singleWhiteMale I need you!!!! (and anyone else au fait with Macs)

[Jux]

SingleWhiteMale, you said you would be happy to help if I had any other questions regarding the resetting of the password on my late brother's laptop.

I cannot reset it using the system disk as there is a problem with the cd drive, which will have to be replaced - the disk is fine. I've firewired it up to one of the G4s and copied all data over.

Can I wipe the laptop and reinstall the system from the G4? I can't afford to replace the drive atm, as we still have two funerals to pay for, probate has not been achieved yet, bills are piling up etc etc.

Sorry, here

Thank you.

Sorry again - ignore previous posts!

I can't make a bootable copy - carbon copy cloner exists on the G4 but it is password protected!! I can't even download and install the latest Flash version as that requires a password!!!

I'm buggered, aren't I?

try reading this

Thanks fruitshoots, I've had a good read of that, and just had a go. It just keeps telling me "-sh: Applications: command not found" which I guess is good (hoping that means it hasn't done anything at all, rather than completely messed up everything!)

Not that it would make that much difference, really

Anyone got any other ideas?

bump

Hi Jux

The instructions that fruitshoots linked to should work - I did the same thing when I sold my powerbook so that it would go into setup mode when the new owner got it.

The "sh" error is the command line processor saying it doesn't understand what you're typing. You didn't type the *'s did you? (they're just bullet points.)

You just type this:
mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
shutdown -h now

Case is significant, so you need to put those capitals in .AppleSetupDone

Ah, I was clearly being very stupid yesterday! Yes, I did type the *'s. I noticed there was a question about that on the forum, but I couldn't find an answer to it.

I did put the capitals in, and was very careful about spaces. Believe it or not, I used to program; that was before PCs were invented and computers took up whole rooms and you climbed up steps to mount the floppies (which had to be kept in a fireproof safe overnight). They were huge, and required both hands and almost all my strength to lift them.

I'll have to do this tomorrow - can't face digging the laptop out of alternative space right now.

Thank you very much.

Thank you both. I've done it now (without the *s ) and I now have a new identity and a rather startling photo to go with it! Luckily, the only person to see it will be me.

It worked a treat.