Password reset

[ClaireL]

If i ban users from going on to system preferences, is there another way they can change their passwords?

 

[Ric]

Hi there and welcome,

yes there are lots of ways...here's two !

1) If they have access to a Mac OS System disk (DVD or CD) they can reboot the Mac off the System disk and use the password reset utility...you can change this by open firmware, so that it can't be done.

Have a read of this http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106482

2) If they have access to an admin password.

regards

Ric

 

[ClaireL]

Is that the only ways? I work in a secondary school so any admin or sytem info is too much to give... I want to stop them getting on system preferences because they will change eachothers passwords!

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

how will they change each others ? They would need to know the other users password ?

regards

Ric

 

[ClaireL]

They always tell eachother their passwords. We want to stop the access to system preferences, as its easy to change other peoples passwords, and leave it so when logged on, they can change their own... is there nothing like in windows where ctrl + alt + delete can allow them to change the password?

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

have you tried setting up "Parental Control"...

This would stop them getting into the Sytem Prefs ?

regards

Ric

 

[ClaireL]

Hi there,

have you tried setting up "Parental Control"...

This would stop them getting into the Sytem Prefs ?

regards

Ric

I have done that already, sorry not very good at explaining, never set up a mac before. Ive stoped them getting in there, but i still want them to have some way to change their password, without any admin rights

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

do you have OS X server ?

This can be done if you set a up user accounts, you can then limit which system prefs are available to each user...so your students would still be able to access System Prefs, but only the "Account Pane"...

regards

Ric

 

[ClaireL]

Hi there,

do you have OS X server ?

This can be done if you set a up user accounts, you can then limit which system prefs are available to each user...so your students would still be able to access System Prefs, but only the "Account Pane"...

regards

Ric

Thanks for the reply. It is planned to happen for the holidays, but as students are still using them, i wanted to have a play at the security settings. They are not on our networks, although we have plugged in a LAN to connect to the internet.

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

if you are getting OS X Server, then it is very easy to do.

You just set up all the students, as a group of users in 'Workgroup Manager' then setup whatever restrictions you want...

Allow access to "Accounts, Date & Time, Sound"" etc then when they go to System Prefs all the others are greyed out and can not be accessed.

regards

Ric

 

[ClaireL]

Hi there,

if you are getting OS X Server, then it is very easy to do.

You just set up all the students, as a group of users in 'Workgroup Manager' then setup whatever restrictions you want...

Allow access to "Accounts, Date & Time, Sound"" etc then when they go to System Prefs all the others are greyed out and can not be accessed.

regards

Ric

we are not having an OS X Server, at the moment anyway. We are having a company out to intergrate them in to our windows directory. Thats hapening in half term.

 

[Ric]

Hi there,

without using OSX Server I can't think of an easy way of doing it.

There may be a way of removing all the other System preference panes of the Mac so that only the Accounts one shows up...

I haven't got access to a Test Mac at the minute...but the theory is...

Set up the Mac exactly as as you want it to be then login to ad an Admin and go to...

System Folder-->Library-->PreferencePanes

Then remove any that you don't want anyone to access...

Then reboot.

Presumably at this stage you 'have' left the Accounts pane...

Now creat a new user for 'Student A' when this account is created it gets the "System Prefs panes" from the original admin account...because they are not there...they shouldn't show up in the new account.

I haven't tested this, will do later tonight, unless you do it first !

The obvious downside...noone will have access to any of the other System preference settings...not even the Admins.

Again, in theory, when removing them, you could copy the pane's to a hidden folder...then if you needed them access the hidden folder...drop them back into the correct folder reboot, and then change the settings...then remove them again !

As I said I have not tested this, but it should in theory work, just make sure the volume, display etc is all set to how you want it first before removing the prefernce panes...

I have no idea if this will make tha Mac unstable/usable you'll have to let us know if you test it !

regards

Ric

 

[ClaireL]

Cheers for the reply, not had chance to check it yet, but I will soon

 

[Ric]

I should get some free time tomorrow, so I'll give it a go...

Regards

Ric