If someone can’t remember or wants to change their password in Lion and there is no Install Disk, how do we do that?
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Shirley Allan
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Password in Lion w/o disk
Comments: 7 Responses to “Password in Lion w/o disk”
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Your user account password? Is that the only admin account on the machine? Had you set a master password?
Otherwise, there isn't much you can do. If you have a Time Machine backup you can restore it from that, but you'll still need the password.
You can take it to an expert and they may be able to extract some of your documents before you do a restore.
You can do a restore with Lion without the need for a disc. There is a restore partition. Just hold down option when you reboot. But doing a restore will erase your user account and all the data, so see an expert first if any of that is needed.
I asked the question because I am in a senior community and friends depend on me to help with their computers. Being seniors I always run into friends that made up a password for their computer and then promptly had a Senior Moment and forgot it. How do I give them a new password?
You can't. What I would do in cases like this is to tell them to write it down and store the paper in a safe place. Make it a must-do thing. When they set a password they write it down and put it with their other important information.
Although this won't help any current issues, going forward you could ask your friends to create an administrator user account for you on their computers. That way, if they ever forget their password, you can log in to their computer using your account and reset it for them quite easily. As long as you don't forget your own password!
I did not use a password when I bought my MBP in June, this year. It remains blank. I have installed Lion using the USB thumb drive. I am thinking about whether I should now use a password but not sure of the process. It seems simple enough, but to goof it up is a pretty big deal as I am not close to any Apple Genius who may be able to fix anything I screw up. Frankly, I would just as soon leave it alone (blank password). I intend to have an iPod and iMac in the home soon, and will be sharing files and iTunes libraries and playlists, I'm sure. Not sure if this will end up being a problem (I have an Apple Wifi with my Time Capsule which is password protected. Any thoughts about whether I should attempt to create a password now?
I would definitely set a password. Without one anyone on your network can log in any do anything with your files and computer. Now you may have security on your network, but I wouldn't rely just on that. And if it is a MacBook Pro then you may occasionally take it outside to other networks. Then you are definitely putting yourself in danger. Set a password for your account!
You can reset your administrative password in Lion. Go to http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/24/reset-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-password/. I used Method 1 "Reset a Lost MAC OS X Lion Password" and it worked perfectly and didn't take long at all. When I restarted my MAC it did ask me for my iCloud password again, which for me is different than my admin password. Other than that, no problems. Good luck!