Ok, please enlighten me:

[MAME]

A coworker's mom died and left a mac to use for the decendant. Unfortunately, a folder has a password on it. Come to think of it, perhaps there's a startup password? I'm not sure exactly, the guy had no idea what he was talking about. Is there any way to get in to said folder (or whatever has the password)?

I don't know anything about macs really so I was hoping you guys could help out.


The computer is pretty old I'm sure so it probably has an older version OS. Please let me know! Thanks!

EDIT
As mentioned:

Originally posted by: loki8481
for starters, I know nothing about macs... but why couldn't you just reinstall the OS onto a new drive, and mount the old drive as a slave?

I should have mentioned it in the first post: the amount of money he'd have to pay for me to do that would be more than the computer is worth. Not to mention he has no software that I'm aware of. So unless I pirate a bunch of software, he'd have a useless computer.

 

[thirtythree]

hit it with a hammer.

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: thirtythree
hit it with a hammer.

:|

 

[Spoooon]

If it's password protected, maybe she doesn't want anyone to see what's in it? Maybe it's best to leave well enough alone.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: thirtythree
hit it with a hammer.

:|

:|

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: Spoooon
If it's password protected, maybe she doesn't want anyone to see what's in it? Maybe it's best to leave well enough alone.

Uh...the lady is dead. I have a feeling the computer is password protected, but I guess it might just be a folder. She didn't want other people to use it without her permission I guess, but she's dead so that pretty much doesn't matter. I'm not asking for ethical advice, I just want to know if this is possible. Otherwise they have to toss the whole thing which would suck butt.

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: thirtythree

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: thirtythree
hit it with a hammer.

:|

:|

 

[Spoooon]

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: Spoooon
If it's password protected, maybe she doesn't want anyone to see what's in it? Maybe it's best to leave well enough alone.

Uh...the lady is dead. I have a feeling the computer is password protected, but I guess it might just be a folder. She didn't want other people to use it without her permission I guess, but she's dead so that pretty much doesn't matter. I'm not asking for ethical advice, I just want to know if this is possible. Otherwise they have to toss the whole thing which would suck butt.

Well, excuse the sh*t out of me.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: Spoooon

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: Spoooon
If it's password protected, maybe she doesn't want anyone to see what's in it? Maybe it's best to leave well enough alone.

Uh...the lady is dead. I have a feeling the computer is password protected, but I guess it might just be a folder. She didn't want other people to use it without her permission I guess, but she's dead so that pretty much doesn't matter. I'm not asking for ethical advice, I just want to know if this is possible. Otherwise they have to toss the whole thing which would suck butt.

Well, excuse the sh*t out of me.

 

[milagro]

Toss the whole thing? wtf? just blow away the drive and rebuild if necessary...

actually, sounds like premature posting on your part...find out exactly what the prob/situation is then return for better advice..

 

[Spoooon]

Originally posted by: thirtythree

Originally posted by: Spoooon

Originally posted by: MAME

Originally posted by: Spoooon
If it's password protected, maybe she doesn't want anyone to see what's in it? Maybe it's best to leave well enough alone.

Uh...the lady is dead. I have a feeling the computer is password protected, but I guess it might just be a folder. She didn't want other people to use it without her permission I guess, but she's dead so that pretty much doesn't matter. I'm not asking for ethical advice, I just want to know if this is possible. Otherwise they have to toss the whole thing which would suck butt.

Well, excuse the sh*t out of me.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: milagro
Toss the whole thing? wtf? just blow away the drive and rebuild if necessary...

actually, sounds like premature posting on your part...find out exactly what the prob/situation is then return for better advice..

Don't throw it away... Whatever's in that folder can't be all that important. You might try getting to it from the CLI, as opposed to the GUI.

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: milagro
Toss the whole thing? wtf? just blow away the drive and rebuild if necessary...

actually, sounds like premature posting on your part...find out exactly what the prob/situation is then return for better advice..

Well it's one of two things: a folder or an os password (or I guess something else, I don't know macs) so I thought someone could give advice that covers both. I don't think it's really an issue narrowing it down.

Anyway, there's no way in hell I'm investing that much time to format and install a new OS, programs and explain how to use it to someone. They would rather just buy a new computer all together than pay me. So that's why I wanted to know if I could get in past the password.

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: milagro
Toss the whole thing? wtf? just blow away the drive and rebuild if necessary...

actually, sounds like premature posting on your part...find out exactly what the prob/situation is then return for better advice..

Don't throw it away... Whatever's in that folder can't be all that important. You might try getting to it from the CLI, as opposed to the GUI.

there's a command line interface for macs?! how would i go about using it?

what would I do if it's not a folder, and instead an OS password?

 

[nageov3t]

for starters, I know nothing about macs... but why couldn't you just reinstall the OS onto a new drive, and mount the old drive as a slave?

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: loki8481
for starters, I know nothing about macs... but why couldn't you just reinstall the OS onto a new drive, and mount the old drive as a slave?

I should have mentioned it in the first post: the amount of money he'd have to pay for me to do that would be more than the computer is worth. Not to mention he has no software. So unless I pirate a bunch of software, he'd have a useless computer.

 

[MAME]

!

 

[MAME]

??!

 

[MAME]

no way ?

 

[LuNoTiCK]

If you have the original CD it should be real easy. Just do a clean install, it's real simple with a mac. The person can do it himself. Anyone can do it. Just put the cd in the drive, and while booting up hold the 'C' key down. Than choose a clean install.

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: LuNoTiCK
If you have the original CD it should be real easy. Just do a clean install, it's real simple with a mac. The person can do it himself. Anyone can do it. Just put the cd in the drive, and while booting up hold the 'C' key down. Than choose a clean install.

ok, but what if it's a folder that they want to get in to?