Recover lost admin rights on OS X 10.10 and 10.11_allow user administer this computer
If you lost your administrator rights on macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.12, Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, you can recover the admin privileges easily by rebooting into Apple’s Setup Assistant tool. This will run before any accounts have been loaded, and will run in “root” mode, allowing you to create accounts on your Mac. Then, you can recover your admin rights via the new administrator account. After that, you can reboot into your recovered admin account and delete the interim administrator account.
Note (Updated February, 3, 2021): The following fix applies to macOS High Sierra 10.13 and earlier. For macOS Mojave 10.14, macOS Big Sur 11 and later, fixing Mac no admin account via the “Command – S” (SUM = Single User Mode) route is not possible anymore. The updated fix therefore is found here: Fixing Mac No Admin Account On macOS Mojave Or Later
Recover lost admin rights on OS X 10.10 and 10.11_create a computer account
Normally, when you set up Mac OS X / macOS for the first time, your initial account will be an administrative one, allowing you to configure the system and install applications. Sometimes rare, errors that occur when upgrading, e.g. from OS x 10.10 Yosemite to OS X 10.11 El Capitan, or restoring from backup, or otherwise when making heavy modifications to the system, could result in your admin account being destroyed so you cannot log in to it or use it for changing system settings.
If it happens then one quick but well-known and convenient trick for recovering administrative status on a system trigger Apple’s Setup Assistant tool. This will run before any accounts have been loaded, and will run in “root” mode, allowing you to create accounts on your Mac.
Even though the Setup Assistant only runs once when you first install Mac OS X / macOS, it remains on your computer and is prevented from running by the presences of a hidden file called ‘.AppleSetupDone‘ in a system folder on your Mac. Therefore, to have the Setup Assistant run again so you can create a fresh admin account, you simply need to remove this file:
At the command prompt, run the following command to make the filesystem writable: mount -uw /
Run the following command to remove the hidden file: rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
When completed, enter ‘reboot‘ and the prompt to restart the system, and you will now see the Setup Assistant load when OS X starts up.
Proceed through its various screens, and create your new account. You might consider using a different username than any previous accounts on the system, to ensure there are no conflicts with the present and faulty accounts.
Now you can log into the new admin account, and better manage the prior ones on your system, including deleting and recreating them accordingly.
Recover lost admin rights on OS X 10.10 and 10.11_allow user administer this computer
Notes:
You should be aware that this method can be used to get administrative access to your Mac OS X / macOS system. This means it is a potential security risk. Anyone can reset account passwords or get admin access in this way, and be able to access all files on your computer.
For getting a higher security level, be sure that all sensitive material on your system is password-protected or even better, encrypted. Even if someone gains access to your account, without your keychain password or the password for the encrypted files, they will not be able to access them. Consider to enable Apple’s FileVault and encrypting any external drives you use with your Mac (including Time Machine backups), to secure access to your files.
The next option is to set a firmware password for your Mac, which will prevent booting to alternative boot modes and external disks. To do this, reboot to the OS X installation drive (be it a DVD or the Recovery HD partition in OS X Lion or later), choose your language when prompted, and then choose the ‘Firmware Password‘ option in the Utilities menu. Enter your password in the appropriate fields, and then nobody will be able to reset PRAM, boot to Safe Mode, Single User mode, or to alternative boot drives unless they either disable the password or supply it when prompted.
Easily recover lost admin right on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, macOS 10.12 Sierra, and macOS 10.13 High Sierra by reactivating Apple’s Setup Assistant tool. Be aware that this option is also a security risk to your mac.
Hi there,my name is Gee Are, blogger and analyst. Blogging is my Passion! I’m the founder and owner of the two blogs called pabst.socialmedia and miapple.me - Tech.Blog.My work experience as a blogger and analysist (Internet Intelligence, SEO and social media) is the basis of the services of pabst.socialmedia.Find more about me.
