Can't use or change my system password. Lion 10.7.5

[Kurt Abrams]

Hello!
I've been having password problems for the past month or so. I first noticed that I couldn't update Flash because the installer rejected my system password. Today I tried to solve the problem, looking online for fixes, but nothing has worked so far.
1) Tried to reset my password on the "Users & Groups" System Preferences pane.
2) Restarted holding the "Option" key at the boot chimes > "Recovery HD" > "Mac OS X Utilities" > "Utilities" > "Terminal". Entered 'reset password' on the command line. Kept terminal open. Completed the "Reset Password" pane. "Password not saved. You may not have permission to edit this disk or a general failure has occurred."
3) Restarted in "Single-User Mode": "Command" + S at boot chimes. In the command line entered:
a) mount -uw /
b) launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.opendirectoryd.plist
c) dscl . passwd /Users/myusername mypassword
d) reboot
After this third attempt, I attempted to install some software and received the following message: "An error prevented the installation of .... Authorization failed. 100022".
I also used Disk Utility on my "Macintosh HD" to verify and repair permissions, which was successful; however, when I tried to verify and repair the disk itself, I got "Incorrect number of thread records (4, 24418)".
I purchased a new SSD and battery earlier this summer, knowing that I would have to clone my existing HDD to the new drive, but now I can't do much of anything without my password. If I could get a working password, I'd try to repair my HDD with DiskWarrior.
Here's another question: how can I create a "Repair Disk Partition" on my new SSD, using existing 10.7 software? Here's an article which seems to say the Disk Utility can do it: "OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant" [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202294].
If I only had a password! Thank you all in advance for your wisdom.
~ Kurt

 

[Rod]

The part I dont like is, "You may not have permission to edit this disk or a general failure has occurred." you would seem to have followed the correct proceedure to reset the password using Terminal in the Recovery Partition. Did you also try to repair the HD from the Disc Utility in the Recovery Partition?
You might also try creating another user with admin rights and attempt a repair from that.

 

[Kurt Abrams]

Hi Rod,
Thanks for your note. I just tried the Users & Groups pane and couldn't unlock or add a new user. I tried to repair the HD from both Disk Utility and from the command prompt in Single-User Mode, but not in the Recovery Partition.
Do you think that I might have been hacked, contracted a virus, or my HD is damaged? I'm stumpted.
Thanks again,
Kurt

 

[harryb2448]

Well no virus as there are no Mac OS X viruses in the wild. I think your HD is failing hence od's suggestion boot into Recovery Mode, go into utilities and run Repair Disk from there. You cannot repair a disk you are booted from.


https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201314

 

[Rod]

If you cannot boot into Recovery mode then obviously you cannot repair or diagnose a problem with your HD. You need another boot volume either on a thumb drive or even another Mac. For example connecting another Mac via Target Disk Mode might allow Diagnosis, repair or file transfer to (in the worst circumstance) save your data. It does, unfortunately, sound like drive failure.

 

[Kurt Abrams]

Hi Rod,

Both you and harryb2448 suggested that I go into Recovery Mode and run Disk Repair from there. This I did with no success.

On MacRumors, keysofanxiety wrote the following:

Sounds like an awkward issue. Might be best to go for the simpler option: fit the SSD and install a fresh copy of OS X. If you're looking to clone or keep your data, but not have the hassle of the user profile/password, then you can use Migration Assistant to copy the stuff from the old drive.

What do you think? This should take care of my password problem, and I will then be able to repair my current HD with DiskWarrior and use it as an external drive. I'll need to make a copy of OS X on a thumb drive. I assume that I can jump straight to a newer OS, 10.8 to 10.11. Is this correct, or should I install 10.7 on my new SSD and then upgrade the OS later?
How should I partition my new 1TB SSD? Should it be one partition, or a 1GB recovery partition and another for everything else? I plan on using SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner for updates in the future.

Thanks again!

 

[Rod]

I'm not sure this is a simpler option but if you have an external drive enclosure that will cope with 3Tb then yes you can go that way. You can install a clean copy of an OS on the new SSD but first you need a bootable installer. It will have to be OSX 10.11.5 because you cannot obtain Lion (unless you purchased it from the App Store) but as stated in post #5 if you have that then you don't need to.
As far as upgrading goes that will depend on your current apps and the specs of your device. Will they all be compatible with El Capitan? If so installing El Capitan and and migrating you data from your original drive is a viable idea.
Having said that if you have a bootable source eg A bootable El Capitan Installer on a USB flash drive you can possibly repair the drive or transfer data to another storage device.
As for, "using SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner for updates in the future". That is a very good idea and would have avoided all of this.

 

[Kurt Abrams]

Hello again Rod. Thanks for your reply. I'd like to upgrade to a more current OS after I can check the compatibility of my applications. I do have an enclosure for the new 1TB SSD and have just downloaded a 10.7 dmg file via torrent. I plan to connect the SSD, in the USB enclosure, to my mid-2012 MBP and format it with Disk Utility to have one partition. I have Diskmaker X (Lion Disk Maker) to make a Lion recovery disk to a 16GB thumb drive. I'll use this drive to hold future recovery disks when I upgrade my OS.

I think that I can just install 10.7 directly from the .dmg to my USB-connected SSD. Am I correct? Then I will remove the old HD and install the new SSD. (I will also replace my old tired battery — 1013 load cycles, running at 62.5%.) I'll put the old HD in the USB enclosure so that I can have access to my stuff and settings; I take it that I should be able to boot from the old HD in Target Mode. I'll also "break-in" the new battery with a charge-discharge-charge cycle.

At this point could I try to repair the HD with DiskWarrior?

What's the best way of transferring data from the HD to the new SSD? If I transfer everything wholesale (using Migration Assistant?), is there a potential problem introducing any unrepaired glitches from my old HD to the new SSD?

Thanks again, Rod, for your invaluable assistance.

 

[chscag]

A warning... we do not condone downloading OS X from a torrent as that is illegal. OS X Lion was not a free download and still is not. It is a pay for version of OS X as is Mountain Lion and all versions of OS X previous to Lion. OS X Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan are free downloads but from Apple only. Apple does not authorize any other site except its own for obtaining any version of OS X.

Therefore we are going to close this thread and not answer any more of your questions relating to the thread.