Since the Touch ID fingerprint sensor appeared in the iPhone 5s, many developers have thought about integrating its functionality on the Mac via wireless communication channels. Initially, such solutions were available exclusively to iDevice users, but with the release of macOS Sierra, Apple allowed unlocking Mac computers using the Apple Watch. IPhone and iPad owners can use a third-party MacID application.
The principle of operation of the program is quite simple - special software is installed on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, which allows the computer to transmit an identification request to the mobile device. The user is only required to touch the Touch ID sensor or enter the lock code (for older devices), thereby confirming their identity. Interestingly, unlike a number of similar solutions, MacID can be used even without launching a special application on an iOS device, right from the lock screen (thanks to the sending of interactive push notifications from the Mac). 
In addition, the MacID application allows you to:
- create an icon to lock your Mac on your iPhone or iPad screen;
- set up unlocking your Mac with a specific press on the trackpad surface or Magic Mouse;
- set your Mac to automatically lock when you leave your computer.
Data transfer is carried out exclusively via Bluetooth Low Energy, hence the requirements for devices - MacBook 2015 and newer, MacBook Air and Mac Mini 2011 and newer, MacBook Pro and iMac 2012 and newer, Mac Pro 2013 and newer, iPhone 4s and newer , iPad mini, iPad 4 and newer, Apple Watch. Minimum operating system versions: OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. In this application, the application uses 256-bit AES-encryption, which protects against interception of data by third parties.
The macOS feature that lets you unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch keeps you safe and comfortable. However, a problem may arise if the function stops working properly.
If unlocking your Mac with Apple Watch isn't working, here are some solutions you can try.
The most common problem with this feature is that the indicator spins for a couple of seconds, but does not unlock the Mac, and eventually a sign that requires a password is displayed. In this situation, solution # 8 is fine. You may have other cases, but one of the solutions should definitely help.
How to fix unlock problemsMac viaApple Watch
Solution 1: check that you entered your password correctlyMac while loading.
After enabling Apple Watch unlocking, you still need to enter your password if you restart your Mac. This is not a bug, it is a specially designed security measure. Each time you restart your computer, you first have to enter the password manually. After that, if your Mac goes into sleep mode, you can unlock it with your Apple Watch.
Solution 2: check that you entered your password correctlyApple Watch.
Like your Mac password, your Apple Watch password must first be entered manually. This is also a security measure designed to ensure that no one else can unlock your Mac.
Solution 3: turn the feature on and off.
On Mac go to > System Preferences> Safety... Select a tab The main, then uncheck and check the box next to AllowApple Watch unblockMac.
Solution 4:check that you are logged into the same account on both devices.
On a Mac, go to > System Preferences> iCloud and check that the account here is the same as on the Apple Watch in the Watch app> General> Accounts.
If the account does not match, you will not be able to use the unlock function.
Solution 5: check that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are turned on on the Mac.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi must be turned on to transfer information. If they're off, Apple Watch won't be able to connect to your Mac to unlock it.
Solution 6: check what's onMac disabled functionInternet Sharing
On a Mac, go to > System Preferences> Sharing and check that access is turned off.
Solution 7: check thatApple Watch was no more than an arm's length fromMac.
This is understandable, but you still have to be near the Mac to unlock it for hours.
Decision 8: reboot everything.
If all else fails, just restart your Mac and Apple Watch. You may need to restart your Mac more than once for the feature to work properly.
Let's say you forgot your Mac password. Or you just bought a Macintosh and the previous owner locked the computer. There are some neat solutions to this problem when you don't have a Mac OS X installation DVD. (The easiest way to reset your password is with a disc we have).
This topic may have set the teeth on edge by now, but it raises an important question that people ask all the time. I don’t want to think that any user who is near your computer can theoretically get access to it in a few minutes. And before you decide that Mac OS X has a serious vulnerability, I hasten to "please" you: any operating system, be it Windows, Linux or Mac, can be hacked in a couple of minutes, if you know what to do. A hacker sitting at your computer can bypass any security measures.
The information presented below is taken from the Internet in order to help people legally reset their password in Mac OS X. We have collected various methods found by the Mac community on MacDigger for your convenience. I think the instructions will be useful for both regular Mac users and system administrators.
Resetting your password in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
- Turn on or restart your Mac.
