School admin account

[ericuhftw]

I recently purchased a Macbook running Snow Leopard off of eBay. It runs great, but the person never wiped the drive.

Whenever I turn it on, it brings me to a login screen, and it says "Mooreville High School." It took forever to find a way to get around it.

I tried following a few suggestions I saw online about going to system preferences->accounts, giving myself admin rights, then deleting the original admin account. It wouldn't let me do that.

I can't remove things from the dock, I can't move anything to the trash. In fact, I really can't do much more than browse the internet. The Mac didn't come with any disks, and I really don't have the money to have Apple intervene.

If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm on my metaphorical knees right now.

 

[Kaveman]

There is only one way,

I tried following a few suggestions I saw online about going to system preferences->accounts, giving myself admin rights, then deleting the original admin account. It wouldn't let me do that.

why won't it? because you don't have the password?

The only way to change the password is with the startup DVD.

This is industrial strength security.

 

[ericuhftw]

There was also this method that I haven't tried yet:

http://nothing.golddave.com/2010/12/27/more-mac-password-hacking-snow-leopard/

If that doesn't work, do you think installing Lion would be the best bet? I had someone tell me that using the Snow Leopard disk might not work if the version currently on the computer is later than the DVD version.

 

[Walrus666]

There was also this method that I haven't tried yet:

http://nothing.golddave.com/2010/12/27/more-mac-password-hacking-snow-leopard/

If that doesn't work, do you think installing Lion would be the best bet? I had someone tell me that using the Snow Leopard disk might not work if the version currently on the computer is later than the DVD version.

Reinstalling Snow Leopard will work if you perform an "Erase And Install."

 

[ericuhftw]

There's no way to do it with just the dmg file is there?

 

[Walrus666]

There's no way to do it with just the dmg file is there?

This might help.

 

[Kaveman]

Going to Lion is still going to ask for the Admin Password.

Easiest way is to get a Snow DVD set. Any other your risking killing your new Mac. It is possible to brick them. Then it's buy a new HDisk.

 

[ericuhftw]

I'll try this and let you know how it goes.

 

[ericuhftw]

Kaveman-

Would a copy of the DVD work? I used to have a Macbook before this one and I think I made a spare copy of the Snow Leopard disk.

 

[Kaveman]

Not a good idea to use a different models DVD, should be a Retail version or the same model computer. A different models DVD would most likely not even mount.

Can't you ring the school and ask for the DVDs? most schools have boxes of the things.

 

[ericuhftw]

Actually, I think I may have just figured out what was wrong with it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Walrus666]

Hopefully, you'll end up doing an erase and install. This way you'll have a brand spanking new operating system and all of the garbage from from the previous owner ( and, who knows what that may be) will be removed.

 

[ericuhftw]

Looks like all I had to do was remove the server it was attached to. Everything is working normally now. Thank you all for your suggestions! I really appreciate it.