Change Administrator

P

pjbealer

Registered
I purchased an EMac at a yard sale without documentation and it has an Administrator and password assigned. How do I change it to my name and password?
 
As you don't know what the last owner did to your 'new' eMac - most folks here would recommend that you erase the hard drive completely, then restore the hard drive to the original set of software. You do this by booting to the restore disk that you should have got with the used eMac. Restart with the disk in the drive, while holding the letter 'C' on your keyboard. You'll get to a 'select a language' screen, so press enter. Continue to the screen where you select a drive. Before continuing on. click the Options button, and choose the option to Erase and install. That will completely erase your hard drive, and install all the original software.
When the eMac reboots at the end of the install, you will go through a short user setup, where you enter a new account name, and create an account password.

If you didn't get disks with the eMac, or you would prefer to take your chances with the hard drive as it is - do you know the present password?
You can open your system preferences/Accounts pane, and add a new account. Make sure to select the block to allow the user to administer the computer. When the new account is created - log out of your user, and choose your new user from the list. Enter your new password there, and you will login to your new user account. Go in to that same system preferences/Accounts pane, and click on the _old_ account, and click the minus (-) at the bottom of the accounts window to delete the old account. And, you're done, with a brand-new account (on top of an old operating system that you're not completely sure about - eh?) But, it's your choice then....
 
As I said, I purchased it a yard sale without any documentation, including restore disks. I do not know the administrators password, so I guess getting a restore disk off EBay is probably my best choice. Thanks.
 
pjbealer said:
I purchased an EMac at a yard sale without documentation and it has an Administrator and password assigned. How do I change it to my name and password?
Click to expand...

Buy OS X and start with the disk and in the OS X Install Disk there is a menu item to reset the master password.
 
Lucky there was no master password, so, I was able to follow Deltamac's suggestion and was successful. Thanks again.
If you didn't get disks with the eMac, or you would prefer to take your chances with the hard drive as it is - do you know the present password?
You can open your system preferences/Accounts pane, and add a new account. Make sure to select the block to allow the user to administer the computer. When the new account is created - log out of your user, and choose your new user from the list. Enter your new password there, and you will login to your new user account. Go in to that same system preferences/Accounts pane, and click on the _old_ account, and click the minus (-) at the bottom of the accounts window to delete the old account. And, you're done, with a brand-new account (on top of an old operating system that you're not completely sure about - eh?) But, it's your choice then....
Click to expand...
 
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