Locked out of mac

[lesmac]

Hi, it could just be my setup/system but this morning I was unable to enter my usual password on my mac pro 2010 after start up to log in. I'm running el capitan.

I put the security patch 2017 on a few days ago and suddenly the startup page looked different as well as not being able to log on.

A couple of settings enabled prior to this could have helped. I don't think I had "log in using apple id" ticked in case you put in the wrong password for more than 3 times. I have put my password in hundreds of times.

Also another user account with admin privileges would have been handy.

I booted from a Recovery Partition made with CCC and restored using time machine to an external usb drive and was able to get in so now I'm doing the restore to my main OS. I did a bit of googling and couldn't find an easy solution for my situation. What a drag.

Just a heads up really about getting your account settings in order before this update just in case.

[Len911]

I'm running el capitan.

It might be Kapitan now. Are there any backward looking letters?

[lesmac]

It might be Kapitan now. Are there any backward looking letters?

I think the only backward thing might be the operator.

[Len911]

[andygabrys]

My wife’s MacBook Pro running El Capitan sometimes does funny things on the login screen and the solution has been resetting the PRAM.

I would check that angle.

[lesmac]

by andygabrys » Mon Nov 06, 2017 12:13 pm
My wife’s MacBook Pro running El Capitan sometimes does funny things on the login screen and the solution has been resetting the PRAM.

Thanks Andy, my last restore went to the wrong drive. The ssd and sata drives show up with the same icon in the boot/restore menu. I didn't check the available space which is how I can differentiate them so I'm on my 3rd restore now. The first was a test on a usb drive and the second went to a backup I call os. I think I'll do some renaming. I'll reset the pram when I get my OS back.

After this security update my keychain access across all my devices has been acting up asking permissions. I reset the keychain and it seemed to help. There is no longer a keychain first aid which is a bummer, not that I did ever use it. I'll re emphasise that it may be advantageous to have 2 admin accounts and definitely have a check box ticked "login with Apple Id" if there is one there.



I gotta say without your advice on back up etc that you gave to a post of mine a while back, I'd really be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

[lesmac]

Update: With el Capitan there is no option to log in using your Apple id.

I did get everything running and restored up to a few days before the security patch was installed and I ticked automatic login as well as created another admin account.

As an aside, what made matters worse when dealing with the keychain thing and iCloud enabling the mac pro, when an authentication code was being sent to my phone weird things happened.

At home on my laptop the message on my phone would say someone near a place about 3 kilometres from my location had tried to access my account. When I did this from the studio computer, about 600 meters from home, the message would say it was from about 300 kilometres away [across a notorious stretch of water] in a city suburb! With my studio computer seemingly locking me out for no good reason I'm thinking has someone hacked my iCloud/apple account and now taken over my studio computer.

All in all I'm happy to be up and running again and will rather tentatively put the security patch back on tomorrow.

Funny I had been thinking lately after seeing this patch from apple that the good old days of not needing antivirus for macs might be over seeing as how iOS seems to be taking over the world.

[andygabrys]

Right on!

But sad about the virus thing.

[Len911]

At home on my laptop the message on my phone would say someone near a place about 3 kilometres from my location had tried to access my account.

Yes, you! I get that stuff all the time on Google, they think I am in some other town nearby. The cable company is in another city, although it isn't only that city, must be the cable company switches or something. If it's like the same way they track murderers on television by way of cell phone towers, I just hope I'm not arrested because they said I was elsewhere when I've been at home the whole time,lol!

Fwiw, I haven't used virus or malware software for years. It could be that I was hacked and they figured my identity wasn't worth stealing. The only time I remember having problems was with malware software until I got rid of it. I don't get much spam either. It's not something I would recommend to anyone, I'm just sayin'. But then my parents occasionally run into problems, and have overloaded emails and spam folders, even though I keep telling them to quit clicking on things that they don't actually search for, I don't know what they do, they don't listen to me,lol!

[lesmac]

If it's like the same way they track murderers on television by way of cell phone towers, I just hope I'm not arrested because they said I was elsewhere when I've been at home the whole time,lol!

When I received the notification to my cell phone (which I tether to my studio computer- I'd be totally lost without it.) it said the phone was in St Kilda which used to be infamous as a red light district!! I checked the distance and its over 700km away. My partner and I were actually probably near that location last month and maybe I turned off find my phone changed some tracking settings or whatever. Not for nefarious reasons, just trying to save some battery life. So many background apps want to use your location.

Some of this stuff just boggles the mind.

One thing I have done is copied three A4 pages of usernames and passwords from keychain, one by one.

I just can't put my faith in Apple or anyone else for that matter to not stuff things up with another update/upgrade/built in redundancy/cash grab.

It's not so much pure cynicism as self protection. When everything works its great, when it stops working as it should....AAAARRRRGGGGHH