Solution found, thank you. the following is a summery of the problem and the solution
Situation ------------------------------------------------------------- I found(got, received) a Macintosh dual g3 workstation that was not powering on (ram was forced in to the slot the wrong way) once i fixed it it booted into mac os 10.3 auto login to the admin account.
Problem --------------------------------------------------------------- in order to add user accounts, install software, enable root user, etc... you need to admin password. douh in this situation i did not have it
Solution --------------------------------------------------------------- boot the machine into single user mode (When system is rebooting( not cold power on) press and hold command-s) this presents you with a prompt. execute "/sbin/fsck -y" then "/sbin/mount -uw /" finally run "/sbin/SystemStarter" once that is done execute "rm -rf /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb" then cd to "/private/var/db/" and remove the file ".AppleSetupDone" type reboot.
the machine will then restart and run the oobe (Out Of Box Experience) this will allow you to create a new admin user and rename the machine
Thank you to Bill McGonigle for this solution
Steven C. Peterson wrote:
The NetInfo service trick did not work passwd just sits their for about 45 seconds then drops back to shell
any other ideas
steven peterson
Bill McGonigle wrote:
> On Dec 5, 2004, at 16:15, Steven C. Peterson wrote: > > > the machine does have an os on it (os 10.3) it has an admin > > (root) password set and i do not have it, i need to rest it the > > password file is not in the normal linux/uninx/bsd place and the > > passwd command does not work proporly in single user mode > > (command -s ) > > > Ah, no CD's - I thought you meant no hard disks. > > Did you make sure NetInfo was running before changing the password? > That's most likely where the password is stored. e.g.: > > boot single user mount -uw / SystemStarter start NetInfo passwd > root > > SystemStarter should work out whatever dependencies NetInfo needs > to start for you. > > -Bill ---- Bill McGonigle, Owner Work: 603.448.4440 BFC > Computing, LLC Home: 603.448.1668 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 603.252.2606 > http://www.bfccomputing.com/ Text: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > AIM: wpmcgonigle Skype: bill_mcgonigle >
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