- During the welcome (or gray screen if you turned off the hateful gong), hold Command + S on your keyboard to boot into single-user mode.
- fsck -fy
- Write mount -uw / and press Enter.
- Further launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist and press Enter.
- Enter ls / Users and press Enter. The command will show a list of all users on the computer - useful if you don’t know or don’t remember.
- In line dscl. -passwd / Users / username password replace “username” with your username (see above), and replace “password” with a code combination of characters and press Enter.
- reboot.
Reset password on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
- Turn on or restart your Mac.
- Write in line sh / etc / rc and press Enter.
- Enter passwd username and replace "username" with the short username of the account for which you are going to reset the password.
- Enter the desired password and press Enter.
- To reboot, run the command reboot.
Cheating Mac and creating a new user.
- Turn on or restart your Mac.
- During the welcome (or gray screen if you turned it off), hold Command + S on your keyboard to boot into single-user mode.
- This step is optional, but it is useful to go through it, because in this way you will check for errors on the hard disk. In the line enter fsck -fy and press Enter. Wait until the end of the disk check.
- Write mount -uw / and press Enter.
- Further rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and press Enter.
- Now shutdown -h now and press Enter.
The third method requires some clarification. Instead of replacing the password as in the first two methods, this is, in its own way, tricking the operating system. The trick makes the system think it hasn't been started yet. This means that after rebooting your Mac, you will have to go through all the setup and registration steps again. Don't worry, all the information on the poppy is safe and sound. Go through all the steps, but at the end, stop migrating your data to the Mac.
After that, log into the Mac under the new administrator account and go to Settings Panel -> Accounts. You may need to unlock the lock in the lower left corner before making any changes. In the left column, you should see the original account (s). Click on the account you need and turn it into a standard account (uncheck "Allow this user to administer the computer") and change the password. Now you can log into your computer under this account and get access to all your files and programs. You can log in again under the administrator account and check the box “Allow. for this user to administer the computer "in System Preferences to give administrator rights to the user.
That's it. As always, remember that the combination of single-user mode (or superuser mode) and Terminal is extremely dangerous and can lead to big problems if you make mistakes.
If you have a Keychain Access password set, you will most likely need to reset that too. You can do this by selecting Login under Keychain Access on the left and clicking Remove from the Edit menu. You will lose all Keys and add them again.
Despite the ambiguous title, this article will not be about hacking accounts in Mac OS X (you can read about this, if you wish, on specialized Internet resources). On the contrary, today we will consider a situation where, due to the current circumstances the user forgets the password for entering the system and it is not possible to recover it.
RESET VIA APPLE ID
To begin with, we note that in a similar situation, Apple now offers resetting your password using your Apple ID. This is an exclusive feature of OS X Lion, and you can enable it in two ways - either during the initial system setup, or in the "Accounts" remote in System Preferences.
After several unsuccessful attempts to enter your password, you will see a pop-up window on the login screen asking you to enter your Apple ID. The system will honestly warn you that it will reset your password, but the Keychain, where all the passwords you entered earlier are stored in encrypted form, will remain locked until you remember the old password. Since the old Keychain cannot be used, the system will create a new one.
RESETTING PASSWORD IN SINGLE-USER MODE
In case the installation DVD is not at hand, and the password cannot be remembered in any way, the following password reset method can help.
After turning on the Mac, while showing the welcome screen, press and hold the key combination Cmd + S until the computer boots into single user mode and we see the command line. In fact, working in the command line is not much different from working in the Terminal, and therefore, to users who have already had experience with this application, the proposed commands will not seem unfamiliar. Do not forget that after each entered command, press the key RETURN.
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist
The following command displays a list of all users on this Mac:
Now the most interesting and important thing is to enter the command in which username we replace it with the username for which the password should be changed, and instead of password specify the desired new password.
dscl. -passwd / Users / username password
The final touch will be to reboot the computer using the following command:
METHOD NUMBER THREE
This is an even funnier way to fool Mac OS X and force the creation of a new user on the system, bypassing all passwords.
As in the previous method, while holding the keys Cmd + S, boot into single user mode. Then we enter the following two commands, not forgetting after entering each command to click on RETURN:
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
To restart the Mac, we use a command slightly different from the one we used in the previous version:
As a result of our actions, we made the system think that it had never been started yet. As a result, after the reboot, we will have to go through all the steps of setting up and registering the system again. In any case, the information on the hard disk will remain intact, so we can safely go through all the configuration steps, not forgetting to refuse data migration at the very end.
