Administrator Help

Recently upgraded my Macbook to Snow Leopard 10.6.3, but when I try to upgrade itunes and some other software to something a little more current it asks for my admin name and password, I put it in as to what I thought it is but it's telling me its wrong. Looking in My Accounts in System Preferences I see I'm set up as a Standard User. Is this correct or does this have to be changed? if so how can I correct this.
Thanks.

Every Mac requires at least one administrator account. That is the login information you put in that box. If you aren't an Admin yourself, you need to put the admin account's login credentials.

EDIT: If you want, you can change your account to be an Admin in System Preferences/Users & Groups, but you'll need the current Admin login to do that, too. And while it's nice to just have that access, it's not considered the safest way to operate as Admins can do things in the system that standard users cannot. And those things can mess up OS X!

hab_fan54 said:

Recently upgraded my Macbook to Snow Leopard 10.6.3...

Click to expand...

Depending on how you upgraded this computer to Snow Leopard (not sure what OS version it was coming from) you either would have had to:

- setup a brand new account
- or you would have had to enter the old/current admin account info

So if you "recently" upgraded to Snow Leopard...this Admin account info really should be "fresh" in your mind.

In any case...if you can at least remember the Admin account name...here's how to change the Admin. password:

Mac OS X 10.6: If you forget your administrator password

- Nick

I know how to change the password but I'm having trouble with finding the Admin, I'm positive I'm putting the right information in, is there away to overwrite or make a new admin?

I also tried the reset the administrator password using the Mac OS X installation disc but nothing ever came up for putting in new admin or password information in.

hab_fan54 said:

...is there away to overwrite or make a new admin?

Click to expand...

If it's a "normal" Admin username and password...Yes…wipe/erase the HD and reinstall the OS.

- Nick

what about using method 2 of 2 on here? or is there anyway I can get around this without wiping the HD?
How to Reset a Lost Admin Password on Mac OS X: 7 Steps

hab_fan54 said:

what about using method 2 of 2 on here? or is there anyway I can get around this without wiping the HD?
How to Reset a Lost Admin Password on Mac OS X: 7 Steps

Click to expand...

The article doesn't seem to mention what Mac OS X versions it works with (maybe it works with all versions). In any case…I don't usually like to recommend to folks to do these methods (single user mode…or command line stuff)…since I don't know their expertise level (can do some real damage if done incorrectly). But if you're comfortable doing it…go for it.

- Nick

how would i go about wiping my HD and doing the method you suggested?

hab_fan54 said:

how would i go about wiping my HD and doing the method you suggested?

Click to expand...

- Insert & boot computer with Snow Leopard install disk.
- Open Disk Utility & erase and reformat HD
- Close Disk Utility
- Follow Snow Leopard install instructions

Just remember. Any other installed apps will need to be reinstalled after doing this. If you don't have any other installed apps…then no problem.

* Nick