I am working on a Power Mac G4 (1GHz, 1GB RAM) on which I have a previous question I asked which now has taken a different turn. Please refer to http://www.experts-exchang
In my attempts to reset the password through single user mode (unsuccessfully), I used a method found on another site, which I shall detail below:
1. boot computer and hold the "apple" key and the "s" key.
2. wait for terminal show
3. release keys
4. type without the quotes: "/sbin/mount -uaw"
5. press enter
6. type without the quotes: "rm /var/db/.applesetupdone
7. press enter
8. type without the quotes: "reboot"
9. press enter
This worked great, but upon reboot and entering in the information required to register and continue into the OS, the final "Continue" button is greyed out. The 10.3.9 drive is inaccessible, but instead of not having a password, now I'm stuck in user setup but cannot move forward.
The Leopard drive still works, and I've backed up all the files on the 10.3.9 (and 9.2.2) drive to a folder on the Leopard drive just in case.
Is there a way that I can create a user in single user mode somehow to allow me access to the 10.3.9 installation?
Also, I have 2 different discs for installing 10.3.x, but neither will allow me to install. Upon reboot, the blue and white progress bar freezes from the get go. I have to press the reset key under the power button to restart, then hold <alt> to get to my Leopard drive OS. Otherwise, it boots into the same user setup but I cannot progress beyond that as explained above.
I would appreciate any assistance that can be provided, and look forward to solving my problem.
Thanks,
Vic Wukovits
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Thanks for the reply, but I had mentioned in my original post about the 2 different discs. Not only can I not install, but I can't get to the first screen giving me my options. It freezes on the progress bar immediately. I had tried the Leopard disc (as referenced in my other question I posted) but Apple informed me that you must use a 10.3 disc for 10.3, etc.
Where did you get your method ? That's missing half of what needs to be done.
If anything, try booting into Single User mode and restore .AppleSetupDone
all you need to do is (after booting SU mode, and mounting the drive) is:
touch /private/var/db/.AppleSetu
Past that... you're in completely undocumented territory. Yes, there's a way to do it,
but it would be severely unwise to even attempt it being new to OS X and without having a known-good backup.
If you want to proceed, you might try Apple's method here:
http://docs.info.apple.com
Man, I wish that was posted a few days ago.
I ended up backing up the data, wiping the drive, installing Tiger, and putting the 9.2.2 System Folder back on there. I copied the backup folder back to the Tiger drive, and I can run the Classic apps (Pagemaker, etc) from that.
Thanks for the tip, I will surely keep it as a reference.
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by: maestropsmPosted on 2008-04-26 at 08:14:14ID: 21445780
I believe the Install disk for OSX has a password reset utility on it have you tried the utilities in the OSX install disk for OSX 10.3 to see if you can reset the root password and then boot into 10.3 with the new root password? Then as root user you should be able to manipulate your user environment.