How to recover a forgotten Mac password
Use Recovery Mode
Hope this is just a “what-if” for you, but let’s imagine it happened. You forgot Mac password and can’t access any of your accounts. There are no password hints and you can’t call it to mind, even though you’ve already tried to enter all pet names. For such cases, there’s a method to recover your password via Apple’s Recovery Mode.
To activate the Recovery Mode on an Intel-based Mac:
- Turn off your computer
- Hold the power button + Command R
- Wait for the loading bar to appear on the screen while your Mac boots to Recovery.
If you have an M1 Mac, the process is slightly different:
- Turn off your computer
- Press and hold the power button
- Click Options > Continue.
Here’s how to reset password on Mac from Recovery Mode:
- Access Utilities in the Apple menu
- Choose Terminal from the Utilities window
- Type “resetpassword” (in one word), and click Return
- Go to the main hard drive and choose your user account
- Lastly, change Mac password, create a hint to easily recollect it in future, and click Save. You’ll be able to use the new password after a restart.
