Member Avatar for PAC3MAN

I am unable to access my administrator account. I am running snow leopard on an imac. Have run disk repair, repair permissions and cleared pram several times. I did have some corrupted stuff in extents and some catalog issues but disk repair fixed. When logging into the admin acct. The tool bar on the desk top appears and then a blue screen appears and then the menu with various accounts reappears. The account desktop never appears. I wonder if there would be a corrupt file in the library that should be taken to trash? Seems like there is a fairly straight forward way of restoring the account desktop but i can't remember the process. Any help will be appreciated.

  • 2 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 261 Views
  • 1 Month Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by PAC3MAN

Dani AI

Generated

Quick summary: the behavior described (menu bar appears, then a blue/blank screen and a return to the account list) is a user-session crash rather than a full-disk failure. Creating a fresh administrator account (the single‑user / setup‑assistant trick suggested by ) is a reliable recovery path — it lets the system be used to examine logs, fix ownership/permissions, and selectively migrate data so corruption isn’t reintroduced. confirmed that route worked and files were recovered.

Probable causes and diagnostics: common culprits are bad login items, corrupted preference plists in the user’s ~/Library, damaged LaunchAgents/Daemons, or wrong ownership/permissions on the home folder. Since Disk Utility was already run, focus on session-level causes. From a working admin account, check Console.app for crash reports (look for crash names like loginwindow, Finder, Dock or WindowServer) and inspect /Library and ~/Library locations for third‑party agents or startup items.

Safe recovery workflow (after creating a working admin account):

  • Do not copy the entire ~/Library wholesale. Copy user data selectively: Desktop, Documents, Pictures (iPhoto/Photos libraries), Music (iTunes library), Movies, and Mail/AddressBook data folders only.
  • Move suspect prefs out of the way (do not delete) so macOS can recreate clean defaults. Examples: com.apple.finder.plist, com.apple.dock.plist, login-related plists.
  • Remove suspicious items from Accounts → Login Items and from /Library/LaunchAgents and ~/Library/LaunchAgents.
  • Verify home-folder ownership and apply to enclosed items (Get Info → Sharing & Permissions or fix with admin tools). Example command-line pattern to copy data safely and reset ownership (run from a working admin account):
sudo rsync -a --exclude='Library' /Users/olduser/ /Users/newuser/
sudo chown -R newuser:staff /Users/newuser

If problems persist, reinstalling Snow Leopard from the install DVD (after a full backup) can refresh system files without erasing user data. Always make a backup (Time Machine or a bootable clone) before major operations.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for CaptKase

Pac3Man,

Have you tried booting in safe mode by pressing shift as soon as you start up? This is one way to troubleshoot your admin login.

Or, if that doesn't help you figure out what the problem is you can create a new admin account by:

Reboot
Hold down the apple or command key +s after you hear the chime
When you get the prompt enter, pressing return after each line:
mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
shutdown -h now

This will create a new admin account and you can delete the old one or whatever.

Hope this helps you out

CK
custom USB drives

Member Avatar for PAC3MAN

Tried to reply to this earlier from my iphone but the posting did not go through. Anyway, safe mode does not help from what I can see. I am considering reinstall the OS. I wonder if deleting some corrupted files from library would do the trick but I am not sure what to purge.

Member Avatar for PAC3MAN

Thanks CaptKase. Its has been decades since I used the system prompt to enter commands. Used to work in DOS a lot but skills eroded (disappeared over time). Anyway, your suggestion enabled my new admin account and was able to recover the files and information previously associated with the disfunctional admin acct.

Member Avatar for PAC3MAN

Issue resolved

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.