After rebooting, we go into the system under a new account and by opening Settings panel, go to the section Accounts... In the screenshot, we see the name in the list of users Master(the old account for which we want to reset the password) and Anjul(a new admin account that we created in single user mode).
In order to unlock the list and be able to make changes, click on the lock and specify the password for the account in a new window Anjul, under which we entered the system.
After access is obtained, click on the old account Master and press Reset the password... In the next window, we indicate the new password for this account and, if desired, a hint so that you can remember it if it is forgotten again.
Now you can reboot your Mac and log into the system under your old account. Master, and delete the new one, which has already become unnecessary.
That's all. We hope our tips help you regain access to your account. However, we wish you didn’t need the tips described above :)
This happens to every Mac user at some point - you create a new password and forget it to log into your Mac. In this article, I will provide two ways to reset your password in Mac OS X.
Method 1. Reset password inMac OS with helpOS X Installer(Installer).
If you have the Mac OS X Installer disc on hand, it is incredibly easy to change your account administrator password. Just insert the CD into your Mac and hold down the "C" key while booting. This will launch the Mac OS X Installer. If the computer in question does not have a CD drive, you can either hold the Option button while booting and select “Recovery Partition”, or save the Installer to a flash drive.
When this is done, feel free to head to Utilities and select "Reset Password".
A window will appear prompting you to choose the hard disk on which OS X is installed; select the required drive and user for which you want to reset the password in Mac OS. Enter a new password for the user and feel free to click the save button. It is done!
After restarting your computer, you can use the new password to log in to the system.
Method 2. To deceiveOS X go to boot your computer to reset your password inMac OS X.
If you do not have an Installer CD, you can achieve the same result as in Method 1 with a little tweak on the command line.
Boot up your computer by holding Command + S while the Get Started Tune plays.
When the Mac switches to “Single User Mode”, you need to select the required hard disk. In most cases, this will be the system drive, which can be set as “/”. The command below will do it for you:
Next, we need to delete the file that tells OS X that the installation has already been done:
Now we need to restart the Mac using the command:
Once it boots up, everything will look as it looks the first time after installation. You will see a welcome screen, so skip the first two windows.
When you get to the window where you are asked if you have a Mac, make sure that you have selected the option "Do not move my data now", as we do not transfer information.
Once you get to the window with your Apple ID, hold “Command” + “Q” to skip the remaining pop-ups. Click “Skip” if necessary.
Now you have to create a new administrator account. You can name it whatever you want, as you need it to get into the OS and system parameters.
Anything can happen in life, for example, you suddenly inherited a MacBook or iMac from your great-grandmother. Well, or another production computer. All is well, you are happy with the happiness that has fallen down, euphoria is gradually replaced by the realization that the password for the computer is unknown, and, in general, there is no one to ask it. What to do in this case - read on.
Of course, everything that is described here, you will do at one's own risk and then there is nothing to complain about. And of course, it is understood that such procedures will be carried out only if you do not actually know the password from the great-grandmother's MacBook.
You can describe the process from the point of view of a command line guru, but it is impractical to do this, since the great-grandmother's MacBook, apparently, is your first MacBook, so the main thing is as simple and clear as possible. How to get the most important and important password - the Administrator password!
To start:
You kill your great-grandmother's "Bunch of Keys"
- Command + S, copy-paste does not work here!
- Wait until the lines of code run through, then carefully enter the command. This spell will make the filesystem readable and writable:
- Look for your great-grandmother's short system nickname:
- You kill your great-grandmother's Bunch of Keys. Please note: instead of "nickname", substitute the one found by the previous command, this is important!
- Reboot your Mac:
As a result, at the next boot, OS X will create a new Keychain, and the great-grandmother will have nothing to do with it.
Now we proceed to the most important and interesting thing - we take control of the Mac into our own hands, resetting the most important and important Administrator password. There are a couple of options for how to do this, you can choose any. And, if we are not tired yet, we will continue.
1. Use a bunch of commands:
- Boot into Single-user mode: when loading, immediately squeeze Command + S, copy-paste does not work here!
