Re: Lost Administrator Privileges
On 09/08/2009, at 11:07 PM, Warwick Smith wrote: Hi WAMUGers Does anyone have a 'quick fix' for lost administrator privileges. My personal PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.5) now asks me for an administrator name and password three times before I can use system preferences, and no longer accepts my user name and password for any changes. When reviewing my system account, the administrator checkbox (Allow user to administer computer) is greyed out, and no longer ticked. If I can avoid a complete reformat and reinstall, I'd prefer it, as I'm uncertain whether even that is possible without the administrator access being available. Are there easier options? In hope ... Two weeks ago I had a similar problem. I could not open most of my apps, getting the message that I did not have sufficient privileges (I was in admin mode; OS X 10.5.7). Very frustrating to check Get Info and see that I supposedly had read-write privileges. Tried variations of the shut down/restart/repair permissions gambit, but no success. TechTool Pro 5 was no help. I did not have an up-to-date copy of Disk Warrior (I do now), so that was out. Tried various Terminal commands to regain permissions but chickened out after a while without success. What made things worst was that my main backup had become corrupted in a similar way. Grim! In the end, I had to do a complete erase and re-install. I lost some data, but my second partial backup eased the pain. I can vouch for the strategy of more than one backup. I do not know why the problem occurred, but excessive fiddling around with Finder and permissions likely played a part. Sorry not to be able to offer hope. Vlad James 24 iMac 2.4 GHz Intel 2GB / 667MHz / 320GB OS X 10.5.8 -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au
Re: Lost Administrator Privileges
On 09/08/2009, at 11:07 PM, Warwick Smith wrote: Hi WAMUGers Does anyone have a 'quick fix' for lost administrator privileges. My personal PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.5) now asks me for an administrator name and password three times before I can use system preferences, and no longer accepts my user name and password for any changes. When reviewing my system account, the administrator checkbox (Allow user to administer computer) is greyed out, and no longer ticked. If I can avoid a complete reformat and reinstall, I'd prefer it, as I'm uncertain whether even that is possible without the administrator access being available. Are there easier options? In hope ... Hello Warwick, In System Preferences Accounts is the lock locked, if it is the Allow user to administer this computer is unable to be ticked. Click on the lock, then type in your password, then you should be able to tick - Allow user to administer this computer. Then click the Lock to prevent further changes Then Log Out and then Log In again. Cheers, Ronni 17 MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz / 4GB / 800MHz / 500GB OS X 10.5.8 -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au
Re: Lost Administrator Privileges
oh yeh forgot the major step at the beginning . back up your user home drive data to an external drive first... mark.sec...@uwa.edu.au Mark Secker (Ba. Bus. IS/IP, ECU) Computer officer, Business School IT Services The University of Western Australia - CRICOS provider number 00126G M261 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009 Phone 6488 1855, Fax 6488 1055, -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au
Re: Lost Administrator Privileges
first thing to do is boot from the installer CD (doesn't have to be the one for the current version just has to be an OSX boot CD compatible with your mac) after it finishes booting and gets to the start of the installer go to the menu item and select Reset Password if this stil fails to allow you to admin then in the system preferences users panel are there any accounts showing as admin? if they show as managed or standard then a software update has failed to return admin rights to users. (it temporarily removes admin rights to stop users installing or doing other system modifications while an apple system updater installer is running) to fix this boot in to single user mode ad delete the file that tells the mac at each boot that original setup has been done (forcing it to ask you to set up a new admin account) Restart the machine holding down Command-S at the command line mount -uw / /bin/rm /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone reboot -- after it has rebooted you will be in the initial setup process as if it was a new mac (don't worry all your users and data are still there) create a new admin account with a different name to any you have used then once you've finished the setup go in to the system preferences and use this new account to reset the passwords and change the type of account for any users you need.. ... this also shows you why a combination of encryption and physical security is the only real security for data... (and yes there are ways of getting the equivalent effect in Windows and Linux with about as much (little) time and effort) On 10/08/2009, at 8:29 PM, Ronda Brown wrote: On 09/08/2009, at 11:07 PM, Warwick Smith wrote: Hi WAMUGers Does anyone have a 'quick fix' for lost administrator privileges. My personal PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.5) now asks me for an administrator name and password three times before I can use system preferences, and no longer accepts my user name and password for any changes. When reviewing my system account, the administrator checkbox (Allow user to administer computer) is greyed out, and no longer ticked. If I can avoid a complete reformat and reinstall, I'd prefer it, as I'm uncertain whether even that is possible without the administrator access being available. Are there easier options? In hope ... Hello Warwick, In System Preferences Accounts is the lock locked, if it is the Allow user to administer this computer is unable to be ticked. Click on the lock, then type in your password, then you should be able to tick - Allow user to administer this computer. Then click the Lock to prevent further changes Then Log Out and then Log In again. Cheers, Ronni 17 MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz / 4GB / 800MHz / 500GB OS X 10.5.8 -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au mark.sec...@uwa.edu.au Mark Secker (Ba. Bus. IS/IP, ECU) Computer officer, Business School IT Services The University of Western Australia - CRICOS provider number 00126G M261 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009 Phone 6488 1855, Fax 6488 1055, -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au
Lost Administrator Privileges
Hi WAMUGers Does anyone have a 'quick fix' for lost administrator privileges. My personal PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.5) now asks me for an administrator name and password three times before I can use system preferences, and no longer accepts my user name and password for any changes. When reviewing my system account, the administrator checkbox (Allow user to administer computer) is greyed out, and no longer ticked. If I can avoid a complete reformat and reinstall, I'd prefer it, as I'm uncertain whether even that is possible without the administrator access being available. Are there easier options? In hope ... Warwick Smith -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au
Re: Lost Administrator Privileges
On 09/08/2009, at 11:07 PM, Warwick Smith wrote: Hi WAMUGers Does anyone have a 'quick fix' for lost administrator privileges. My personal PowerBook G4 (Mac OS X 10.5) now asks me for an administrator name and password three times before I can use system preferences, and no longer accepts my user name and password for any changes. When reviewing my system account, the administrator checkbox (Allow user to administer computer) is greyed out, and no longer ticked. If I can avoid a complete reformat and reinstall, I'd prefer it, as I'm uncertain whether even that is possible without the administrator access being available. Are there easier options? In hope ... Hi Warwick , You do not say if you have done a totally shutdown or restart ! ? I would do that first then use disk utility to Repair Permissions ! If you are then still in trouble you need your Instal disks and load the disk up to where if asks if you want to instal At that point check your drop down menus for the option to change or reset passwords . Do that , back out from the disk restart from your G4 and see what you have Have fun Bob -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml Guidelines - http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml Unsubscribe - mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au
