How To Install Software Without Admin Password Mac
I'm currently on a trip using a borrowed Macbook and need to install a small codec (the x264 Quicktime codec for Mac) in order to properly export a video from iMovie, which I have to have done in the next few hours in order to upload for a film class. However, when I try to install the x264 codec it asks me for the administrator name and password in order to 'allow Installer to make changes.'
I called the friend I borrowed it from but he doesn't know what it would be since it's technically not his Macbook either - it's a spare from his job that he lent me. He can find out the password tomorrow when the IT guy for his office is back in but that doesn't do me much good since I need this done today. So my question is: is there any way to get around this without having to enter the admin password? Any trick I can use to bypass that login screen or any method to install the x264 codec without having to authenticate it with an admin password first? For the past half hour I've just been making random guesses at the password out of desperation so any better solution would be much appreciated.
EDIT: If it makes a difference, the Macbook is running Mac OS X Version 10.5.7 with iMovie '09. So I've officially been working at this for over 3 hours now.Macs are not my native OS, but it seems ridiculous that there's no way to do this. The hotel I'm at has a Mac in its lobby with iMovie on it so I figured I would save the project from the macbook, move it to the other Mac, install the x264 codec on THAT mac, and then I'd be good. But this has proven just as difficult as figuring out the admin password. I read these three pages which explain in detail how to transfer and open an iMovie project on another mac: Basically, I hold down command and drag the project to an external drive and then put the external drive in another Mac. I have two external drives with me: an 8GB FAT32 flash drive and a 250GB NTFS external HD.
I tried moving the imovie project to both of these - no luck. I then formatted the 8GB FAT32 drive into Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format and tried again.still no luck.
The drive shows up in iMovie with a little yellow triangle with an exclamation point in it and won't let me drag it on there. I've done just about everything I can think of at this point but it has all failed. Anyone else have any other suggestions?
Any advice or help would be MUCH appreciated. Click to expand.Well I have the owner's authorization, this is my friend's work laptop and both he and I are allowed to use it for whatever we need it for, but all I'm trying to do is install a video codec to use to export a class project in iMovie, so what seems ridiculous is the amount of effort it has taken to attempt this. It's not software, just a quicktime codec - the machine already has quicktime and imovie so there's got to be some way to add this additional codec to them, but it's seemingly impossible.
And even with that aside, it seems like there has to be some way to export the imovie project and use it on another mac - that has nothing to do with admin rights or passwords or permissions - but that's been equally impossible to figure out, so I'm still looking for a solution to either or both of these problems. Click to expand.I have to agree with GGJstudios. You mentioned that you are trying to use your friend's work Macbook. Your friend's employer decided not to give your friend the admin password. This is a clear indication that you and your friend are not as you say 'allowed to do anything you like.' If you are able to use the codec you need on the Mac at the hotel, I suggest you explore how to export your imovie project to a usb drive so you can work on it there, then save it as a quicktime video you can modify on your friend's machine without the extra codec.
It's been a while since I used iMovie, but I seem to recall iMovie projects were kept in the Movies folder in your home directory. You would also need any source videos you were trying to edit in addition to the actual iMovie project files. Put everything in the same (relative) folders on the hotel Mac and they should open in the hotel's copy of iMovie. Once you are able to edit the file on the hotel computer, 'export' the whole thing, remembering to make sure your exported file doesn't depend on that same codec. Copy the modified file that doesn't require the codec back to the USB drive when finished.
Remember to delete all your files after you are done so your work isn't sitting on a shared computer. You could reset the admin password (maybe ask the front desk of your hotel if they have a disk, or pop over to an apple store and buy a disk for cheap). Resetting the original administrator account password Follow these steps to reset a password when there is only one administrator account on the computer, or if the original administrator account needs a password reset.
'Original' administrator account refers to the one that was created immediately after installing Mac OS X. If the original administrator password is known, that administrator account may be used to reset the passwords of other administrator accounts using the steps described above. These steps require an optical drive; if your Mac does not have an optical drive and you have a Mac OS X v10.6 Install disc, see below. Start up from a Mac OS X Install disc (one whose version is closest to the version of Mac OS X installed). Usually, you can start from the disc by putting it in your computer, restarting, and holding the C key.