- Wait until the lines of code run through, then enter carefully, the spell will make the file system readable and writeable:
- You manually open Open Directory - the thing that manages all accounts on the computer (on Mac OS 10.6 and earlier, this thing won't work - it simply isn't there):
- Again, you are looking for the short system nickname of your great-grandmother, or the account whose password you need to reset. Remember:
- Here you replace the "nickname" with the name obtained by the previous command:
If something like this suddenly pops up, do not be alarmed, but simply ignore:
Launchctl: Couldn’t stat (“/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServicesLocal.plist”): No such file or directory nothing found to load
- Please enter a new password!
- Reboot your Mac:
2. Use three times fewer commands:
OS X is very easy to cheat. For example, to make the system think that it was not even thought to be installed. To do this, you just need to delete one file, it says that the installation of OS X is complete, let him "think differently", as Jobs bequeathed!
- Boot into the "Single-user mode" again: when loading, immediately clamp Command + S, copy-paste does not work here!
- Wait until the lines of code run through, then carefully enter the command, the spell will make the file system readable and writeable:
- Delete the same file:
Reboot your Mac:
As a result, you get a brand new Mac, as if it were just from the store. Configure the account again, as after installing the system. Moreover, the data of other accounts (and great-grandmother's too) will remain intact. Unless you enter a username that is already on the system.
3. Use "Recovery Mode"
- Boot into "Recovery Mode": when loading, immediately clamp Alt (Option), here we need a disk with the name "Recovery"
- Select the Terminal program through the Utilities menu
- Enter the command, it will bring up a dialog box for resetting the necessary and important Administrator password:
- In the dialog box that appears, select a boot disk, an account, enter a new password with confirmation and select a question to restore it
- Click "Save" and reboot using the appropriate menu item "Apple". Great-grandmother would be proud of you!
In fact, it is incomprehensible: the impenetrable OS X and such "failures" in security! Things like this can easily help attackers take over the contents of any Mac. Although, on the other hand, if it were not for the possibility of access to the Mac bypassing the Administrator account, then, say, having lost or forgotten the password, without the installation disk at hand, you can forever say goodbye to all the information. But this is only if the great-grandmother did not turn on FileVault disk encryption - none of the above methods will work then.
Here's how to keep your data safe.
Forgot your admin password to turn on your Mac? Never mind, Apple has a solution. In just a couple of minutes you can easily reset your password and set a new one ...
But ANY unauthorized person who gains access to your Mac can do this.
We understand this feature of OS X.
How to reset MacBook password
Let's be optimistic and decide that you need to change your MacBook password, and not someone else.
So, after unsuccessful attempts to log into your account, the only solution remains is to reset your password.
1. We need to turn off the laptop. From the password entry screen, hold down the Power key until your MacBook shuts down. Now turn on the MacBook and hold down the key combination Command + R... We hold until a thin loading bar appears.
2. We got into Recovery mode... We open Utilities -> Terminal.
3. Enter the following command resetpassword and press Enter.
4. In the window that opens, enter a new password and, if necessary, a hint.
5. All you have to do is restart your Mac and sign in with your new password.
The system will immediately prompt you to update the password for Key bunches, but without knowing the previous password, you cannot do this.
Once loaded, OS X will start asking you to enter your old keychain password. If you don’t know him, it’s best to create a new one. Bunch of keys(after all, you probably remember passwords from your Apple ID account and other services).
How to protect yourself from data theft
Until you enter the password for the old keychain, or create a new one, the system behaves extremely strange. It is very difficult to work with applications - they freeze, slow down and stop responding.
Nevertheless, copying the necessary information in this mode to an external drive is as easy as shelling pears. And if you have confidential information on your Mac, you will undoubtedly notice its loss, but it will be too late.
Post navigation
It happened a little less than two ...Despite the ambiguous title, this article will not be about hacking accounts in Mac OS X (you can read about this, if you wish, on specialized Internet resources). On the contrary, today we will consider a situation where, due to the current circumstances the user forgets the password for entering the system and it is not possible to recover it.
RESET VIA APPLE ID
To begin with, we note that in a similar situation, Apple now offers resetting your password using your Apple ID. This is an exclusive feature of OS X Lion, and you can enable it in two ways - either during the initial setup of the system, or in the "Accounts" remote in System Preferences.
