This is because your Keychain password is typically the same as your Mac user password, but since you’ve reset it, the passwords no longer match. Remember, you will lose access to your old Keychain data and won’t be able to unlock your login Keychain. That’s how you can reset a Mac’s password without having to rely on using an Apple ID. You’ll be prompted to reboot your Mac and once it restarts, you can log in with the new password. Type in your new preferred password, choose a hint, and then click “Next”.

This will launch the Recovery Assistant where you’ll be able to reset your Mac’s user password.

Once Terminal opens up, type “resetpassword” without the quotes and hit the Return key.

Pull down the Utilities menu option, then choose “Terminal” from the dropdown menu, as shown in the screenshot below.

On ARM Macs: after reboot immediately hold down the Power button to access Recovery Mode, then choose “Options”.

On Intel Macs: As soon as the screen turns back on, start holding Command + R keys to boot your Mac into Recovery mode.

If you’re stuck in the login screen, you’ll find the restart option right below the password field.

Click on the Apple logo at the top-left corner of your desktop and choose “Restart” from the dropdown menu.

Simply follow the steps below to get started.

This method to reset your Mac’s user password is applicable to all the recent versions of macOS, and doesn’t require to type any complicated commands in Terminal. How to Reset a MacOS Password with Terminal via Recovery Mode

This article will be guiding you through the steps to reset a macOS password with Terminal via Recovery Mode, and it works with macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, and other recent MacOS releases. In such cases, if you forget your user password, you’ll have to resort to other ways to regain access to your admin or standard user account. While you can use an Apple ID to quickly reset a Mac password, that’s simply optional and not enabled by default, so many Mac users may not even be aware that is an option, let alone have it enabled.

How to reset password on mac desktop