Administrative Password Required - Asking For A Friend

[jparker402]

Have a dining table companion at our assisted living home who said just tonight that he has a MacBook Pro but is not able to use it. I asked him why, and he said that he installed a new OS update some years ago which then required an administrative password for him to start the computer. But, the update did not provide him the password, hence he now has a MacBook Pro that does not function. This was a off-the-wall conversation, so he was not able to go into much detail immediately. He thinks maybe the MacBook Pro was a 2012ish model, and thinks maybe he was switching to something like Sierra at the time. I know virtually nothing about administrative passwords. I do have a 2015 MacBook Air which came with Yosemite, as I recall, and which I have updated successively through Catalina so far. Never have I been required to have an administrative password. Provided he is willing, I will try to get some more specific information, like model and OS, but to ask him intelligent questions, does anyone have any ideas as to what may have happened?

 

[Erehy Dobon]

There is no such special administrative password. If there were, this Q&A forum would have 5-10 new threads on this topic every month.

The person you talked to probably has some sort of decline in mental acuity and can no longer remember his normal login password.

I've been using Macs since the early Nineties.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Yep. It might have a firmware password, but if so, that was user set too.

It may be possible the machine has two or more accounts, but nothing Apple did. Regardless, if he can't remember the PW, there are some ways to reset it, or at least wipe the machine and reinstall a fresh OS.

But besides losing data...that is too technical for an aged user who is not tech-savvy. He will need somebody or a shop to do it.

Point is, barring a firmware password, the machine can be reset and used again.

 

[Fishrrman]

Best thing is to get the computer in question into YOUR hands, try to boot it, observe carefully what happens, and report back here with the details.

 

[jparker402]

Thank you all. I am leaving the matter quiet for awhile. I am not savvy enough myself to help, and he hasn't brought the subject up again. Discovered he is an ex-government meteorologist who modeled weather, so think he would look into himself if he really wanted to.