I lost my admin user

Note: this is not a replacement for I lost my admin user, which probably ought to be renamed "I lost my admin user (OS X 10.4 and earlier)", but that Tip will not work with Leopard.
I lost my admin user (OS X 10.5)
If you are unfortunate enough to delete your only admin user, or remove his admin capability, then as long as you have another user with login capability, you can give that user admin rights as shown below. You can then re-create the original user or reinstate the admin capability using NetInfo Manager.
Print this post out in a mono-spaced font, and type carefully, paying attention to spaces and punctuation, since you cannot copy/paste in Single User mode.
Caution: in single user mode you have root privileges. Be careful! Substitute the name of 'youruser' below.
Boot into single user mode (Command-S) at startup which will eventually get you a shell prompt (ending in #). Then type the following:
fsck -fy
Repeat the above until it says your disk is OK. Then continue with
mount -uw /
dscl . -merge /groups/admin users youruser
If you get a message saying "invalid path", then type these two commands first:
dscl . -create /groups/admin gid 80
dscl . -create /groups/admin passwd '*'
and then repeat the "nicl ... -merge" command. Then:
reboot
You will now be able to login as 'youruser' and have administrative privileges.
Membership of the 'admin' group is the only thing that distinguishes administrative users from ordinary users.

Revised to incorporate Niel's corrections:
I lost my admin user (OS X 10.5)
If you are unfortunate enough to delete your only admin user, or remove his admin capability, then as long as you have another user with login capability, you can give that user admin rights as shown below. You can then re-create the original user or reinstate the admin capability using the Accounts Pane in System Preferences.
Print this post out in a mono-spaced font, and type carefully, paying attention to spaces and punctuation, since you cannot copy/paste in Single User mode.
Caution: in single user mode you have root privileges. Be careful! Substitute the name of 'youruser' below.
Boot into single user mode (Command-S) at startup which will eventually get you a shell prompt (ending in #). Then type the following:
fsck -fy
Repeat the above until it says your disk is OK. Then continue with
mount -uw /
dscl . -merge /groups/admin users youruser
If you get a message saying "invalid path", then type these two commands first:
dscl . -create /groups/admin gid 80
dscl . -create /groups/admin passwd '*'
and then repeat the "dscl ... -merge" command. Then:
reboot
You will now be able to login as 'youruser' and have administrative privileges.
Membership of the 'admin' group is the only thing that distinguishes administrative users from ordinary users.

Similar Messages

'kmosx: I lost my admin user' Not working Unix Guru required!

Hi,
My Dual G5 decided (by itself) that I was no longer qualified to administer it and has removed the admin privileges from my account demoting me to a standard user.
I tried Michael's 'kmosx: I lost my admin user' guide but am getting a Unix error after trying the 'nicl -raw /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb -create /groups/admin gid 80' command.
The error is 'create: invalid path'
I've successfully repaired the disk using the fsck - fy command and have no errors. I've also have write privileges on the disk.
Basically if there is a Unix guru that could assist it would be most appreciated.
Cheers

Ok, thanks for the support so far. I've ran the nidump -r /groups / command and it just hung there doing nothing. I had to ctrl+c to stop it. The same thing for the users.
I had a look in the local.nidb directory and I have a range of 'Store.xxxx' files with various dates. Would it be possible to revert back to a previous netinfo db? I'm assuming that these files are previous versions. The most recent is yesterdays Store.672 when I noticed the problem.
Also, in single user mode is it possible to create a new user with admin privileges? I could then use that user to change my login to admin and then remove the newly created user. Or does it have to have a record in the netinfo db?
If I remove the .AppleSetupDone file and re-run the setup program what will I lose? Will this overwrite any personal files (I have 30Gb of photos and databases that although backed up would I can still access through the standard user)?
Thanks in advance.

Lost Admin User

I lost my admin user profile on my mac. All files, programs and preferences have vanished. Any idea how to find them/get them back? Last thing I can remember using was Time Machine to backup my iTune libraary and Pics. 500G's. Other user profiles (non-admin) have their personalized info remaining.

Did you try resetting your password, take a look this link, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4798

I lost mine admin account

dear reader, by accident i lost mine admin account. i used the button 'remote direct' how an i recover the map?

