Login password not accepted/user accounts not listed

I woke my laptop from sleep today and it didnt accept my password. I tried several times and it just wouldnt work anymore.
I restarted the computer and my account wasnt even in the list as an option to login to. So I logged into root and I was able to see all my folders and files intact under my user folder.
I thought I should just reinstall the system software, so after doing that, NO USERS were available to login to. I had to reset my root password by starting up via the Tiger installation disc.
Now I am able to see all my folders again, but I just cant login! I opened the Accounts preference pane and the only account listed is root. I am afraid to add my old account, as it may re-write over the existing one.
Can soneone PLEASE explain what the **** happened? And how can I fix such a mess? This is seriously screwed up here.

I'm seeing a lot of posts like this one - it seems "Tiger" is much more prone to corruption of the "NetInfo" database (where entries for user accounts among other things are stored) than "Panther" ever was, although I can't imagine why that would be...
You didn't mention what type of reinstallation you performed but if the option to preserve user and network settings was selected, then it is likely that the "NetInfo" database is still corrupt (if that was the original problem). If that is the case, then recreating the account might not be the best idea at this time. Under normal circumstances however, when recreating an account with the same shortname as a previously deleted account for which a user folder still exists, the user will be presented with the option to use the existing folder so there should be no data loss. However, it is generally considered prudent to back up data if its loss is a concern.
The output of this command, entered using "/Applications" > "Utilities" > "Terminal.app" might be informative if there is something grossly wrong with the user records in the "NetInfo" database:<pre>nidump passwd /</pre>Note that the output consists of user records (one per line), each consisting of several colon (:) delimited fields. If the second field for any user consists of anything other than "*" or "******", don't post those seemingly random characters because they could potentially be used to determine the password for that account - just substitute "x"s or something instead. I mention this because a 1.25 GHz PowerBook (as listed in your profile) may have shipped with Jaguar, which used the older, less secure method for storing passwords which might still be in use by some accounts if the computer was upgraded.
Otherwise, you may want to skip all that and just go ahead and reset the "NetInfo" database to defaults (wiping out user records, etc. but not user data), though it will be 10.4 defaults, not 10.2 defaults...

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New Imac. I get rid off login password from security and account and restart. Now it asks for username and password and it's not acepting anything. Any ideas?

New Imac. I get rid off login password from security and accounts and restart. Now it asks for username and password and it's not acepting anything. Any ideas?

First, reset your password as follows.
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar.
In the Terminal window, type this:
resetpassword
That's one word with no spaces. Then press return. A Reset Password window opens.
Select your boot volume if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Follow the prompts to reset the password. It's safest to choose a password that includes only the characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9.
Select  ▹ Restart from the menu bar.
You should now be able to log in with the new password, but you won't be able to unlock the Keychain. If you've forgotten the Keychain password (which is ordinarily the same as your login password), there's no way to recover it. You’ll need to reset your keychain in the preferences of the Keychain Access application.
If you're being prompted to authenticate when making changes to files inside your home folder, continue as follows.
Back up all data now.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:20 ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ 2> /dev/null
Be sure to select the whole line by triple-clicking anywhere in it. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar. A text window opens.
In the Terminal window, type this:
resetpassword
That's one word with no spaces. Then press return. A Reset Password window opens. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select  ▹ Restart from the menu bar.

How to force password policy requirements on password resets for user accounts reset by the Administrator?

OS: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
Domain Level: 2008
Forest Level: 2000
We have Domain Administrators in our domain that reset passwords for user accounts, and the passwords the Administrators set them to are not being enforced follow our default domain password policy. For example, I log on the domain controller, as an administrator
and can reset a password for a user account to be blank.
Is there a reason Domain Administrator password resets for user accounts are not enforced by our default domain password policy? Is there a way to enforce this on password resets by Domain Admins?

