Apple Mac G4 10.5.8 Password Access

derekejohnson

Hello, please help

I have purchased 2nd hand a lovely G4 dual with 10.4 install disc and 10.5.8 installed but without disc.

Obviously i could install 10.4 from scratch and all would resolve BUT i adore 10.5.8 with fan shaped 'all history' access etc.

So whats the problem: well when i try to install or update software like my orange dongle or safari 5 the m/c asks for a PASSWORD i do not have!

I asked the previous owner who said there was none, indeed for 'user' in the request box above password it shows the word 'default'

If i get hold of a 10.5.8 install disc for an hour assume can get rid of pass BUT is there another way without ?
If i tried 10.4 install disc would it overide and i lose later os, scared to try it.
as time goes on things will get worse, already cannot install the replacement printer software. will be forced to adopt 10.4 until solution found.

ta for reading oh techi experts, i'm over 60 and found apple 15 years ago due to PC frustration for 10 years previous.
Back then 5.25" and 8" floppies were the weaning tools for aged 35 year olds with no knowledge of 'confusers'.
Can still remember looking blankly at the screen displaying 'b dos or syntac' error, scared stiff the younger managers would see it before i could erase. dj

Pigman1978

The problem you are having is down to an Administrator password being on the machine. In order to resolve the problem, you need to either change the password for that admin account or create a new admin account and delete the old one.

One solution would be to obtain a Mac OSX disk, booting from this disk should allow you to reset the password.

After a little time searching on the internet, I have been able to find a possible alternative at the macosxhints website (sorry I can't post the link as I am a new member) here is the solution they provide.

Boot into single user mode (press Command-S at power on)
Type fsck -fy
Type mount -uw /
Type launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist
Type dscl . -passwd /Users/username password, replacing username with the targeted user and password with the desired password.
Reboot
This allows you to reset the password in single user mode without booting from the install media.

I hope this helps