Mac OS X 10.5: Unable to log in after an upgrade install
Symptoms
If you perform a Mac OS X 10.5 upgrade installation from a version of Mac OS X that was previously migrated from Mac OS X 10.2.8 or earlier, you may not be able to log in to your user account if the password contains eight or more characters. This article applies to Mac OS X version 10.5 installation discs; this issue should not occur with installation discs that contain Mac OS X version 10.5.1 or later.
Note: If, after installing Leopard, you are unable to log in to an account that has no password, see this article instead.
Products Affected
Mac OS X Server 10.5, Mac OS X 10.5
Resolution
If you can log in or are logged in
Download and install the Login & Keychain Update 1.0 for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to avoid the issue later.
If you are unable to log in
you can use these steps instead:
- Restart in Single User mode (hold Command-S during startup). Note that single-user mode always uses the US English keyboard layout.
- At the prompt, type this followed by Return: mount -uw /
- Type this:
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist
- Press Return
- Type this, then press Return: ls /Users
- Look at the listing and note the short name (username) of the affected user account.
- Type this:
dscl . -delete /Users/username AuthenticationAuthority
Note: Replace "username" with the affected user account's short name you noted above. - Press Return
- Type this, followed by Return: passwd username
Note: Replace "username" with the affected user account's short name you noted above. - At the "New password:" prompt, type the user's password, then Return. Note: It is recommended that the original user's password be used to match the keychain password.
- At the "Retype new password" prompt, type the same password, followed by Return.
- Type this, followed by Return: reboot