Do you have fine grant password policy? If not ; by default all the usrs are effected by domain level password policy even domain admins,
Regards~Biswajit
Disclaimer: This posting is provided & with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.
MCP 2003,MCSA 2003, MCSA:M 2003, CCNA, MCTS, Enterprise Admin
MY BLOG
Domain Controllers inventory-Quest Powershell
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Password Problems with User Account

I have attempted several times to use my admin account to set up a user account on my G4 desktop. I can always manage to set up the user and password, but whenever I log in as the new user, the password doesn't work. I've tried this several times using different user names and different passwords, but no luck. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
G4 Tower Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I was having a similar problem to yours. Running 10.4.6 on an old PowerBook G4 Titanium 400Mhz, and when I tried to create a new regular user account last week, the login window wouldn't accept my new password for the user account, even though I'd just created it. It just shook/shuddered to indicate typing the wrong password, even though I knew I was typing it right!
I tried lots of troubleshooting steps to no avail. Downloaded and installed the newest 10.4.8 full updater. Ran disk utility to repair permissions, and checked the disk for problems. Still no go on logging into the new regular user account. Deleted and recreated the account a few times with no luck.
Then I went into the security control panel and set a new "Master Password" for my computer. When I created a new account, and then tried to log in, it rejected the password, but after typing the "right" password four times, the computer gave me an opportunity to type the Master Password, and then "reset" the new user's password, after which it logged in just fine!
I definitely recommend trying this procedure before going through a whole reinstall process for the operating system!
-Nate

Remove password from main user account on os x 10.8

How do i remove password from main user account on os x 10.8
Thank you
John

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1274

Can not get to Login Screen. Possible User Account or .plist Corruption?

I was helping a client who is upgrading both her desktop and a laptop machine. She had already started the process and she had used the migration tool to move her user account from her old G4 to both her new Mac Pro and MacBook pro. So basically both new machines were now clones of the old G4 which was running Tiger.
Everything was going well and we were busy doing some other stuff when I suggested to her that she should set up a secondary user account on each machine. This is something I suggest to users, because I have seen user accounts get corrupted, and if that account is the ONLY account on the machine, you are not going to be able to do anything on that machine (easily). At least with teh other account, you can log in and see the drive, etc.
So she set up a new user and also enabled fast user switching and I was about to show her how the whole user switching works, but when we choose to log out of her current account, the Mac went to blue screen and just got hung up. After much waiting we had to force a hard shut down. Upon restart we see the Apple logo and then go to the blue screen, but we never reach the login screen.
I wrote this off as a fluke, but also told her that I am not to comfortable with that and decided to completely wipe the drive and do a fresh install of everything and not use the migration assistant. All is well with that machine now.
So we moved on to the Mac Book Pro and we repeated the same addition of a user and upon logout it did the exact same thing. So by now I am sure that something in the library form the old G4 must be corrupt, because both of these machines were basically clones of that one. So we are probably going to do the same thing to this one too, but I was wondering if I could learn something from this.
Assuming that some .plist is corrupted, ( probably the com.apple.loginwindow.plist) I was thinking I could access the drive through target mode, find that. plist and delete it. But then that made me think, if I were to delete it, what would the Mac do at startup if it sees no .plist of the login screen or user accounts?
Also, is there a way to alter the login options through single user mode. So for example I am quite sure that it is the .plist for the log-in options that is corrupted. So if I could change the login option to automatically log into her account, thus bypassing the login screen, I think we can bypass this issue for now.
Thanks.

First you don't delete the suspect .plist, you move or rename it. Deletion is down the road a piece
Second, when the system boots, it recreates any missing .plist files, presuming nothing else is wrong.
Many, including myself, have dragged the entire Preferences directory onto the desktop and rebooted without a problem.

My login widow shows both user account and system administrator account . how do i not show the root account on my MBP i have upgraded to mountain lion

my log in window shows btoh my user account and the system administrator (root) acount. how do i not show the system accout on the log in window?

I think you need to disable the root user assuming you have it enabled.
Navigate thus;
/Applications/Utilities/Directory Utility
...and then.....
Edit>Disable Root User

Can't Login to Newly Created User Accounts

I have 4 user accounts on my G4 quicksilver running 10.4.11. Recently I tried to create a new account and found that once created (with a password) I can't log in to it - the login window shakes when I enter the password as if it was incorrect. The same holds true even if I don't set a password to a new accoun - it simply will not log in. I've tried repairing disk permissions and the same in Safe mode. I ran my brand new TechTool Pro 5, but that doesn't find any problems. Also repaired the keychain for each of the 4 useable accounts. But whatever I do, I can't create a new account and get it to log in.
Now completely stumped, so any ideas welcome.