Hello Again robdehop!
See if this I lost my admin user helps! Authored by Michael Conniff.
I also replied in your other Related Topic
It isn't usually necessary to post more than one Topic, about the same issue.
Good Luck!
ali b

Lost preferences, bookmarks, screensavers, etc on Admin user.

Hello,
My husband accidentally lost all of our preferences on our computer, bookmarks on Safari, screensaver folders, etc. We are under the Admin user is but cannot figure out what has happened or how we lost everything. We have logged in/out and shut down, reinstalled Snow Leopard. It started when he was on Safari and locked up, then don't know what "discussion" him and the computer had but apparently the MAC won!!! Can someone please tell me how to fix it?
Thanks

If you have only one Admin account on the machine, your going to have to so this trick to create another, in doing so the Library folder of this new user will be created and you'll have control of the computer again.
Hold the command and s keys and reboot the computer, a scary black screen appears with a lot of white text runs down the screen, wait until it's finished and backspace to clear any extra ssssss....
Type the following commands at the command prompt, and then press Enter after each one:
Don't make a mistake
mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.applesetupdone
reboot
mount *space* -uw *space* / then press enter
rm *space* /var/db *space* .applesetupdone then press enter
reboot then press enter
The Mac OS X Setup Assistant screen should appear after the reboot, just as it does when you start up a brand new computer or upgrade to a new version of Mac OS X.
Create a new user account with the Setup Assistant. Be sure to name this user something different than the admin user that already exists on the system.
At the end of the Setup Assistant process, the system will automatically log into this new user account.

Weblogic admin user password change w/o disrupting existing users

Hi Folks,
As a business policy we need to change the password of the admin user in weblogic after a cycle of specific period.
Please let us now how can we do that without losing the other existing users in 'my realm.'
I understand that we can use the weblogic.utils.security.AdminAcoount utility to give the new password, which will create a new DefaultAuthenticatorInit.ldift file in +<domain-home>/security+ folder (according to Doc ID 1082299.1).
The password will change but the users in 'my realm' will be lost. (there are many users and it is a production environment so recreation is out-of- question)
Is there a way we can retain the users and still proceed with the password change?
Cheers,
Jeegar

Hi Jeegar,
This can be doen by followin the standard procedure by login to console and navigate to :-
DOMAIN_STRUCTURE--->Security Realm--->myrealm--->Users and Groups---->User tab click on the user weblogic
--click on the password tab and put the new password there and save (password is changed for the user here)
---Logout from the console and login to the console again using the new password
But when the server starts it do not read the password for the user directly from the realm rather it picked the same from the $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/AdminServer/security/boot.properties
Now in order to make this change available when the server starts change the values for the username and password in boot.properties and specify them in plain-text and save the same.
Now next time whenever the server will start it will pick up the new values from the boot.properties and once the same had been accepted those will be encrypted again.
You might have to make the change for the boot.properties for all the Managed Server if you have the Managed Servers in the domain which will be located at the location $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/<<Managed Server Name>>/data/nodemanager/boot.properties
You can test the steps on some lower environment first and try the same in Critical environment once the testing goes successful.
Regards,
Vijay
Edited by: V Kumar on Oct 25, 2012 3:06 PM

OS 10.4 - Major Shortname/Admin/User Problem

I've never quite screwed anything up this bad before. For now, let's try not to concentrate on WHY I did these things... just that they're already done... and I severely regret them.
This is my work computer, which also holds many personal files.
I am running 10.4.11 on a G5 PowerPC
There was only ever one user account on the machine.
I went to change the short name using Netinfo Manager.
I changed the "name" and "home" to reflect the changes I wanted.
For the sake of this example, let's say the original name was "WORK" and I changed it to "Coz". So, "home" is now labeled as "/Users/Coz"
This of course wiped out the profile I've been using all along, created what appears to be a new Home account by the name of "Coz" and no other user can be selected at startup. In Preferences/Accounts, there's only this one -- and it's a Standard User. I have no admin rights because there appears to not be an admin password/name anymore.
But...
I can see my old files and everything still exist in the directory "/Users/WORK" -- yay. they're where they're supposed to be.
I just need to get WORK to be considered the home account again and make sure it's got admin rights. But that's hard to do when no one has admin rights at the moment.
Puhleez. Help.

