Installed Yosemite, lost admin privileges

Purchased a "new" (new) Macbook Pro c. 2012 from Best Buy a few days ago (insurance claim, I've been using Macbooks since 2003), default OS X Mavericks, downloaded and installed OS X Yosemite. Download/installation seemed to take a relatively short amount of time, but I soon realized this was with the "may have to restart multiple times" and "install further updates/restart" caveats. Well, I didn't immediately install/restart updates after initially installing Yosemite. Then, spinning wheel of death, manual push-button shut down, and subsequent attempts to restart result in progress bar loading for a few seconds and then entire computer shutting down. Restarted in recover mode, "re-installed" OS X, now computer will boot, but have lost administrator privileges, despite the fact that the few programs I had originally installed still remain and remain functional. It seems that when I "re-installed" from recovery mode, it didn't reinstall at all, but rather, finished the update. Well, now system modifications require a password AND a username, as opposed to only asking for a password. Only, there's not an administrator any longer, the account used to set up the computer in the first place has now been rendered a "standard account." It really would be nice to at least edit the time settings without "reformatting" the entire hard drive. Any advice? TEEYA!

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved, less people are likely to look at it. You can link to this one.

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Lost Admin Privileges

I lost my Admin Privileges and am now a "standard" user. I need to reacquire my Admin status. I tried following the steps under Michael Conniff's "I lost my admin user", but it didn't work. I never got to the OK after putting in 'fsck -fy' Have the instructions changed since they were posted on Jan. 28, '04?

Hi
No, the instructions in kmosx: I lost my admin user have not changed.
I never got to the OK after putting in 'fsck -fy'You did press the return key at the end of that command I assume? If not, just try that. You will need to press return at the end of all the commands listed there.
If you did press return, what output did you see?

Catch 22 on lost admin privileges

After update to a pbookG4 12", both admin users became standard; root user is not enabled. Can't enable root user, because no admin privs to change settings in the Directory Utility. Can't login as root because login is pic only, no "other" for allowing text login. Can't change login format from Accounts pane because that requires Admin privs.
Is there a way, from Terminal or SingleUser, to enable root user? or to escalate a user's privs from Standard to Admin?

hirammm wrote:
Rebooting with Command-s (releasing the keys once text started appearing), I tried the *sudo passwd root*, which gave me some errors; then I looked more closely at the prompt, *root #* and said hmmmm. Used the command *passwd root*, entered the root password I had earlier set from the OS dvd password utility, entered the new password twice (happened to use the same password, no use adding another to my limited memory lobes); typed exit to reboot, and the "Other" user option became available; logged in as root with the password, went to System Preferences/Accounts, and gave the appropriate users Admin privileges, and all seems well, except I may have to suffer through +Dancing with the Stars+.
*Thanks particularly nerowolfe* for the responses. BTW, the spy-hill reference looks to me as though it's based on an earlier OS-X Server, I seem to remember net-info from those days.
Even partial success is good
Yes that article is old, but the reference to the root account being disabled is still valid. And for a good reason.
I think now that you have access to your OS you can start fixing up other things, DWTS, as you jokingly call it.
Usually perseverance pays off. Many people give up way too early and too easily. I congratulate you for sticking to it and proving that problems usually have solutions.

I have installed Yosemite, lost all battery power.

I have installed Yosemite, it works fine on power supply, but shuts down as soon as I unplug as if there is no battery installed at all, can I switch back to Mavericks, that worked fine?

Hi paulgrant777,
It is possible to revert to Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) from Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) if you have a Time Machine backup of your system made before installing Yosemite. See this article -
OS X Yosemite: Revert to a previous OS X version
As your issue is power related, resetting your MacBook Pro's System Management Controller may resolve it -
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Server Crashed and I lost admin privilege.

A bunch of Users were added and I was trying to clean them up. I lost privileges. How to I get thoses permissions back?

