



  • Do you know what version of Mac OS X that you are using? You can find this by going to the Apple menu at the top-right and selecting "About this Mac." – Nathan Walker Jul 22 '12 at 23:00

With macOS Catalina and many recent macOS - the built in tools guide everyone how to reset admin permissions without needing any of the single user mode boot tricks of old (left at the bottom for posterity and people running OS that were shipped before 2015)

Now - follow the official Apple triage steps: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860

Instead of single user mode, boot to recovery and use the Terminal Utility. Then you can remove the .AppleSetupDone file from:

/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ -\ Data/private/var/db 


Change the password in single user mode

  1. Hold +S on startup
  5. reboot

Create a new admin account

  1. Hold +S on startup
  3. rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
  4. reboot
  6. After logging in to the new account, go to the Users & Groups preference pane


  1. Hold +R on startup
  2. Open Terminal from the Utilities menu
  3. Type resetpassword and follow the instructions

Using iCloud Recovery Mode (10.9.x & newer)

  2. Click the arrow button to bring up a "Reset Password" dialog
  3. Enter the Apple ID login information that is tied to the OS X user account and click “Reset Password”
  4. Click “OK” to confirm the new keychain creation
  5. Enter and verify a new password, fill out the password hint field, and again click on “Reset Password”
  6. Click “Continue Log In” to login as the user account with the reset password

I'm sorry to hear about your father.




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