Type launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ and press Enter.

Wait for the checks to complete before going to the next step. At the prompt, type fsck -fy and press Enter/Return.

This step is optional, but it’s a good idea because it checks the consistency of the hard disk before moving on.

At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.

Reset 10.5 Leopard & 10.6 Snow Leopard password Please check out the updated version of this post if you’re trying to reset the password on a Mac running 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion. This tutorial was written for Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6. System admins responsible for supporting entire organizations and users who bought used Macs are the folks most likely to benefit from this. A few of the methods floating around the Mac community have been compiled here in one easy-to-reference place. The information here has previously been made available from many different sources online and is presented with the intention of helping people with legitimate reasons for resetting their Mac OS X password.

There are ways of bypassing nearly any security measure when a hacker is literally sitting right in front of your system. Anyone with physical access to your machine (whether it is Windows, Linux, or Mac) can eventually find a way in if they know what they’re doing. Before you go thinking that Mac OS X has a severe vulnerability that makes it less secure than other operating systems, think again. Yes, it’s startling to think that anyone could theoretically walk up to your computer and gain access within minutes.

This tutorial may ruffle some feathers, but it addresses a topic that a ton of people ask about all the time. There are numerous ways to reset a password with no OS X discs. Or maybe you purchased a used Mac from someone else and they’ve got it locked down. Let’s say you totally forgot the password to log on to your Mac.

Mac change password terminal