Geek Posted September 19, 2011 Posted September 19, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/change-password-mac-os-x-lion.jpg" alt="Change password of current user in Mac OS X Lion" title="change-password-mac-os-x-lion" width="200" height="288" class="alignright size-full wp-image-21400" /> There are <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/24/reset-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-password/">a few ways to reset a password in Mac OS X 10.7</a> but both of those methods require reboots. This approach is different, it lets you <strong>change the password of the user currently logged into Mac OS X Lion</strong>, <em>without knowing the user password</em>, and without a reboot:</p> <ul> <li>Launch the Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities/</li> <li>Type ‘whoami’ at the command line to get the current users precise login name, which will look something like this:</li> <p><code>$ whoami Will</code></p> <li>Type the following command, replacing ‘username’ at the end with the exact current users login name that you retrieved from whoami:</li> <p><code>dscl localhost -passwd /Search/Users/username</code></p> <li>Enter the new password once, hit return, and confirm the new password again hitting return</li> </ul> <p>The password is now changed.</p> <p>No authentication is required, you simply enter the new password and confirm the changed password. This is much easier than the manual reset methods and it doesn’t require a reboot or any manipulation of user data in <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-os-x/">Mac OS X</a>.</p> <p>Remember that like anything else in the command line, capitalization matters, so if the username is reported back as “Will” that would be different than “will” – be sure to use the proper caps for the password to be changed.</p> <p>This tip is undeniably useful for a wide variety of situations pertaining to system administration, <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/troubleshooting/">troubleshooting</a>, and theft recovery, but could also post a potential security risk. Regarding the security risk, it’s realistic to assume that if someone has a computer in their possession, little is safe unless the drive itself is encrypted.</p> <p><em>This trick was included in a broader and more mischievous tip that we’ll stay away from, nonetheless thanks to Daniel for sending this in!</em></p> <p><strong>Update:</strong> Additional reports and comments are suggesting this is a bug in OS X Lion, if so we could expect a Security Update to Mac OS 10.7 in the near future that would remove the ability to run dscl without administrative authentication. We’ll keep you posted.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wc2XaESguFOepyvamLQXA597IFc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wc2XaESguFOepyvamLQXA597IFc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wc2XaESguFOepyvamLQXA597IFc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wc2XaESguFOepyvamLQXA597IFc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=O2s_UEv_ED0:1dJWRXvdYm4:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/O2s_UEv_ED0" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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