Ive looked at most of these before - and they all seem to not quite be helpful enough, or too confusing to make sense of. Or, the suggestion didn't work for me. I'll look through again, though.
_edit: after looking through, here's why these suggestions cannot help me:
+How to change user short name or home directory name+
+http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428?viewlocale=en_US+
*Doesn't apply. It's already changed, I need to change it back... but I need admin rights. I did try the command "chown -R NEWNAME /Users/NEWNAME" but that didn't seem to do anything at all.*
+Also, this might be useful:+
+http://www.macworld.com/article/132693/2008/03/changeshortusername.html+
*Attempted to use ChangeShortName app but cannot without admin rights.*
+Apparent 'Loss' of Home Folder:+
+http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854+
*Home folder isn't lost, it's just set for a new user.*
+Changing or resetting an account password+
+http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1274?viewlocale=en_US+
*Can be done, but doesn't help me any.*
+Changing your administrator password+
+http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh655.html+
*You must know the current password. Or, if not, reset it using boot disc.*
*But this doesn't help because there is no admin-user to reset the password for.*

I lost my admin password and the installation discs. How can I reset my admin password ?

I lost my admin password and the installation discs. How can I reset my admin password ?

OS X 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks and 10.10 Yosemite
Reset Password
Start the computer,then press and hold down command and R keys to start into recovery partition.
When you see the Apple logo, release the keys.
Wait until OS X Utilities window shows up.
Move the mouse to the menubar at the top and click "Utilities", then select "Terminal"
from the drop down.
Terminal window will appear.
Type in resetpassword and press enter on the keyboard.
Leave the Terminal window open.
Reset Password Utility window will open with Macintosh HD selected.
Select the user account from the popup menu box under “Select user account”.
Enter a new password.
Reenter the new password for the user.
Enter a hint.
Click the "Save" button.
Click  in the menubar and select Restart.
Log in.
If Keychain dialog box appears, select “Create New Keychain”.

Non admin user - changes not saved (Safari settings, system prefs, etc.)

iMac, 2 users, one is administrator and other is standard user. Recently, in the non-admin user account, it has become impossible to make any changes. For example, adding an application to the the Dock, after logging out and back in next time, the application is not in the Dock any more. Also, making changes to the prefs in Safari, changes are not saved.
I noticed this after installing FireFox v4. I installed it as admin whilst in the non-admin users account. However, I don't believe that the installation of FF has anything to do with the problem, it just highlighted it. I've checked the permissions for the various directories that hold prefs info such as user/libraries/application prefs/etc. etc. and also Safari prefs. Nothing I can see that has changed in system prefs.
Any ideas on what has caused the problem (kids are known to fiddle from within the non-admin account) and any ideas on how to fix it?
Thanks

Hi PPRuNe,
You could try making the standard user an Admin too. To do this, make sure you are logged in to the standard user, go to System Preferences > Accounts > Standard user (you may have to unlock the padlock) > Allow user to administer this computer
This will allow changes to be made without being prompted for a password all the time.
However, if you had Parental Controls on, they probably won't work on an admin account because as an admin you have complete control over a computer, so the computer thinks there is no point in having the controls turned on. And if the kids are known to "fiddle," just think carefully!
Hope this helps you.
Chris.

Unable to enable security and create admin user after reset - px4-300d

Our px4-300d became inaccessible a few days ago. I couldn't get to any shares from any machine, and I couldn't get to the admin console. When I checked the unit, there was no indication that anything was wrong (ie - the panel didn't show any failure, I didn't get any emails indicating a failure, and there were no lights offering a clue to what was wrong). However the unit was completely frozen...the buttons on the front would not scroll through the different information on the panel.
I attempted to reset the device using the pinhole on the back, but the device wouldn't respond, so I had to power it down using the button on the front. When I tried to power it back up, it would come on for about one second, then immediately power off. I pulled all 4 drives out and powered it on again without any drives. This time it came up completely and I got a message on the panel that drives were missing. I started putting the drives in one at a time and the device recognized them all and I was able to login to the admin console. However, all the shares were missing and I received an email that the Storage Pool was degraded. I rebooted the device from the admin console and when it came back up, it started reconstruction. After a few hours, it completed, but I still had no shares and couldn't create any new shares. I also did not see any of my users, including the admin account I was logged in with. I tried to create a new user, and also tried creating a user I knew existed and neither one worked. The screen would just flash but nothing would show up. At this point, I decided to try to reset using the pinhole on the back of the device to reset the admin user so I could just create a new one. So, now I'm stuck at the 'Enable Security' screen. Every time I try to create an admin account, it just flashes and returns me to the same 'Enable Security' window.
Now what?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

