Time to restore Mac to factory settings but not been able to recall the password? It is one of the common technical woes, when users ponder “how do I restore my Mac when I have forgotten my password?” If you are also one such user who has forgotten the password and is thinking that now it’s impossible to restore Mac to factory settings, then you are absolutely wrong. This article will help you in learning how to reboot a computer back to factory settings without using a Mac password.
If you have forgotten the Mac password then also you are not out of luck. You just require resetting the forgotten password, and you can do that in several ways. This article explains two best methods of resetting the forgotten Mac password so that your Mac system can reboot directly to the factory settings.
Two Methods to Reset the Forgotten Mac Password
Method1. Resetting Lost Mac Passwords with Apple ID
If you are running the new versions of OS X such as Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, and Lion, resetting the Mac password using the Apple ID is the quite simple for you. The only requirements for you are:
• Your Apple ID linked to a Mac account
• You should have the Internet access so that your Mac system can contact Apple to start the system reset process.
If you confirm to these requirements then perform the following steps to reset the password:
• Go to the Mac login or boot screen
• Enter any wrong password for three times
• The screen will pop-up the “Password Hint” box and prompts the “If you forgot your password you could reset it using your Apple ID” message.
• To start the Apple ID based reset, click on (>) arrow icon
• Enter the Apple ID credentials (you need to use the same Apple ID that you utilize in your App Store, iCloud, and iTunes)
• Click “Reset Password”
• Type –in the new password and confirm it
• Now, allow your Mac to boot as usual
It is the fastest and simplest method to reset your forgotten Mac password. But if you don’t have an Apple ID linked to your Mac account or you don’t have Internet connection, then try out the next method.
Method2. Reset Mac Password Without a CD or Boot Drive
If you have forgotten your Mac password and thinking about how to restore your Mac to factory settings, then use this second method of password resetting. Once you’re able to complete the password reset process, you can easily restore Mac to factory settings.
In the second method, you don’t require Apple ID or an Internet connection. You must be guessing that this method will require a CD or Boot Drive. But the second method will let you reset the forgotten Mac password without a boot drive or Mac OS X installer CD/DVD. To use the second method of resetting, perform the following steps:
• Hold down the ‘Command +S’ keys to restart the Mac
• It will boot your Mac into ‘Single User’ Mode, and will open its Terminal interface
• First, check the ‘filesystem,’ mount the root drive as writable, and then save the changes
• Type the following command and the hit the ‘Enter’ key:
“rm /var/db/.applesetupdone”
• The command will remove the ‘applesetupdone’ file
• Next, in the command box type ‘reboots’ and hit EnterOnce the Mac reboots, you will see the traditional “Welcome Wizard” startup screen
• Follow the “Welcome Wizard” steps to create a new user account
• . The new account will have an account name different from the previous account, whose password you want to recover
• Follow the wizard steps and using the newly created user account boot into Mac OS X
• The newly created user account is an ‘Administrator’ account, thus, has the administrative access
• Using the administrative abilities, you can easily reset the password for any user account on your Mac system.
The trick of the second method is that it commands the Mac to delete the ‘.applesetupdone’ file. As a result of that the setup wizard re-runs and by default a new user account with administrative abilities gets created. Once you have the administrative rights, you can reset your forgotten Mac password.
Wrap Up
Using any of the two methods you can reset your forgotten Mac password and can begin the procedure to restore Mac to factory settings. In the first method, you can utilize the Apple ID that you use for App Store and iTunes purchases. In the second method, you will use a hack of sorts. This method does not require using the Mac OS X recovery drive or CD and is completely effective and guaranteed.