By accident, I ticked in the box “Allow user to administer this computer”. Now I have 2 admin accounts but I really want to remove one of them. I did log out the one I want to remove, logged in the one I want to keep, open the golden lock, but the “minus” button is always grey so I cannot remove it. Please anyone tell me what should I do now? Many thanks
this does not work for me at all. I tried twice Do I press return after I enter these commands? Sorry to ask – I did enter return but it has not helped. I am not clear if I enter reboot at the end or ‘reboot’
Hi Gee,
I was trying to follow these directions from the way they display on my phone. It didn’t work. But I wondered if the longer commands were actually truncated by my phone since some lines didn’t say ‘enter’ or ‘return’ at the end.
After several failed attempts, I finally opened this page on a computer screen and could see the commands and format of them display in full. Anyone viewing the helps on a phone is not going to see it correctly.
Anyone who is struggling with this needs to know that every line of command ends with (return key) and if you don’t see it displayed that way, you need to view it on a larger screen.
I cannot guarantee you anything. But so far in my experience, there’s no risk if you do not delete any account.
Regarding your current data: You use the new account solely to gain access to your ‘old’ account again. This means you do not need to transfer any data. Just follow my instructions carefully step-by-step!
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If you lost your administrator rights on macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.12, Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, you can recover the admin privileges easily by rebooting into Apple’s Setup Assistant tool. This will run before any accounts have been loaded, and will run in “root” mode, allowing you to create accounts on your Mac. Then, you can recover your admin rights via the new administrator account. After that, you can reboot into your recovered admin account and delete the interim administrator account.
71 Comments
It’s working, great !! Thanks a million! 😉
Great – this post saved me hours of work. Your blog just made it to the top of my list for Mac Tips/help
Hi Gary,
You’re welcome! Many thanks for your feedback!
Cheers
Gee Are
Hi there,
By accident, I ticked in the box “Allow user to administer this computer”. Now I have 2 admin accounts but I really want to remove one of them. I did log out the one I want to remove, logged in the one I want to keep, open the golden lock, but the “minus” button is always grey so I cannot remove it. Please anyone tell me what should I do now? Many thanks
I have the same problem
Hi Gee,
Once I boot up my mac, it just starts up, and holding command + S didn’t do anything. What should I do?
Thanks
this does not work for me at all. I tried twice Do I press return after I enter these commands? Sorry to ask – I did enter return but it has not helped. I am not clear if I enter reboot at the end or ‘reboot’
Thank you
Hi Stephanie,
yes, you should press ‘Enter’ after these commands. Enter ‘reboot’ at the end!
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
I was trying to follow these directions from the way they display on my phone. It didn’t work. But I wondered if the longer commands were actually truncated by my phone since some lines didn’t say ‘enter’ or ‘return’ at the end.
After several failed attempts, I finally opened this page on a computer screen and could see the commands and format of them display in full. Anyone viewing the helps on a phone is not going to see it correctly.
Anyone who is struggling with this needs to know that every line of command ends with (return key) and if you don’t see it displayed that way, you need to view it on a larger screen.
Then it works! Thanks for the help!
any risks of losing content? and will my current data be transferred to this new account?
Hi Anna,
I cannot guarantee you anything. But so far in my experience, there’s no risk if you do not delete any account.
Regarding your current data: You use the new account solely to gain access to your ‘old’ account again. This means you do not need to transfer any data. Just follow my instructions carefully step-by-step!
Cheers,
Gee Are
Thanks!!! This was really helpful.
Hi Freddy,
you’re welcome! Thanks for your feedback!
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
yesterday it didn’t work, today it does. What a good sleep and a cup of coffee can do! Thanks for your support!
Regards,Dirk
Hi Dirk,
you’re welcome!
Cheers,
Gee Are
I’m having the same issue with Yosemite, but your first step doesn’t work. In the end I’m not able to have the start-up disk writable.
Hi Dirk,
the first step should work: Shut down your Mac, start your Mac again and immediately press & hold (!) ‘Command + S’.
Cheers,
Gee Are
If you lost your administrator rights on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or OS X 10.11 El Capitan, you can recover the… http://t.co/eN0p5pA4jI.
hey Gee, mine doesn’t work at all, even after I’ve followed all the steps, I still can’t make a new account
Sometimes you need to repeat the procedure several times. Have you already done this?
I’ve done this and it didn’t work