After several unsuccessful attempts to enter your password, you will see a pop-up window on the login screen asking you to enter your Apple ID. The system will honestly warn you that it will reset your password, but the Keychain, where all the passwords you entered earlier are stored in encrypted form, will remain locked until you remember the old password. Since the old Keychain cannot be used, the system will create a new one.
RESETTING PASSWORD IN SINGLE-USER MODE
In case the installation DVD is not at hand, and the password cannot be remembered in any way, the following password reset method can help.
After turning on the Mac, while showing the welcome screen, press and hold the key combination Cmd + S until the computer boots into single user mode and we see the command line. In fact, working in the command line is not much different from working in the Terminal, and therefore, to users who have already had experience with this application, the proposed commands will not seem unfamiliar. Do not forget that after each entered command, press the key RETURN.
mount -uw /
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist
The following command displays a list of all users on this Mac:
ls / Users
Now the most interesting and important thing is to enter the command in which username we replace it with the username for which the password should be changed, and instead of password specify the desired new password.
dscl. -passwd / Users / username password
The final touch will be to reboot the computer using the following command:
reboot
METHOD NUMBER THREE
This is an even funnier way to fool Mac OS X and force the creation of a new user on the system, bypassing all passwords.
As in the previous method, while holding the keys Cmd + S, boot into single user mode. Then we enter the following two commands, not forgetting after entering each command to click on RETURN:
mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
To restart the Mac, we use a command slightly different from the one we used in the previous version:
shutdown -h now
As a result of our actions, we made the system think that it had never been started yet. As a result, after the reboot, we will have to go through all the steps of setting up and registering the system again. In any case, the information on the hard disk will remain intact, so we can safely go through all the configuration steps, not forgetting to refuse data migration at the very end.
After rebooting, we go into the system under a new account and by opening Settings panel, go to the section Accounts... In the screenshot, we see the name in the list of users Master(the old account for which we want to reset the password) and Anjul(a new admin account that we created in single user mode).
In order to unlock the list and be able to make changes, click on the lock and specify the password for the account in a new window Anjul, under which we entered the system.
After access is obtained, click on the old account Master and press Reset the password... In the next window, we indicate the new password for this account and, if desired, a hint so that you can remember it if it is forgotten again.
Now you can reboot your Mac and log into the system under your old account. Master, and delete the new one, which has already become unnecessary.
Here's how to keep your data safe.
Forgot your admin password to turn on your Mac? Never mind, Apple has a solution. In just a couple of minutes you can easily reset your password and set a new one ...
But ANY unauthorized person who gains access to your Mac can do this.
We understand this feature of OS X.
How to reset MacBook password
Let's be optimistic and decide that you need to change your MacBook password, and not someone else.
So, after unsuccessful attempts to log into your account, the only solution remains is to reset your password.
1. We need to turn off the laptop. From the password entry screen, hold down the Power key until your MacBook shuts down. Now turn on the MacBook and hold down the key combination Command + R... We hold until a thin loading bar appears.
2. We got into Recovery mode... We open Utilities -> Terminal.
3. Enter the following command resetpassword and press Enter.
4. In the window that opens, enter a new password and, if necessary, a hint.
5. All you have to do is restart your Mac and sign in with your new password.
The system will immediately prompt you to update the password for Key bunches, but without knowing the previous password, you cannot do this.
Once loaded, OS X will start asking you to enter your old keychain password. If you don’t know him, it’s best to create a new one. Bunch of keys(after all, you probably remember passwords from your Apple ID account and other services).
How to protect yourself from data theft
Until you enter the password for the old keychain, or create a new one, the system behaves extremely strange. It is very difficult to work with applications - they freeze, slow down and stop responding.
Nevertheless, copying the necessary information in this mode to an external drive is as easy as shelling pears. And if you have confidential information on your Mac, you will undoubtedly notice its loss, but it will be too late.
In order to protect yourself from such a situation, it is enough to follow a few simple steps that will protect you from such free access to password reset.
1. Open up Settings -> Protection and Security, remove the protection lock in the lower left corner and transfer to the tab FileVault.
2. Tap on the key Enable FileVaul.
3. At the request of the system about the need to select the type of unlock, select the option you are interested in. Allow my iCloud account to remove protection from my drive- more preferable. Click on Proceed.
Now it remains to wait until the system finishes encrypting the disk. The option of so much simple reset using the terminal will not work on the encrypted disk, and your data will be in perfect order.