Incorrect username/password + Files to Backup

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I'm trying to assist a friend with their Powerbook G4 running Leopard with my limited Mac knowledge.

Firstly, something has happened and they can't get beyond the standard login (name & password) box to actually get into their files etc...

They are sure of their password, but not 100% sure of the name as it's normally just there and never needed to by typed.
We've tried lots of combinations of name/password, but each time the login box "shakes" indicating something incorrect I presume? (does it lockup after a certain number of incorrect attempts?)

Is there anyway to find the EXACT login name(s) on the laptop?
Is there anyway to reset the password (assuming we can determine the correct username) without doing damage to whatever may be installed?


On a totally seperate note, how can I access the files (itunes, iphoto, documents) and copy them onto my USB stick as a backup if I can't login?
If I boot from the O/S disk and select "Disk Utility" will this let me do this?
 

chscag

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Just boot the machine with your original install media, skip past the install, go to the menu and reset your name and password. Reboot.
 
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Just boot the machine with your original install media, skip past the install, go to the menu and reset your name and password. Reboot.
When you boot from the original O/S disk, you have to confirm the language, and then select agree to the license, select the destination drive for the install, and then what?
How do you skip it actually continuing with the install?

What menu do you go to and what do you select?
 

chscag

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Select the top menu, "Utilities", Reset name and password. Also, if you've forgotten your username, take a look at this hint: LINK
 
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1) I've tried the previous suggestion without success as it says "no available users" when I select Macintosh HD as the correct drive when asked where the user account is.

10.5: Reset a user's password in single user mode - Mac OS X Hints
also doesn't work as I don't know the correct logon name and everything I guessed wasn't recognised.

I've now setup a root account so I can actually get into the system and see the files etc...

When I go into the "Users" folder, there is "jaqui" & "Shared" listed.
Jaqui is the name of the lady who owns the laptop and if I click on her name, I can then see her Desktop contents, Documents, Music etc.. which is all good.

I'm now stumped, as "jaqui" doesn't work as a valid logon name when I tried to change the password on the above link.



2) I found & tried the following:
fsck -yf

mount -uw /

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServicesLocal.plist

passwd #this will change root’s password, you will be prompted to enter it twice

dscl

list Local/Default/Users

I then get a long list of system-type names, the majority start with "-" except for 3 names at the bottom of the list:
daemon
nobody
root

no sign of jaqui as I would have hoped and no clue who "nobody" or "daemon" are!
 
C

chas_m

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This is classic "someone renamed the home folder" chaos. From where you are now, it's virtually impossible to fix.

You can use the root account and an external drive to save the ENTIRE user account folder (ie the "home" folder) to the external for future use, but after that I'd just wipe the drive and start over (Migration assistant will probably be able to "restore" your user from there).
 
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This is classic "someone renamed the home folder" chaos. From where you are now, it's virtually impossible to fix.

You can use the root account and an external drive to save the ENTIRE user account folder (ie the "home" folder) to the external for future use, but after that I'd just wipe the drive and start over (Migration assistant will probably be able to "restore" your user from there).

I tried to copy the files to my USB stick.
I selected "copy" on the folder, went to my USB stick (it's formatted in NTFS as I use it for my Windows backups, but I can see all my files on there) but there was no "paste" option when I right click on this folder.

Am I missing something obvious when trying to copy?
 
M

MacInWin

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Or, you can format the USB stick as FAT32 and it will be readable/writeable from both OSes.
 

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