The login passwords are in the netinfo database. I am not sure what is going on. You can rebuild the netinfo database but with multiple IDs it gets difficult. You have to recreate the user IDs and the same order as you had them before then you have to adjust where the data is.
another approach... You could try changing the password from the command line.
you need to be log on from an administrator account.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
# To find out the users on the system type, use the list command. The l is a lower case L:
ls /Users
# Pick one of the users which I'll call a-user-name and type it in this command:
sudo passwd a-user-name
Enter your administrator account password. It will not appear. Press enter when done.
# and enter the new user password. You need six characters.
# You will need to enter your password twice. Your typing will not show up on the screen just
# press enter when you complete the typing.
# For cryptic information on these commands try:
man ls
man passwd

How to change a users login password via single user mode, plus multiple issues?

So, there is much to this Thread.
(First Issue)
A lil back ground, i'm working on a MacBook Pro 3,1 running OS X Tiger 10.4.(something, no idea), the The user has forgotten their account password. Now before you tell me to just change it through the Root Admin account, that account seems to have its own issues, the accounts do not show up in the system preferences, therefore not allowing me to change that users account password.
(Second Issue)
Once I'm able to login into the users account, is there any way to disable / erase / eradicate the key chain system?
(Third Issue)
All of a sudden the MacBook has lost all audio capability, both in the built in speakers and through the headphone jack.
i'm open to any ideas, its currently 10:14am the user is wanting this to be done by 2:45pm please help i'm desperate and i don't want to be defeated by a Mac

It's possible some of these things are related. I'd first do a basic verification of the computer's system.
First, if at all possible make a backup of the drive in its present configuration. If something goes wrong during repair attempts and makes things worse you will have a backup. You will have to decide how to work this in the light of any present backups you may have, for example, a backup that may be a few days out of date. In that case you may want to keep that one and make a second backup of this as they are now, though I realize people often don't have a lot of empty drives sitting around.
Boot from the System installer disc that came with your computer or is the one for the version you currently have on there, select language if applicable, choose utilities, run Disk Utility and verify (and repair if necessary) the drive. You can verify a drive from DU on your main drive while booted but I have found this can result in incorrect reporting of errors. To repair your drive you have to run it from a drive other than the boot drive anyway.
Next, boot from your drive in [Safe Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393] and repair permissions. You can repair permissions while booted from the installer disc but this uses the permissions configuration on the installer disc which may be out of date if you have run any updates on your computer. Booting your computer to Safe Mode restricts the number of things running on your computer while permissions are being run and does a bit of spring cleaning at the same time.
[Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214]
[Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672]
[Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751]
From BDaqua (couldn't have said it better):
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer (Edit: Do not use this disc if it is not the same general version as what you have currently on your computer, e.g. use a Tiger disc for a Tiger drive, not a Panther disc), then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes."

I have two libraries on the same computer but different logins, there is my user account for the computer and then there is my grandma's, how do i get my music without having to resync on both libraries?

this computer has two logins, my grandma's (which is the administrator) and mine, itunes is on both logins but on my login i have some music there and hers i have my other music.. i want to be able to redownload my music on my ipod touch with out having to resync back and forth between libraries.. how do i combine the libraries because if i go with one or the other i lose my music i have purchased, on both libaries the music belongs to me not my grandma,
Also, a few weeks ago, I loaned the IPOD to somebody and they told me that evidently the IPOD had been hacked and that it had lost all the music. When I got it back, I re-synced it and got some of the music back. After talking to other people, I now suspect that my "friend" tried to do something he wasn't suppose to to and the IPOD shut down or that he was trying to create an Apple ID of his own without paying for it. Now that I have it back, I just want to get the music back that I paid for that is already associated with my ID and that is in my two libraries. I can see them in there (on the computer), I just can't access them to download them on the IPOD. Can you help?

There are actually a few methods for using more than one iPod on a single computer: How To Use Multiple iPods with One Computer
Just to summarise what's in the link above:
Method one is to have two Mac or Windows user accounts which by definition would give you two completely separate libraries.
Method two is to set your preferences so that either one or both iPods get updated with only certain playlists within one library. If you've had no success with this you can have a look through the guide on this page: Loading songs onto iPod automatically
Another option when using a single library is to set one or both of the iPods to manual update: Managing content manually on iPod
You can read about Windows user accounts here: Using Windows XP User Accounts

Login.keychain and mobile user accounts

After removing a corrupt login.keychain file in a mobile user account, the user could no longer log in to their account when off site. What account login information is kept in the keychain file of a mobile account?

