# Mac question - what to do if you lose the password?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-question-what-to-do-if-you-lose-the-password/679273>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 20, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-question-what-to-do-if-you-lose-the-password/679273 "2014-01-20T13:46:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-question-what-to-do-if-you-lose-the-password/679273/1 "2014-01-20T13:46:39Z")

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Piper Dad is getting on in years, and recently changed his password for his Mac.

Now he can’t remember the new password. :smack:

There’s several hand-written notes taped to the Mac and in his drawer, about passwords, but none of them seem to work. I spent quite a while tinkering with them, re-entering with caps, no caps, etc.

There must be a way to fix this, isn’t there? Otherwise, his Mac just went from “computer” to “large paperweight” status.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mac-question-what-to-do-if-you-lose-the-password/679273/2 "2014-01-20T14:35:26Z")

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The directions in this link seem to be fine: [Forgot Mac Password? How to Reset Your Mac Password (with or without CD)](http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/10/forgot-mac-password-how-to-reset-mac-password/)