The password of your macOS user account is also known as your login password. It's the password that you use to log in to your Mac and make certain changes, such as installing software.
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If you can't remember the password you are out of luck and if you provide your Credit Card to one of those online hackers who claim their software can crack the password, then I also wish you good luck with that. To reveal the password, double-click the entry to open it, and then click the “Show password” checkbox, followed by supplying your Mac’s account password when prompted. Alternatively, as with the Safari password list, you can right-click the entry and choose the option to copy the password to the clipboard (or press Shift-Command-C),.
Change your password
Can't Remember Password For Mac Computer
If you know your password and can use it to log in to your account, you can change your password in Users & Groups preferences:
- Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Users & Groups.
- Select your user name from the list of users.
- Click the Change Password button, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Reset your password
If you don't remember your password, or it isn't working, you might be able to reset it using one of the methods described below. But first, try these simpler solutions:
- Make sure that you're typing the correct uppercase or lowercase characters. If your keyboard has Caps Lock turned on, the password field shows a Caps Lock symbol .
- If the password field shows a question mark, click it to display a password hint that might help you to remember.
- Try to log in without a password. If that works, you can then add a password by following the steps to change your password.
- Try to log in with the Apple ID password that you use for iCloud. If you just changed that password and the new password isn't working, try the old password first. If that works, you should be able to use the new password from then on.
Reset using your Apple ID
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In some macOS versions, you can use your Apple ID to reset your login password. At the login screen, keep entering a password until you see a message saying that you can reset your password using Apple ID. If you don't see the message after three attempts, your account isn't set up to allow resetting with Apple ID.
- Click next to the Apple ID message, then follow the onscreen instructions to enter your Apple ID and create a new password. You'll be asked to restart when done.
- Log in with your new password.
- Determine whether to create a new login keychain.
Reset using another admin account
If you know the name and password of an admin account on your Mac, you can use that account to reset the password.
- Log in with the name and password of the other admin account.
- Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Users & Groups.
- Click , then enter the admin name and password again.
- Select your user name from the list of users.
- Click the Reset Password button, then follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password:
- Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
- Log in to your account using your new password.
- Determine whether to create a new login keychain.
Reset using the Reset Password assistant (FileVault must be on)
If FileVault is turned on, you might be able to reset your password using the Reset Password assistant:
- Wait up to a minute at the login screen, until you see a message saying that you can use the power button on your Mac to shut down and start up again in Recovery OS. If you don't see this message, FileVault isn't on.
- Press and hold the power button until your Mac turns off.
- Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.
- When the Reset Password window appears, follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password.
If you need to connect to Wi-Fi, move your pointer to the top of the screen and use the Wi-Fi menu to connect. To exit without resetting your password, choose Apple menu > Restart. - When done, click Restart.
- If you were able to reset your password with the Reset Password assistant, log in to your account using your new password.
- Determine whether to create a new login keychain.
Reset using your Recovery Key (FileVault must be on)
If FileVault is turned on and you have a FileVault Recovery Key, you can use that key to reset your password.
- At the login screen, keep entering a password until you see a message saying that you can reset your password using your Recovery Key. If you don't see the message after three attempts, FileVault isn't on.
- Click next to the message. The password field changes to a Recovery Key field.
- Enter your Recovery Key. Use uppercase characters, and include the hyphens.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password, then click Reset Password when done.
- Determine whether to create a new login keychain.
If you can't log in with your new password after restarting your Mac, take these additional steps:
- Restart again, then immediately hold down Command-R or one of the other macOS Recovery key combinations until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe.
- When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose Utilities > Terminal from the menu bar.
- In the Terminal window, type
resetpassword
, then press Return to open the Reset Password assistant pictured above. - Select ”My password doesn't work when logging in”, then click Next and follow the onscreen instructions for your user account.
Create a new login keychain, if necessary
After resetting your password and logging back in to your account, you might see an alert that the system was unable to unlock your login keychain. This is expected, because the passwords for your user account and login keychain no longer match. Just click the Create New Keychain button in the alert.
If you didn't see an alert about your login keychain, or you see other messages asking for your old password, reset your keychain manually:
- Open Keychain Access, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- Choose Preferences from the Keychain Access menu, then click the Reset My Default Keychain button in the preferences window. After you enter your new password, Keychain Access creates an empty login keychain with no password. Click OK to confirm.
If you don't see a Reset My Default keychain button, close the preferences window and select the “login” keychain from the left side of the Keychain Access window. Press the Delete key, then click Delete References. - Choose Log Out from the Apple menu to return to the login screen.
- Log in to your account using your new password. Your account password and login keychain password now match again.
If you still can't log in
If you still can't log in with your password, contact Apple Support for help.
So, you’re trying to use your Mac, but you can’t get past the login screen because you don’t remember your password. First, you should make sure that the Caps Lock isn’t on, because passwords are case sensitive. Then, you should try using your password hint by clicking on the question mark in the password field. But if you still can’t log in, don’t contact Apple Support yet. Here’s how to reset your admin password on a Mac, even if you forgot your admin password.
How to Reset Admin Password on Mac
The easiest way to reset your admin password is to enter recovery mode. Here’s how to do that:
- Restart your Mac. You can only access the recovery mode while the laptop is booting up, which is why you need to restart it.
- While it is restarting, press and hold the Command + R keys until you see the Apple logo. If you see the login screen, you will have to restart and repeat this step again until you get to Recovery Mode.
- Go to the Apple Menu at the top and click Utilities. This will open a drop-down menu.
- Then click Terminal.
- Type “resetpassword” in the terminal window. Don’t use any space in between the words.
- Then hit Enter. This will open the Reset Password Assistant screen.
- Type your password and a hint.
Note: If you have several user accounts or an older Mac, you will have to select “forgot all passwords,” then select the user account you want to reset the password for. Finally, you will have to click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner and select Restart from the drop-down menu.
- Finally, click Restart. Once you get to the Login screen, select the admin user you just reset the password for and type your new password. Click Enter.
How to Reset your Password Using you Apple ID
If you try to log in several times, you will see a pop-up message asking if you want to reset your password with your Apple ID. Follow these steps to continue:
- Click the arrow to use your Apple ID.
- Enter your Apple ID and password.
- Then hit Enter. Right after this, you will be asked to restart your computer.
- Click Restart to continue.
- Log in with your new password.
If you can get to your desktop, then you have successfully reset or changed your password.
How to Reset your PasswordUsing Another Admin Account
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If your Mac has more than one users, and youknow the login credentials to another one of the accounts, you can use thataccount to log in and reset your password. Here’s how:
- Log in to another admin account.
- Go to System Preferences. You can find this in your Applications folder.
- Next, click Users & Group.
- Click on the padlock in the bottom-left corner of the window. You will have to enter the username and password of that user again.
- Select the user you want to reset the password for, then click Reset Password.
- Fill in the necessary fields and hit Enter.
- Then log out of the current user account. This will bring you to the Login screen.
- Log in to the account you just changed the password for.
If you’re still having problems, and you want to install or reinstall macOS in your computer to wipe it clean and give it a fresh OS, check out our previous article here.