I don't have problems syncing other files that are also system packages, like iPhoto ones... although I have a terrible suspicion that again the sync agent only sees a single file, not a bundle.
I assume that the OS doesn't have any problem with packages since they are used pretty much elsewhere and they are basically a folder with a specific file inside that "forces" the OS to show us as a single file, instead of letting us see directly the content.
Even the new disk image format that Apple recommends to be used in order to speed up Time Machine backups (.sparcebundle) is based in package (or bundles, whatever you prefer to call them)
The main issue here might be the folder structure inside.
If you do a "show package content" and, for instance, check the thumbnails folder, I can easily see some chars that might create some confusion if not properly escaped during the sync, like on this example:
My Aperture.aplibrary/Thumbnails/%pARYo%fT52I77jmdf8mqQ/AP.Thumbnails
(Those "%" are so prone to errors if not properly handled)
Time Machine doesn't have any problem with both packages and those chars, so I truly hope that they use TM tech and improve the way that the syncing agent work.
Anyways, Aperture seemed a nice app.
I'm really sad that I can't use it because of this... specially when I'm considering getting a new digital camera.
I understand that it was recently released so let's hope that Apple can figure out what's happening and release an update (to either Aperture or Mac OS X Server) in the next few months.
Take care.
Pedro Fardilha

MARS 5.3 - Locate who/what is applying password reset on users account

A users account within the AD is repeatedly being set to change password at next logon. How can I search for the cause in MARS or is this type of event not logged?

For this example, username is BOB. open up notepad and type:
642Security
Where is the tab key. If you use a space, this won't work. Now ctrl-a to select all and ctrl-c to copy.
Now create a query.
query type = events ranked by time
time range = whenever you think this happened
keyword = AND BOB
submit.

Correct login password not being accepted

my son is using my old macbook pro 13-inch and he went to login using the correct security info but keeps getting denied. and clicking the question mark only leads to the computer recommending the very same password that he is using with no other options to request a change password option. the computer may still be running mountain lion, though possibly mavericks. definitely not yosemite. any help would be appreciated as i'm trying to solve this problem with him long distance. thanks!

Five way to reset a lost administrator Password:
http://tidbits.com/article/14437

Time Machine restore on new Hard Drive and now my login password not working

I just had a new hard drive installed and they put in a clean version of 10.6.
I got home and used my TIme Machine to restore from my other computer. It finished, but now I am locked out, bacause its not accepting my password. I know its my password, the hint is the same as I have always had. It just won't work,
Since the repair place installed the software, I don't have any other disks to boot from. Does anyone know a way to fix this or reset the computer again? I don't care if the files are lost, I can copy them over later. I just need to get past the login screen. Thanks!!

Do you have any OS disks you can boot from? If so, boot from the disk, look in Utilities, and see if there is a reset password option.

FTP login & password not saved

Under "manage sites" /remote, the box is checked to "save" my
site FTP login and password, but after I shut down Dreamweaver 8
and later come back to edit & put a page, I get a login error.
Turns out the login and password are not saved. When I re-enter
these two fields, I can put the page up on the site. I never had
this problem in my last version (Dreamweaver 3). Please help!! I'm
on the very disappointing Windows Vista OS. This problem happens
with multiple sites on multiple host servers, so it's not a single
site problem.

Download the 8.0.2 upgrade
Jo
"casagozo" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:es5ogn$1l2$[email protected]..
> Under "manage sites" /remote, the box is checked to
"save" my site FTP
> login
> and password, but after I shut down Dreamweaver 8 and
later come back to
> edit &
> put a page, I get a login error. Turns out the login and
password are not
> saved. When I re-enter these two fields, I can put the
page up on the
> site. I
> never had this problem in my last version (Dreamweaver
3). Please help!!
> I'm on
> the very disappointing Windows Vista OS. This problem
happens with
> multiple
> sites on multiple host servers, so it's not a single
site problem.
>

Login password not accepted/user accounts not listed

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