Reset Master Password on Snow Leopard with a Leopard DVD?

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Hello everyone,

I did my best to search for an answer before posting and didn't find one.

My question is: Can I reset the master password for Snow Leopard using a Leopard boot disc?

Why am I doing this you ask? Well, I locked myself out of Filevault and can't login, and I've forgotten my master password. So I went to boot from my Snow Leopard DVD but my optical drive refuses to read it (no scratches). I tried my girlfriend's Snow Leopard DVD with the same result. So in a desperate attempt to unlock my MBPro I tried my old Leopard DVD - and voila, it worked.

Can I use it to reset my master password without causing new problems?

I intend to buy a new optical drive tomorrow since it refuses to read most other CDs and DVDs I have.

Thanks in advance,
-Medoc
 

chscag

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You can't reset the FileVault master password from a bootable DVD or anything else for that matter. If you forgot your FileVault master password, you are locked out of your data since there is no way to reset or recover.

Put on your thinking cap and try to remember the password.
 
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FIXED!

Thanks for the link harryb2448. I managed to find the same article and it helped.

I used the Leopard disc to enable the root user and realized that I had changed my account name so it no longer matched my home folder, which I'm guessing is why FileVault wouldn't let me log in. I restored the original name and then deleted the master password key and created a new one. Problem solved.

So it turns out that a Leopard DVD can be used to fix a Snow Leopard installation. I guess the two are similar enough in that regard.

Thanks everyone.
 

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