Please take these steps to restore administrator privileges to your account. This somewhat tedious procedure is only necessary if you've confirmed that no adminstrator account exists on the system.
If you don't already have a current backup of all your data, you must back up before taking any of the steps below. Ask if you need guidance. You won't need the backup unless something goes wrong—which is always a possibility.
Step 1
Start up in Recovery mode. The OS X Utilities screen will appear.
Step 2
Take this step only if you use FileVault 2. Launch Disk Utility, then select the icon of the FileVault startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) It will be nested below another icon with the same name. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar and enter your login password when prompted. Then quit Disk Utility to be returned to the main screen.
Step 3
Select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. In the window that opens, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window opens. Select your startup volume if not already selected. Pull down the menu labeled
Select the user account
and select
System Administrator (root)
Follow the prompts to set a password. It's safest to choose a password that includes only the characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9. I suggest you write down the password. If you don't write it down and forget it, you'll have to start over from Step 1.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.
Step 4
This step, like Step 2, applies only if you use FileVault. Log in as usual, then select
 ▹ Log Out...
from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-Q. Don't restart. You'll be returned to the login screen.
Step 5
At the login screen, click Other... Enter "root" (without the quotes) in the Name field, and enter the password you set in Step 3 in the Password field. You should now be logged in as root. This is a potentially dangerous condition. Do nothing while logged in as root except as indicated below. You'll be fine as long as you don't deviate from the plan.
Open the Users & Groups preference pane. Select your usual administrator account in the list of users and check the box marked
Allow user to administer this computer
You'll be prompted to restart. Do that and log in as yourself—not as root. Your administrator status should now be restored.
Step 6 (optional, but recommended)
Follow the instructions in this support article under the heading "Disable the root user." You must authenticate in Directory Utility as "root" with the password you set in Step 3. Authenticating as another administrator won't work.
Credit for this idea to ASC member wessongroup.

Installed Yosemite, lost Internet. Says password is invalid. But that is not possible.

I have had only one passwor. I triple checked the password and it is correct.
thank you for any help.

That was a scam, probably an attempt at phishing.
Learn how to identify fraudulent "phishing" email:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4933?viewlocale=en_US
How to report phishing scams to Apple:
via email to: [email protected]

AIR runtime and AIR applications built using Captive Runtime still need Admin Privilege to Install

I am working on a small project to install AIR application(native .exe & .dmg) with AIR runtime without needing the Administrator privilege so I used Captive runtime but the installation is still asking for admin privilege
I bundled AIR application with AIR runtime using Captive runtime from flash builder 4.6, then I packaged this into a .MSI using Advanced Installer. Now when I install it for a user without admin privilege it prompts me for Admin credentials.
Can you please tell me if
1. I need AIR distribution license to install AIR runtime without Admin privilege
2. Do I need a different installer
3. Am I missing any step here
Thank you

If you're installing to a location where Windows requires elevated privileges, like Program Files, you'll need to have admin privileges to continue. Are you using an AIR based native installer or have you taken the application with the captive runtime and rolled this up in your own installer?
Here's a section from the Installation and deployment options in Adobe AIR 3 article that might help:
Installation privileges
When designing an installer, one has the option to choose from approaches that may or may not require administrative privilege. For example, a drag-and-drop install on Mac OS X requires no special privilege; users can always copy the application into their own application folders, for which they have the necessary permissions. On the other hand, if registry keys must be written to the machine-specific portion of the registry on Windows, installation of that application will require administrative privilege to do so.
The two installer formats directly supported by AIR, AIR files and native installers, have always required administrative privilege. This was a design decision made in part to simplify the implementation of the AIR installers: If administrative privilege is assumed to be available, implementation is possible if the registry can be written to, and so on. It was also selected because, in many enterprises, this is the desired behavior: administrators can use the privilege requirement to gate software installation.
All the same, there are scenarios where supporting installation without requiring administrative privileges is desirable, or even necessary. This can now be achieved using custom installers; you simply need to author an installer that operates correctly with only standard user privilege. In practice this can be easy to achieve; a simple install-by-copy to a writable location (that is, in the user's own folder) will suffice. Should you author a more complex installer, you should keep in mind that the addition of certain operations during the install process will in turn reintroduce the requirement for administrative privileges.

Our IT guy installed the new Adobe reader on my machine, but FF isn't picking it up and I don't have admin privileges to install it as a plug-in.

I just need to know how to get FF to "pick up" the new version of Acrobat Reader that is already on my computer. I got a new work computer, and don't have admin privileges to install AR as a plug-in on FF. The new version is fully installed -- just not in FF. I'm running Win7 and FF 18.0.1.
Thanks for the help!

