B. Reset Admin/Standard user password in OS X 10.6, 10.5 and 10.4

Mac OS X 10.6 and earlier did not come with Recovery partition so you will need to use the installation Disk to boot Mac from installation Media and then get to the terminal just like in recovery mode to reset password.But there are other simple methods to reset password that does not require an Installation Disk.

This is the article taken from http://bookingtohosting..com/2015/07/reset-apple-mac-os-x-root-or-admin.html follow this post to read all the steps in details.

This only works for Apple OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.


1: Reboot the computer and hold the command and S keys down to enter single user mode.

You will need a wired/built in keyboard, a PC one will work, the Windows key is the commnad key.
(if a lock appears and a password request, there is a firmware password, you have to know it or take it to Apple to fix it)



2: When you get control, type fsck -fy and press enter, it will take a bit to finish

3: Next type mount -uw / (there is a space before and after -uw) this mounts the drive



4: Next type ls /Users this will list the Users on the machine so you can get the name of the user whom you want to reset the password for.

5: Next type passwd username (where username is the name of the account for example to reset password of user "anuj" type passwd anuj)

6: Enter the new password twice, you won't see anything.

7: Then type command "Exit" or "Reboot" and hit enter to restart the Mac.

8. After you restart and login you will be getting a message related to Keychain so you could create a new key chain here.

To fix Keychain password related issues follow these links. https://support.apple.com/kb/ts1544 and https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1631





Reset Apple OS X 10.5 Leopard & 10.6 Snow Leopard password

Reset forgotten Password in Apple OS X 10.5 and OS X 10.6
Power on or restart your Mac.
At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.
This step is optional, but it’s a good idea because it checks the consistency of the hard disk before moving on. At the prompt, type fsck -fy and press Enter/Return. Wait for the checks to complete before going to the next step.
Type mount -uw / and press Enter.
Type launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist [/b]and press Enter.

Type ls /Users and press Enter. This lists all of the usernames on the computer – helpful if you don’t know or remember what these are.
Type [b]dscl . -passwd /Users/username password and replace “username” with one of the users displayed in the previous step. Replace “password” with a new password of your choice. Press Enter.
Type reboot and press Enter.

If you get this error message, you may ignore it:
launchctl: Couldn’t stat
(“/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServicesLocal.plist”):
No such file or directory nothing found to load

Reset 10.4 Tiger password

Reset forgotten Password in Apple OS X 10.4
Power on or restart your Mac.
At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.
Type sh /etc/rc and press Enter/Return.
Type passwd username and replace “username” with the short name of the user account for which you’d like to reset the password.
Type your desired password and press Enter. It won’t show itself on the screen, so be careful what you type. You will most likely have to enter it again to confirm.
Type reboot and press Enter.