Reset password admin- no disk

Can anyone help me with resetting the admin. password? I was told by the MAC specialist that there are certain commands that can reset the password manually. The reason he could not tell me this information is because they want me to buy the disc. He said that buying the disc for this one time issue would be crazy. I acquired my MAC through my cousin who had recently bought a new MAC. He gave me his computer as a alternative to the Windows-based PC. I like so far , but I can't download anything on it because my cousin forgot the password and he gave my the computer, the keyboard, the mouse, and it's cords...lol!!! Can someone help me please??? And thank you in advance.

Reference Ted Landau's "Help Line" Tiger Edition"
TAKE NOTE > Forget Your Password
If you're not an administrative user, get an administrative user to log in; he or she can reset your password via the Password pane in the Accounts System Preferences pane.
If you are an administrative user and there's more than one admin account,get the other administrative user to log in; he or she can reset your password via the Password pane in the Accounts System Preferences pane. Just dick the Reset Password button.
Note:This will not work if you are the initial administrative user to create an account;other administrative users cannot change the password on this account. In this case, you should start up from the Mac OS X Install disc and use the Reset Password utility (as noted later in this list).
After three failed attempts to log in (and after failing again with the password hint, if you set a hint), and if you previously set a master password in the Security System Preferences pane, you will be given an opportunity to enter your master password. If you do so, you will reset
the password for that account (and unlock FileVault if it was enabled).
Note;This does not change the password for the account's original login keychain (which is usually the same as the account password).lnstead,a new login keychain is created; the original login keychain is saved (in the Ubrary/Keychains folder of the account's home directory). If you later want to access the old keychain and the password information it contains, you will still need the old password.
If you're the only administrative user, or you are unable to get the other methods to work for any reason, start up from a Mac OS X Install disc (by inserting the disc, restarting,and then holding down the C key),and access the Reset Password utility (as described more in Chapter 3). Locate the name of the account you want to fix and reset its password. Note:You cannot start up from the disc if Open Firmware password protection has been enabled. If this is the case, you will first need to turn off this protection (as discussed earlier
in this chapter).
Note: After resetting a password, if you previously enabied "automatic login,"it may no longer be enabled.To fix this,simpiy log in and go to the Login Options of the Accounts System Preferences pane to re-enable it.
You can also reset forgotten passwords from Terminal-even the root user password_as long as you know your administrator password. For example, to reset the password for the root user, type sudo passwd root. Provide your administrator's password when asked. You will then be prompted to enter a new password forthe root user.
Note: Doing this will enable root access, even if you have not previously enabled it in
Netlnfo Manager.
If you forgot your master password, you can reset it, but only if FileVault is not turned on for the logged-in aCCOunt.To do so, launch Terminal and type sudo nn/Li brary/Keychains/ Fi leVault*. Enter your administrative password when asked. The FileVault files are now deleted. You can also delete these files from any admin-level account by authenticating using your account password. In either case, the master password will now be cleared and you will have the option to create a new one (via the Security System Preferences pane) without having to know the old one.
TAKE NOTE'" Forgot Your Password? Continued
Note: If you use this procedure to create a new master password, existing user passwords are not automatically stored with the new master password. Thus, the ability to change a forgotten password via the master password option in the Hints window (as described above) win not work. To get this working again, log in to each user's account with his or her current password and change that password to a different password (or use an admin-level account to change each user's account via Accounts preferences-just be sure to give users their new passwords!).This stores the new passwords with the new master password.
Warning! If you forget both the master password and the login password for an account that is currently FileVault-encrypted, there is no way to log in to your account! Period. You can't even use the Mac as x Install disc's Reset Password command to change the password on a FileVault-encrypted account, as this procedure doesn't change the password on the FileVault disk image. This is a good reason to always have a second admin-!evel user account just for troubleshooting.
Hope this helps you decide what you can and can't do.

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    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
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  • Resetting the Admin password in single user mode

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    Message was edited by: CartooNxHerO

    CartooNxHerO wrote:
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    Message was edited by: CartooNxHerO
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  • HT1338 how to reset my admin password on lion 10.7.3 ?

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