Firefox should find the Adobe Acrobat plugin through a registry scan, which probably runs at startup.
I notice in your "More system details" list you have this, which sounds promising:
Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape 11.0.01
If you check the following tab, is it enabled?
orange Firefox button ''or'' classic Tools menu > Add-ons > Plugins category
If it's enabled, is the problem that Firefox still wants to launch PDFs externally? If so, you might need to change a setting here:
orange Firefox button ''or'' classic Tools menu > Options > Applications
In the search box on that tab, type pdf and pause while the list is filtered. You normally get two or more entries and there are drop-down boxes on the right side to choose how to open them. Does that work?

Installed YOSEMITE. Lost entire iPhoto Library on my iMac. Tried Apple's UPGRADER 6 times. No LUCK. Please help.

Installed YOSEMITE. Lost entire iPhoto Library on my iMac. Tried Apple's UPGRADER 6 times. No LUCK. Please help.

Your iPhoto library is usually kept in your pictures folder. Did you look there? If it is still there then you did lose your photos. Just need to get the iPhoto app at the latest level.

No admin privilege. Cannot install latest version of iTunes

I have no admin privileges for corporate laptop. Cannot install latest version of iTunes. No problem with previous versions. Any ideas?

Hey Roderick136,
If you haven't encountered issues previously, then I would try following the steps in this link:
Issues installing iTunes or QuickTime for Windows
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1926
Let us know if that helped resolve the issue.
Welcome to Apple Support Communities!
All the best,
Delgadoh

Lost Elements when I installed Yosemite on Macbook Pro

I have just installed the new Yosemite OS on both my older iMac desktop (early 2008) and my one month old Macbook Pro. Photoshop Elements 9.0.3 installed along with everything else just fine on the older iMac BUT I lost it entirely during the upload to the nearly new Macbook Pro. How can I get it installed on my Macbook Pro? Both are running Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.

Greetings Mycrazylive – Thank you for the added details. I see you reside in the Netherlands. I suspected that you were a non-USA user.
Both Barbara B.’s and GoletaMum’s advice are good suggestions. Barbara B.’s advice is more intricate, and involves “deleting & trashing” actions. Therefore, I would suggest, first, trying GoletaMum’s, “…re-installing PSE -- and make sure you've updated Yosemite… find PSE 11 and reinstall it, then run the updates… first, make sure your MacOS is up to date.” --- If you are lucky, executing a clean reinstall of the Photoshop Elements 11 application you purchased and downloaded from i-Tunes to your “Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch medio 2012,” back in JAN 2014, after you re-update to “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.1, might resolve your problem.
If GoletaMum’s suggestion does not resolve things for you, consider cautiously and intelligently proceeding with implementing the technical procedural details of “Adobe top contributor…MEMBER SINCE: August 16, 2002…Adobe Community Professional” Barbara B.’s “Resolution-Fix.”
It is not clear to me what is going on between your MacBook Pro computer & Apple Central’s “Gatekeepers,” with regard to “After startup…asks to sign up with my Apple ID…then…gives the error message: YOUR DEVICE OR COMPUTER COULD NOT BE VERIFIED.”
Did you install “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.0, first, and then do an install of the “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.1 update, after which your problems with PSE 11 began to appear or did you go from some other Pre-(???) “Yosemite” [???...Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks???] OS X (where PSE 11 functioned), and then upgrade straight to “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.1 from there, rather than upgrading to and then from a “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.0 install?
FYI: I am running the PSE 11 Application on a 15.3-Inch MacBook Pro “Retina” (2013) at “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.1, and no longer have any problems with PSE 11.
Read my prior posts on this thread for the background on the “Trackpad Glitch In PSE 11,” which installation of “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.0 caused to happen to PSE Elements 11 running on my MacBook Pro. I was running PSE 11 with the latest “Mavericks” OS X version update before updating to the baseline, initial “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.0, after which my “Trackpad, et.al. ‘Glitches’ with PSE 11” commenced. Installation of the “Yosemite” OS X version 10.10.1 update resolved my “Trackpad Glitch In PSE 11.”

HT1926 I'm attempting to reinstall ITunes because of a runtime error (R6034) when I start it. At end of install it says 'Apple Mobile Device' failed to start. I verified that I have admin privileges. Can anyone help?

