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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Log-in problem via Password/s

Thom Mckeown - May 10, 2008 - 10:53 am

I've installed Mac OSX 5 (Leopard) on my G4 but have hit a seemingly insurmountable problem at log-in. When asked for my name and password no matter what I do I can't get past this. I've held down the option key, then went into Installation disc mode, dragged down menu to Utilities and changed the name and password but when restarting it makes no difference, it won't recognise it.

I know there's something to do with System Administrator (root) and I believe in principle it's possible to go into System Preferences in the hard drive to change this name and password - but in practice as I've still not logged in to the hard drive there's no way I can access this! It's a vicious circle.

All I need to know is how do I get logged-in as I seemingly can't change both names and passwords (if indeed I need to change both the user and the 'root' ones) or is there some magical way of bypassing all this security hassle to get on to doing some work on the G4?!

Your help and practical advice would be so welcome thank you.

Thom Mckeown

DeltaMac - May 10, 2008 - 11:57 am

There's a variety of sources for your problem, and much of that relates to problems with Leopard upgrade configuring an existing user account incorrectly. There's several different possible fixes, and here's a good article that can help you out:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307005
Please work your way, step by step, through the solutions. Hopefully, yo won't need all the fixes.
Your old account has probably reverted to a standard user, and could have been avoided by doing an Archive & Install option (but, you didn't know that ahead of time). It's one of the main reasons that I always recommend the Archive & Install option for Leopard upgrades, and not the default upgrade.
Don't guess what you should do next - follow the steps carefully in the article. One of the steps will help....
- Dale