Or, put it in the computer and click the Install or Restore icon you see in the disc's main window (after which the computer will start from the disc without you needing to hold C). Or, you can use Startup Manager or the Startup Disk preference pane to select the Install disc. Choose a language, click the arrow button to continue, Mac OS X v10.6 or later: Choose Password Reset from the Utilities menu.
Mac OS X v10.5 or v10.4: Choose Reset Password from the Utilities menu. Mac OS X v10.3: Choose Reset Password from the Installer menu.
Tip: If you don't see this menu or menu choice, you're probably not started from the disc yet. Note: The default keyboard layout is U.S. English while started from the installation disc. If you use a keyboard layout other than U.S English, use the Input menu (the flag icon on the right side of the menu bar) to select the desired layout before typing a new password. Select your Mac OS X hard disk volume. Select the user name of your original administrator account. Important: Do not select 'System Administrator (root)'.
This is actually the root user. You should not confuse it with a normal administrator account. Enter a new password.
Click the red button in the upper left corner to quit the application. Choose Quit Mac OS X Installer. From the Mac OS X Installer menu. Click Restart. After following these steps, you'll want to also follow the steps in this article: I guess alternatively you could export it as something other than x264. If playback is a problem then you could use something like VLC portable (no install required): And have you tried NO password?
This stumps a lot of my customers, as no password was actually set (it's just blank) but the mac will still prompt for a password. Click to expand.Would the Apple store sell just the install disc? I had a hard time finding them online, only finding 1 or 2 for sale used on ebay.
Also, if I did get the disc and followed those directions, would that wipe the computer and erase all the data/programs etc? Or would it be safe? I found this simplistic set of instructions on how to get around this very problem.without. an install disc but the comments people have left on it about losing all their data and ruining the machine have me pretty apprehensive about trying it. Code: UiMovie Events/moviename//U iMovie Data UiMovie Cache/U Cache.mov Cache.plist UiMovie Thumbnails/U UiMovie Cache/U Cache.mov Cache.plist moviename.mov I verified I can still open the project and it opens fine in iMovie from the external drive. More help on this is available. When you are getting weird dates and complaints that 'data cannot be read or written' this is sometimes a sign that the files have become corrupted.
I ran into this once when I copied a 65 MB iPhoto library to an external drive, deleted the original before I verified that the copy on the external drive was usable. BTW, when you are copying to the external drive, it isn't formatted FAT is it? Things go a lot smoother when the external drive is Apple format (HFS+ Journaled).
You can use disk utility to format the external drive to HFS+ format. It only takes a few seconds. Click to expand.No information is lost BUT your keychain passwords will need to be reset (no big deal in the big picture). If you are in a pinch you could also try downloading the torrent of Mac OS X 10.5. That method listed in your link should have specified that once you are logged in as a new admin you can use that new account to reset the password for the other admin account. But I don't think this is a good approach.
This is better: I guess another option would be to see if you can contact the IT department after hours and see if you can get in that way. Or have them remote into the system and install the codec for you.
How To Install Software Without Admin Password Mac Mini
You can try this: But, it will create a new account and your old files will still not be accessible. Creating a new Admin on Mac Os X: Here's how to reset your OS X password without an OS X CD.
The Working solution for me was to create a new admin you can create new admin like this by deleting a specific file. You need to enter terminal and create a new admin account: 1.
Hold apple key + s key down after you hear the chime. (command + s keys on newer Macs) 3. When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line): mount -uw / rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone shutdown -h now 4. After rebooting you should have a brand new admin account. When you login as the new admin you can simply delete the old one and your good to go again!
Apple stores wont reset it for you. Computer shops may charge you $50 to $200 trying to reinstall the Mac and failing at the end. I tried the mount -uw/ for my macbook pro because I no longer have the original disc. Now my computer just sits at a blue screen with a continuous scolling wheel and then it will go away for a second and come back again.
One message I did notice while trying to do the mount -uw/ option was the following: it keeps scrooling Mach communication failed: (ipc/mig) server died mDNSKeychainGetSecrets failed error2301 CFArrayRef 00000000 machmsgserver: (ipc/send) invalid memory There was more to the message than just this message but I didn't have enough time to get it all. Doesn't look good.i think it's toasted. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me. I'd hate to think I have a very expensive paper weight. Hi xpc man, recently my macbook would not recognise my passwords, the startup nor the admin. I didn't change them and I am the only one who uses this computer, so I don't know what happened. So I followed your instructions and it worked like a charm!
