users folder only contains the regular account and "Shared"? The only way I can think to do that after a clean install is to create the regular account, point autologin to it, then use the original admin account to delete it's own user folder.
Or your colleague could have enabled the root user, and deleted the original admin account from there.
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Dedicated MacNNer
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Well, he didn't do a clean install, but instead just upgraded from his earlier 10.3 installation. I'm not sure what happened, because I just saw the results, not how they came to be.
I have suggested that he create a new admin account from the shell by rebooting in shell mode, removing the file /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and then rebooting again to get a new setup to run. Hopefully, that will get him a new account with which he can upgrade his real account to admin status.
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Steve Anderson
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Professional Poster
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Vandelay Industries
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Dedicated MacNNer
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Thanks! That's more or less what I should have thought of...
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Steve Anderson
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Dedicated MacNNer
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The solution from the Apple TN fixed it. I'm sure the others would have, too, but once is good enough... Thanks, guys!
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Steve Anderson
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Wasilla, Alaska
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Here is how I do it..
Boot into single user mode by holding cmd-s at startup.
at the prompt type: mount -uw /
then type: rm /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone
This fools the machine into thinking it's being booted for the first time, and prompts you to create an admin account. Once logged into that account, you can make the original account back into an admin, log in on the old account, and delete the newly created admin.
(
Last edited by AKcrab; Jun 11, 2010 at 04:43 PM.
Reason: Oops: what sra said only with detailed instructions. :D)
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Dedicated MacNNer
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That way works, if you don't have the install disks. If you do, the path via setting a password on the root account as described on the Apple Tech Support page cited by Art Vandelay is clean and simple.
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Steve Anderson
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
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Originally Posted by AKcrab
Here is how I do it..
Boot into single user mode by holding cmd-s at startup.
at the prompt type: mount -uw /
then type: rm /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone
This fools the machine into thinking it's being booted for the first time, and prompts you to create an admin account. Once logged into that account, you can make the original account back into an admin, log in on the old account, and delete the newly created admin.
Wait a second ?
So you can gain full access even w/o a OS DVD ?
-t
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Totally. Want me to change your password while I'm at it?
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Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
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@turtle
You know the saying: if you have physical access to the machine, you can get into anything.
You can use an OpenFirmware or EFI password to prevent single-user mode.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
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Originally Posted by tooki
@turtle
You know the saying: if you have physical access to the machine, you can get into anything.
You can use an OpenFirmware or EFI password to prevent single-user mode.
I know, but even that is not tamper proof.
I was just surprised that ther was a solution w/o a OS disk.
All my important data is encrypted anyways.
-t
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