If you are unable to get into it you will not be able to do the factory reset. You can try booting in buy removing one disk at a time. If you are still unable to then tech support should be able to supply you with the imager and try flashing it. I would keep it at 4.0.8 also,

How can I add an admin user in Oracle Unified Directory (OUD) 11g r2?

I'm using OUD 11G R2. I just installed OUD with the default setting and setup an instance. I tried to add an admin user with the command:
    ./ldapmodify -h localhost -p 1389 -D "cn=Directory Manager" -w password --defaultAdd --filename admin.ldif
Here is the content of admin.ldif
    dn: cn=oimuser,cn=Root DNs,cn=config
    objectClass: inetOrgPerson
    objectClass: person
    objectClass: top
    objectClass: ds-cfg-root-dn-user
    objectClass: organizationalPerson
    userPassword: Oracle123
    cn: oimuser
    sn: oimuser
    ds-cfg-alternate-bind-dn: cn=oimuser
    givenName: OIM User
    ds-privilege-name: -config-read
    ds-privilege-name: -config-write
    ds-privilege-name: -backend-backup
    ds-privilege-name: -backend-restore
    ds-privilege-name: -data-sync
    ds-privilege-name: -disconnect-client
    ds-privilege-name: -jmx-notify
    ds-privilege-name: -jmx-read
    ds-privilege-name: -jmx-write
    ds-privilege-name: -ldif-export
    ds-privilege-name: -ldif-import
    ds-privilege-name: -modify-acl
    ds-privilege-name: -privilege-change
    ds-privilege-name: -proxied-auth
    ds-privilege-name: -server-restart
    ds-privilege-name: -server-shutdown
    ds-privilege-name: -update-schema
    ds-privilege-name: -cancel-request
I got the error as below:
The provided entry cn=oimuser,cn=Root DNs,cn=config cannot be added because its suffix is not registered with the network group network-group
Would you please advise how I can fix that? Thanks

I got the reason. cn=config is an administrative suffix.
In general, direct LDAP access to the administrative suffixes (using
the ldap* utilities) is discouraged. In most cases, it is preferable
to use the dedicated administrative command-line utilities to access
these suffixes.
If you must use the ldap* commands to access the administrative
suffixes, you must use the administration connector port (with the
--useSSL or -Z option).
It works when I use the command:
    ./ldapmodify -h localhost -p 4444 -D "cn=Directory Manager" -w Oracle123 --defaultAdd -Z --filename admin.ldif
You can verify it by:
    ./ldapsearch -h localhost -p 4444 -D "cn=Directory Manager" -w password --useSSL -b "cn=root DNs,cn=config" "cn=oimuser"