I'm attempting to reinstall ITunes because of a runtime error (R6034) when I start it. At end of install it says 'Apple Mobile Device' failed to start. I verified that I have admin privileges. Can anyone help?

Go to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs (Win XP) or Programs and Features (later)
Remove all of these items in the following order:
iTunes
Apple Software Update
Apple Mobile Device Support (if this won't uninstall move on to the next item)
Bonjour
Apple Application Support
Reboot, download iTunes, then reinstall, either using an account with administrative rights, or right-clicking the downloaded installer and selecting Run as Administrator.
The uninstall and reinstall process will preserve your iTunes library and settings, but ideally you would back up the library and your other important personal documents and data on a regular basis. See this user tip for a suggested technique.
Please note:
Some users may need to follow all the steps in whichever of the following support documents applies to their system. These include some additional manual file and folder deletions not mentioned above.
HT1925: Removing and Reinstalling iTunes for Windows XP
HT1923: Removing and reinstalling iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
tt2

Admin privileges required to install TurboCad

I am trying to install TurboCAD ver.3 on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. In am getting the erroe message, "This installer requires admin privileges to run."
I have seen a lot of discussion on this in Snow Leopard and I tried everything that was suggested, including changing the TRUE to FALSE in Install Script.
When I try to change it, I get the message that "This Script couldn't be unlocked because it resides on the locked disk TuboCAD Pro............ect."
Anybody know how to unlock that so I can edit the script?

Using Mac 10.7.5 I have had the same problem, but the fix described didn't work. The solution below worked for me so I thought this thread would be a good place to share it.
1) Show package contents of the TurboCAD installer app (right click on it in Finder).
2) Copy the folder Contents/Resources/Installer Items/TurboCAD Mac Pro v3.0 from the installer into the Applications folder on the mac.
3) Run the following in terminal:
sudo mkdir /usr/local
sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib
sudo cp /Applications/"TurboCAD Mac Pro v3.0"/Temp/libxerces-c.dylib /usr/local/lib/libxerces-c.dylib
sudo cp /Applications/"TurboCAD Mac Pro v3.0"/Temp/libxerces-c.dylib /usr/local/lib/libxerces-c.27.dylib
4) Run the application by clicking TurboCAD Mac Pro.app from within the TurboCAD folder in the Applications folder. Enter registration information as normal.

I'm the admin and yet it says I need admin privileges to install games?

In fact, there are no other users on this brand spanking new laptop and it says admin under my name?!?!
And yet whenever I try to install games from the Apple downloads section, it simply said I need admin privileges to install the software...
Is it a Snow Leopard issue or a MacBook issue? I wasn't sure, so I posted it here.
Please help.

I'm having the same problem with Diner Dash. It doesn't even give you the prompt to give the password. All it says is "This installer needs admin privileges to download." And the only button it gives you is quit. I've tried a bunch of different things from deleting the guest account to taking the password off my computer, nothing is working.
I also set everyone to read & write under applications, I even added myself and an admin user since, in the beginning, it didn't have them and it's still not working. It has system, wheel, and everyone. I even checked out the Read me that comes with the disk, wondering if there was this problem known before and the section "Known Problems" says None under it, which doesn't help. I opened up the file inside the installer too and tried working with terminal, nothing is working.
Message was edited by: KContagious

Why does App Manager think I need Admin privileges to install updates?

I'm a Creative Cloud subscriber, and when I open apps (such as Muse) I get a message to install upgrades (or not). If I ask to install, I'm asked for login and password info, which is then refused and I get an error message that I need Admin privileges. So the install fails.
I can log in to this site using my login and password, so that's not the problem. I can also open the application (without the upgrades) but these are listed as being time-sensitive: only available until, for example, June 14. But there's no way for me to install these new releases. HELP!!!

It's down to where the updates are writing their files / registry keys. For example, installing/updating the Flash Player runtime has always required admin access as the file lives within the operating system folder tree (on Windows it's in system32/Macromed). Registry-wise, Adobe places keys in HKCU and HKLM - the latter is read-only for normal users.
If you're managing a network with enterprise-licensed software, there are tools for Creative Cloud that permit an IT manager to build offline deployment packs for the base installers and updates. If your users have retail copies of CC, that isn't an option and everything has to be managed on a per-machine basis.

Installed Yosemite, lost admin privileges

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