No Available Users?

R

rgiampapa

Registered
I rebooted my computer for the first time in awhile and when I tried to put in my user name and password, which I am absolutely sure of, it did not accept it. It simply makes the screen shake. So, when I tried to enter a new password using the startup disk, it asks me to select a user, but it says "No available users". Does anyone have any advice for how I may fix this problem. I have the MacBook.
 
You forgot your password. To change it, you need to boot from your System Restore disk. It will give you the option to change your password.
 
MisterMe said:
You forgot your password. To change it, you need to boot from your System Restore disk. It will give you the option to change your password.
Click to expand...
See:
So, when I tried to enter a new password using the startup disk, it asks me to select a user, but it says "No available users".
Click to expand...

Do you have another Mac, that you could connect to this one in Target Disk Mode?
 
FWIW, the startup disk is the volume from which the computer normally boots. It is usually the internal harddrive and not the System Restore disk.
 
I do have another Mac but it's old and I can't connect to it by holding down the T button. I tried. I didn't forget my password. My computer is telling me that my password is not correct. And it says that I have no Administrator.
 
FWIW I recently booted up into my "backup" and discovered exactly the same problem. Interestingly enough, if I browse the drive and all my users are still there in their User folder.

This doesn't bother me too much as I just need to perform a new backup from scratch and it should sort it out. But I thought I could mention as I might be able to provide information which could help (me being able to access the drive and all)
 
Does anyone have any further insight into fixing this issue?

I boot into the OS Install disk, and went to Utilities > Reset Password. Did that, and it let me set a password to my user "coreygarst" on my Mac HD.

So I reboot into OSX, and I get a password prompt which I didn't get before. I type in that password, and the window shakes indicating its incorrect. Weird, so I reboot back into the Install disk thinking I'll need to reset it again.. This time I have "No available users" under my Mac HD.

I'm locked out. Heeeelp. :(
 
When you change your password through this process, you will see the login screen the next time you boot. Usually, you would enter your password (because you just changed it), and then you will be back to an automatic login, if that's what you prefer.
If you now seem to have lost your users, you could try the Disk Utility (while booted to the installer disk), from the same menu as the Reset Password. Do both a Repair Disk, and a Repair Disk Permissions. Quit that, and shut down.
If a normal boot then does not get a login window, or the password is not accepted yet, reboot again to the installed DVD, and try the reset password one more time. If you still do not show any users available, then my choice would be to reinstall the OS X, using the archive and install option.
Someone else may offer an idea that you can use when booted to single-user mode, to try to check for valid users, but I don't know about those.
 
Does anyone have a fix to this? I am having the same problem on an iBook following Tiger upgrade. Forgotten password. Reset with install DVD. Then shaky-shaky login requesting user and password over and over. Try to reset again with install DVD and get "No available users" for the drive. Looking for a solution... All files seem to remain using Single User login and shell commands. Repair Permissions fixed a few things. Repair Drive found no problems. Still getting "No available users." Any help out there? Will try nearest "genius bar" four hundred miles away on Monday...
 
Thanks for responding. I can hook up via Target mode and did back everything up. The login screen demands both User and Password but rejects all combinations. I was able to rest the password from the Tiger install DVD once. After that, the reset password tricks says "No available users" for the hard drive. That means no root system, so shared or guest, no regular admin user accounts. It is like the file containing user names and passwords is GONE. All the user data files are there.

iBook 1.33GHz, just upgraded from 10.3 to Tiger. Booted once under Tiger 10.4.6 then downloaded 10.4.8 and started having troubles...
 
If you get target disk mode up, just remove the file "/var/db/.applesetupdone" on the targeted mac, and you'll get a new admin account. From there, you should be able to assess the damage. Make sure you remove the file on the target mac, not the host mac..
 
OK, I'll try it. Can you tell me how to remove the file using target mode? I am not sure how to access this from OSX. I understand how to do Single User commands on the machine standalone. How do I get to the file from another machine using target mode? Thanks eric2006!
 
Actually, it'd be easier to just use Single User mode, I thought you needed the account password to get into that.

g/re/p said:
In Single-User Mode:

At the prompt, type fsck -yf and press the return key.
Type mount -uw / and press the return key.
Type rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and press return.
Type reboot

When the computer restarts, it should act as if you had just installed OS X for the first time - it will prompt you for information to set up an administrator level account.
Click to expand...
 
So I removed the .AppleSetupDone and sure enough it started up the Tiger process as if it was a new install asking for user information: lanuage, country, network, user information and then home versus business use, but it stopped there. It allowed me to go back but it would not continue past this window. It just sat there... Am I missing another file or vairable that might be corrupted?
 
The genius bar said it sounds like a netinfo corruption and the entire drive needs to be erased and reloaded... Anybody know a workaround to a netinfo problem?
 
That sounds bad. Unless you have a backup, I doubt it. Luckily, you can use Target Disk Mode to get your stuff off.
 
I just started experiencing the same problem. When I started up my computer yesterday it went to a password screen I've never seen before. None of my user names or passwords worked. Come to find out, when I booted up with the install disk to reset the password there were no available users. It looks like the other data on the drive is still there. I'll try some of the solutions found here but it anyone has more to offer, please let me know.
 
I wish I had good news to share but I don't. My friend's iBook just had this problem. She had forgotten her password and her hint was not good enough. We used the Tiger install disk to reset the password and then got the "No available users. I tried many things including removal of .AppleSetupDone in sigle user mode per earlier instructions. After that, it would get halfway through the initial Tiger setup before hanging up. She took it to the Apple Genius Bar where they had never seen it hang like that. They said it was a netinfo file corruption and it needed a clean install. We just finished erasing the drive and installing Tiger and software and backed up data. The only good news is that we were able to copy everything onto another Mac using the firewire cable and Target mode before the clean install. It was a pain, but the computer is running well again. Good luck.
 
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