J2ee Admin User locked on SDM Deployment - BI 7.0 and EP 7.0

Hi,
We had a recent issue on BI iview publishing from the BEX WAD 7.0 in our Production Portal server.
The BEX WAD had the error " Java communication error"
" An Error occured during communication with the BI Components of the J2ee engine"
We traced down to identify that the current stack NW 7.0 SP14 BI Components had issues and had to patch to the next level
However, during deployment of the patch using SDM, the components (all) failed posting the following error. The SDM deployment got struck and the J2ee Engine user j2ee_admin was locked.
Only a restart of the j2ee engine is allowing us to get the Visual Admin connected. But the SDM deployment again is failing and admin user gets locked. Is there any tested solution to solve this.
Kindly help asap.
Trace:
SDM:
Caught exception while checking the login credentials for SAP J2EE Engine. Check whether the SAP J2EE Engine is up and running.com.sap.engine.deploy.manager.DeployManagerException: ERROR: Cannot connect to Host: [xxxx] with user name: [j2ee_admin]check your login information.
com.sap.engine.services.jndi.persistent.exceptions.NamingException: Exception during getInitialContext operation. No server is running. [Root exception is com.sap.engine.services.security.exceptions.BaseLoginException: Exception in creating new RemoteLoginContext instance.]
J2ee Engine:
Error while connecting
com.sap.engine.services.jndi.persistent.exceptions.NamingException: Exception while trying to get InitialContext. [Root exception is java.lang.SecurityException: com.sap.engine.services.security.exceptions.BaseSecurityException: This call must be performed from a system thread.
     at com.sap.engine.services.security.login.SecuritySession.setExpirationPeriod(SecuritySession.java:479)
     at com.sap.engine.services.security.login.TicketGenerator.getSecuritySession(TicketGenerator.java:180)
     at com.sap.engine.services.security.login.SecurityContext.load(SecurityContext.java:313)
     at com.sap.engine.services.rmi_p4.Message.loadContextObject(Message.java:345)
     at com.sap.engine.services.rmi_p4.Message.parseMessage(Message.java:239)
     at com.sap.engine.services.rmi_p4.Message.getByteArrayInputStream(Message.java:314)
     at com.sap.engine.services.rmi_p4.DispatchImpl._runInternal(DispatchImpl.java:212)
     at com.sap.engine.services.rmi_p4.DispatchImpl._run(DispatchImpl.java:200)
     at com.sap.engine.services.rmi_p4.server.P4SessionProcessor.request(P4SessionProcessor.java:136)
     at com.sap.engine.core.service630.context.cluster.session.ApplicationSessionMessageListener.process(ApplicationSessionMessageListener.java:33)
     at com.sap.engine.core.cluster.impl6.session.MessageRunner.run(MessageRunner.java:41)
     at com.sap.engine.core.thread.impl3.ActionObject.run(ActionObject.java:37)
     at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
     at com.sap.engine.core.thread.impl3.SingleThread.execute(SingleThread.java:102)
     at com.sap.engine.core.thread.impl3.SingleThread.run(SingleThread.java:172)

Hi Anup,
The restart unlocks the j2ee engine admin user and i am able to login to Visual admin and SDM and not otherwise (SDM is hanged and doesnot allow another session and hence only restart helps me to get into SDM again)
Admin Pwds reset etc from config tool secure store and all possible solutions have been tried before restart.
However, after restart, when we try to deploy again, the deploy fails saying the same msg
Caught exception while checking the login credentials for SAP J2EE Engine. Check whether the SAP J2EE Engine is up and running.com.sap.engine.deploy.manager.DeployManagerException: ERROR: Cannot connect to Host: [xxx] with user name: [j2ee_admin]check your login information.
com.sap.engine.services.jndi.persistent.exceptions.NamingException: Exception during getInitialContext operation. No server is running. [Root exception is com.sap.engine.services.security.exceptions.BaseLoginException: Exception in creating new RemoteLoginContext instance.]
Any clues ?
Regards
Venkat.

How to allow access to winrs for non-admin user?

I have Windows Server 2012 (and Server 2008, but it is next priority) to monitor it using txwinrm. txwinrm library internally is using WinRS protocol. I have to monitor it using least privileged user, but don't know how to configure access for him.
All I managed to do - is to configure remote Powershell session for my user, but it's look like that winrs and powershell sessions have different security descriptors:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName 192.168.173.206 -Credential (credential Administrator $pwd) -ScriptBlock { 2 + 2}
# gives 4
Invoke-Command -ComputerName 192.168.173.206 -Credential (credential lpu1 $pwd) -ScriptBlock { 2 + 2}
# gives 4
winrs -r:192.168.173.206 -u:Administrator -p:$pwd 'powershell -command "2+2"'
# gives 4
winrs -r:192.168.173.206 -u:lpu1 -p:$pwd 'powershell -command "2+2"'
# Gives Winrs error: Access is denied.
Configuration for my user is following:
(Get-Item WSMan:\localhost\Service\RootSDDL).value
# O:NSG:BAD:P(A;;GA;;;BA)(A;;GA;;;S-1-5-21-3231263931-1371906242-1889625497-1141)S:P(AU;FA;GA;;;WD)(AU;SA;GWGX;;;WD)
(Get-PSSessionConfiguration -name Microsoft.Powershell).SecurityDescriptorSddl
# O:NSG:BAD:P(A;;GA;;;BA)(A;;GA;;;S-1-5-21-3231263931-1371906242-1889625497-1149)S:P(AU;FA;GA;;;WD)(AU;SA;GXGW;;;WD)
(In each security descriptor my user is given general access to protected object).
So what security descriptor should I set to make my winrs query work for non-admin user?

