How to reset user passwords in Mac OS X Tiger 10.4 – a complete guide

It’s 2020 but here’s a post about the 2005-old Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) – why?
Well, I recently got my hands on my old iMac G3 and had the same problem anyone who landed here might have:
 

WTH is the admin password on my old Mac?

– My thoughts after booting up an old iMac G3

Googling the web brought up some promising articles on how to reset user passwords in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger – trying them out however resulted in the same “blue screen” as a user commented in this iFixit discussions. And how should I know the correct usernames anyway?

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So let me present you: the “more complete” guide to reset an admin password in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Launch your Mac into the single user mode

First of all prepare to password reset the old accounts by booting your Mac into the so called “single user mode”:

1. Push the power button on your Mac, sounding the glorious startup chime
2. Immediately press & keep the CMD+s buttons on the keyboard
3. Wait until the Mac launched the “single user mode” = command line like textual interface

List all Mac OS X user accounts with their corresponding usernames

In order to actually set a new password for an existing (admin) account, you first need to figure out the actual “username” of available user accounts.
The easiest & clearest way to find them is in my opinion by listing all user folders from your Mac’s /Users/-directory:

• On the command line interface type the following command & execute it with RETURN:

ls /Users/

• Now it will list all user-directories (and other, non-relevant files and folders) – every user-folder is basically representing the underlaying “username” you will need to reset that account’s password!

Remark: there are other solutions to list the user accounts on the system, but they are more complicated and will show a lot more of “buzz”. Use the previously linked articles to see how to list user accounts differently.

Set a new password for an existing Mac OS X useraccount

Once you retrieved the actual username of the accounts, you can proceed to reset the respective account password.

 

Start the password reset in single user mode

Remember: you have to type the password-commands at the same time WHILE other information is added to the screen! And sometimes the text input is so far on the bottom line, that you won’t be able to properly read it.

Start password recovery mode by typing & executing the rc-command

sh /etc/rc

Now – while various information is flying in on the screen – type & execute the following commands in this given order:

passwd [username]

press RETURN

[new password]

press RETURN

[retype new password]

press RETURN

DONE – user’s password is changed!

Here’s a visual guide how this procedure looks like on a real Mac:

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Prevent the “blue screen” by restarting from the command line

After the last command – [retype new password] + RETURN – you can prevent your Mac from booting into the single user mode “blue screen“, by forcing a system reboot from the command line:

shutdown -r now

press RETURN

This will tell the system to immediately (“now“) reboot (“-r“).

Just let it reboot normally now – don’t press or hold any keys – and it will boot up to the user login screen.

Try to login now with the username + changed password:
if you did everything right, you’ll be in!

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Bonus: new admin account

Trick OS X Tiger to allow you to create a new admin account

For this you also have to boot your Mac into the “single user mode” first. Then use the following commands followed by a reboot.

/sbin/mount -uaw

press RETURN

rm /var/db/.applesetupdone

press RETURN

shutdown -r now

press RETURN

Just let it reboot normally now – don’t press or hold any keys – and you will see the default OS X Tiger-setup wizard where you can create a new (admin) account to control your Mac.