The only problem is I can't find any of my files, no music, no pictures, nothing. I rebooted as a brand new computer. I am really desperate I have really important stuff in this computer and I don't know what to do. Do you have any ideas that might help me? Successful on intel MacBook OS X.4 and intel MacBook Pro OS X.5 (also a G4 according to another post) FYI to the novices: This creates a brand NEW Computer Administrator user account. It will boot like the day you bought your mac or newly installed. (It is NOT a fresh install) It will prompt you for all your info again (owner registration,.Mac account, etc.) but create a new username for this new account then Previously existing accounts will be untouched.
When logged in, open System Preferences. Open Accounts. (prefpane) All existing user accounts will be there.
Select the user account you wish to reset password or change account permissions. Logout then Login to the changed account.
(Optional) Delete the newly created account. If not seeing accounts: Look in Macintosh HD/Users/ for the user folder that contains the files you want. (you can then take ownership of a folder and its contents if needed, unless encrypted, corrupted etc.) Get Info (command + I) of the selected Folder/File change ownership/permissions (at the bottom of the properties window) If No Boot: Try 'Target Disk' mode Start up holding 'T' key. (for a few seconds) You will see a firewire symbol on the screen. Your Mac is now an external HDD/DVD/CD device that can be connected to another Mac.
Rescue your files to your preferred media. While there are a number of ways to skin a cat (Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard) these are a few simple tips. Hope this helps a few Thanks Again XpcMan I'm a Freelance IT and this tip saved a clients mac as well as a satisfied client. Hi Macguyver1, thanks for the info, all worked well except when I go into the accounts, I can´t reset the password on the account I want to change, Reset Password isn´t highlighted.
I can reset the other accounts on there, but not my original one. I did use FileVault at one point (never again!) and there was a Master Password set up which stopped working for some unknown reason. I realize this is probably 2 separate problems but I thought a could reset the Master Password as well using your method.
Any advice would be very appreciated. Thanks for your help. Hey so im reading the forum on which obviosly explains my problem in the name, you seem to be the most knowledgable one on here. I have a pretty good problem with my older brothers macbook and am getting to the point where I need some help. Brother has a macbook and is no longer with us, trying to finish up some other afairs and move on but its a no go on his password on his laptop, any ideas on how to get into it with out the disk. Would appriciate the help on putting this matter to rest. Thanks for your time.
Install Program Without Admin Password
This should work: for Windows PCs I downloaded EBCD ( It's an ISO that basically has a Linux flavor on it but it boots straight into an easy-to-use menu. You just select the windows password reset option, select the defaults for file locations, and then select the user and the password to change. I've used it on Windows 2000 machines, Windows XP machines, Windows 2000 Server machine. Works flawlessly. One recommendation: If you do use it, just use. as the new password.
This will blank out the old password. Then you can boot into windows and safely login with no password and change it to whatever you like. Sometimes these utilities have issues with different flavors of windows re-encrypting a new password so it's best to just blank it out. You will need to take the ISO file and use CD burner software to burn a CD. You must use the 'burn a CD from a Disk Image' (or some option like that) that uses the Image file (ISO file) as input and burns a multi-file bootable CD. I followed your instructions and my computer restarted as if new.
I then set up my user password. So now I have a 'clean' computer, as if I'm a new user. BUT all my previous photos, documents, etc, etc are nowhere to be seen. Shows the folder 'appleimac', the previous identity for which I had no password and no disk, thus stopping me installing new software, etc. But I can't get access; my folders are there within 'appleimac', but I'm told I don't 'have sufficient access privileges'. I can start afresh with my 'new identity', but all my previous stuff is locked away -temporarily, I hope!
Make sure the you do not space in between the db/.Apple and use capital letters where they are in the code and it will work # Reboot # Hold apple + s down after you hear the chime. # When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line):. mount -uw /.
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone. shutdown -h now # After rebooting you should have a brand new admin account. When you login as the new admin you can simply delete the old one and you're good to go again! Another way is to hack system preferences by putting it on the desktop and right clicking then go to package contents and recources then go to something called NSPrefPaneGroups.xml and drag it onto the desktop, after that whenever you open system preferences it will come up with a little bar and you can go to view up in the corner and go to anything u want. After that go to set master password in security after you have completed that log out, then in the log in screen type the admin username and get the password wrong about 6 or 7 times after that it will say type masterpassword to reset password and then you change the password.