Hi Bunyk,
I can not recreate the erroe you posted, and please also post the screenshoot in your convenience.
I tested with a non-domain user but has the local admin permission of the remote computer, and this worked, before running the remote cmdlet in powershell, I also configured the TrustedHosts.
In addition, the access denied could be also caused to the Protocol Filtering on the remote server, for more detailed information, please refer to this thread:
winrs error:access is denied
I hope this helps.

Why can't I access folders on my external hard drive when I am an admin user?

Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro
2GHz Intel Core i7
Lion
I have a 2TB external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme that I use to save all of my files. Both my user profile & my wife's are admin users, however she cannot access the external drive at all. It has a red circle with a white line through it when you look at it on finder & none of the folders are listed to change permissions under her login.
When I go to finder under my login, I have selected Read & Write permission for "everyone", but she still cannot access the drive. When I attempt to add permission for her user profile specifically, I am told "The name you entered isn't valid. Please try again"
Help!

ld3mb wrote:
Thanks everyone. I suppose I'll just reformat for Apple. I need to use it for large files, and I suppose I could survive without editing ablities on Windows.
There's another alternative, format it as exFat, 4G limit does not apply and OSX + Windows will be able to read/write.

MultiSim 9.0.41. Non-admin users unable to launch program without error messages.

I have installed MultiSim 9.0.41 has been installed on four workstations. The PCs reside within a local domain with ten users. The domain resides within the greater university domain, is technically not configured as a true subdomain, but it has access to university domain resources (such as the license server). We have SSO (remote profiles) functionality enabled.
MultiSim runs with without problems for admin users. We start having issues with nonadmin users. I series of pop-up messages appear when the program is launched:
"The Microsoft Jet database engine can not open the file C:\Program Files\Electronics Workbench\EWB9\database\mscomp_s.prd. It is already opened exclusively by another user, or you need permission to view its data."
"The Microsoft Jet database engine can not open the file C:\Program
Files\Electronics Workbench\EWB9\database\CPCOMP_S.PRJ. It is already
opened exclusively by another user, or you need permission to view its
data."
"Error loading library C:\Program
Files\Electronics Workbench\EWB9\PCBComponentEdit.dll, ('998') Invalid access to memory location."
"The Microsoft Jet database engine can not open the file C:\Program
Files\Electronics Workbench\EWB9\database\mscomp_s.prd. It is already
opened exclusively by another user, or you need permission to view its
data. Error Code:3051"
Solutions attempted (without success):
- Update program (no updates found via update manager or NI site)
- Run program as admin
- Give all users full permissions to program files (major security risk)
- Change "Directory for EWB Shared Components" to public shared drive. Interestingly, MultiSim shows the network drive as unwritable (though it clearly is).
Any ideas? Are there updates that fix this issue? Is this solved by the newest version? What do I need to do differently to ensure that user config files are saved in their roaming profiles vs. locally (note: I have already tried to correct the paths during install and post-install without success).
Thanks!
Message Edited by refriend on 05-22-2008 02:26 PM

Hi Refriend,
The error message indicates Multisim is not able to read/write to the database folder. Please have a look at the following knowledge base article for instructions to correct the database problem.
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/B06773CE511C7E588625720B00502B8E
Multisim 9, you need to setup the permission for the database manually but in version 10, this step is not required. As for saving user config file as part of the roaming profile, this option is not available. Multisim will always look in the locale drive for the config file and if one does not exist it will create one for that user and save it locally.
Tien P.
National Instruments

I lost my admin user

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