How to Reset a Mac OS X System Administrator (root) Password

Warning: Unless deliberately changed, your keychain password is bound to your original administrator password. This originally provided single sign-on capabilities. Using the following method to reset your administrator password will require you to perform additional steps to also reset your keychain password. Please be advised that this may mean deleting any keychain protected with your original administrator password. For more information on resetting your keychain password, please refer to the FAQ entitled How do I reset a Mac OS X Keychain Password?

Warning: Utilizing this method to reset your password could potentially disable your automatic login capability. Please review the FAQ entitled How do I re-enable Mac OS X Automatic Login Following a Password Reset? for information on how to re-enable automatic login.

Required: Mac OS X Install Disk 1 (A reset CD/Boot Disk may also be used). It is important to use an install CD with a version that matches or is very close to your current OS revision.

1. If enabled, please disable firmware password protection. This is disabled by default. For instructions on how to disable firmware password protection, please refer to the FAQ entitled How do I disable Mac OS X Firmware Password Protection?
2. Turn on your Mac.
3. Load the Mac OS X Install Disk 1 into your CD/DVD drive.
4. Restart your Mac. When the startup bell (or custom sound) chimes, hold down the "C" key. The "C" key will prompt your Mac to boot from CD/DVD. Please be patient as it may take your machine a bit longer to boot.
5. Step 2 will load the Macintosh OS X install process. The following step depends upon the version of Mac OS X utilized.
   1. For Mac OS X Pre-10.4, please navigate to the Installer menu and select the Reset Password option.
   2. For Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or higher, please navigate to the Utilities menu and select the Reset Password option.
6. This will launch a Reset Password window. This utility will prompt your to select disk/volume and user. Please answer the requests as follows:
   1. Select the Macintosh OS X disk which contains a password to reset: Click to highlight the icon entitled Macintosh HD.
   2. Select a user of this volume to reset their password: From the pull-down menu, please select System Administrator (root).
   3. Enter the new password for this user: Please enter your new password.
   4. Reenter the new password for this user: Please reenter the password you entered in the previous step.
   5. Enter a new password hint for this user (optional): If you so choose, please enter a password hint that only you can decipher. You should not enter your password here.
   6. Click Save. This will commit your changes and close the Reset Password window.
   7. Restart your machine and eject the Mac OS X Install Disk.