Set the password for your account
If you are interested in understanding how to set the password on your Mac, the first fundamental step you need to take is to click on the icon System preference (Quella with l 'gear) that you find on Dock bar. Alternatively, you can access it by clicking on the bitten apple on the bar at the top left of the screen and then on the wording System Preferences ... give the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, click Users and Groups, select the dicitura Login options which is at the bottom left and then locate the menu Automatic login on the right and select Inactive from the menu you see appear. Done!
I would also like to point out that if you want, you can customize the behavior of the Mac in requesting the password by choosing whether and after how long to display the relevant entry request after the stop or the start of the screensaver. To do this, go to the main section of System preference (you can do it "on the fly" by clicking on rectangular button in the upper left of the window, next to those with the arrows) then presses on Security and Privacy.
Now, if you want to enable the request to enter the password after the stop or the appearance of the screensaver on your Mac (a function which, I would like to point out, is active by default) select the tab Generali and check the box Require password [selection menu] after stopping or starting the screensaver. Then choose from the selection menu attached to the option checked just after how long you want to display the request to enter the password and it's done.
I would also like to point out that if you want you can disable the automatic login also from the aforementioned section of the system preferences of the Mac. To do this, simply check the box Disables automatic login and it's done.
Please note: If you are unable to perform the above steps because the macOS earthquake preferences are blocked, first click on the closed padlock found at the bottom left of the window on the screen, type your current password in the appropriate field displayed and then click on the button Unlock. At this point, you should be able to tweak the system preferences as I have indicated.
Change Password
As anticipated at the beginning, as well as explaining how to set a password on your Mac I would like to show you, for completeness of information, also how to change it, in case you need it. To do this, go to the section System preference macOS by clicking on its icon (the one with thegear) present on the Dock or by first clicking on bitten apple at the top left and then on the item System Preferences ... give the menu that appears.
In the screen that you will see appear on the desktop at this point, click on Security and Privacy, select the scheda Generali and then presses the button Change password .... Then fill out the on-screen form by typing your current password in the field Previous password:, the new password you want to use in the fields New password: e Verifica: and a possible suggestion (so that you can remember the password chosen in case of forgetfulness) in correspondence with the field Password hint:. So press on the button Change Password but I will complete the procedure.
In addition to, as I indicated above, I would like to point out that you can change the password associated with your account on Mac by going to the section Users and Groups di System preference, selecting the your username from the list on the left and then clicking on the button Change password ... that you find on the right.
The steps to be taken at this point are the same as those seen together earlier. You must therefore type in the previous password, the new one and any suggestion and then click on the button Change Password to confirm and make the changes effective.
In both cases, I then point out that if you do not know which password to set to access your Mac you can use the appropriate tool password assistant included in macOS to generate a sufficiently secure one. To use it, just click on the button with the key that you find next to the field New password: after clicking on the button to change the password and select the type and length of the password. In this way, you will see the relevant suggestion and also the quality level of the proposed keyword.
Please note: If you are unable to perform the above steps because the macOS earthquake preferences are blocked, first click on the closed padlock found at the bottom left of the window on the screen, type your current password in the appropriate field displayed and then click on the button Unlock. Once this is done, you should be able to intervene on system preferences as I have indicated to you.
In case of second thoughts
After following the various steps above to be able to set the password on Mac have you thought about it and now would you like to enable automatic login again? It is an operation that, for reasons purely related to safety, I strongly advise you not to perform but if these are your wishes I will in any case show you how to proceed. First, always log in to System preference by clicking on the relative icon (the one with thegear) that you find on Dock bar or by clicking on bitten apple in the upper left part of the screen and then on the wording System Preferences ....
Now, click Users and Groups in the window that appeared on the desktop, select the wording Login options which is at the bottom left, locate the menu Automatic login on the right and select the your username from the menu that appears. Then type the password currently set for your Mac account in the field Password: and click the button OK. And There you go!
In addition to this, as I have just indicated, you can activate the automatic login by going to deactivate the request for entering the password on your Mac by going to the section Security and Privacy e by removing the check from the box next to the wording Disable automatic login in the card Generali.
To conclude and confirm the changes made, type the password currently associated with your user account in the appropriate field attached to the on-screen box you see and click on OK to confirm and apply all changes.
Please note: If you are unable to perform the above steps because the macOS system preferences are blocked, first click on the closed padlock found at the bottom left of the window on the screen, type your current password in the appropriate field displayed and then click on the button Unlock. You should then be able to adjust system preferences as I have indicated.
In case of forgotten password
Trying to enter the password of your user account several times in the login screen of the Mac, did you get a message indicating that the login data are incorrect? Don't panic! Let's try to cope with it together.
First, I recommend that you try to put the following simple solutions into practice.
- Make sure you type the characters correctly in uppercase or lowercase. If the keyboard has caps lock enabled, the password field shows the symbol Caps Lock, a freccia rivolta verse l'alto.
- If the password field shows a Question mark click on it to see the hint that may help you remember your password.
- Try to happen with the Apple ID password you use for iCloud. If you just changed your password and the new password doesn't work, try the old password first. If it works, you should be able to use the new password later.
If you then follow the steps above and fail to access your user account on Mac, you can try to reset the relevant password using the Apple ID. In some versions of macOS it is in fact possible to use the Apple ID for the scp in question.
To do this, on the login screen, keep entering your password until a message appears indicating that you can reset it using your Apple ID. If the message does not appear after three attempts, the account is not configured to allow reset in this way.
If you see the message appear instead, click on the symbol arrow and follow the onscreen instructions to enter your Apple ID and create a new password. At the end of the procedure, you will be asked to restart the Mac. Then log in with the new password and define whether or not it is necessary to create a new login keychain.
Then, if more than one administrator user account has been created on your Mac and if you know the password to access at least one of them, you can log in and reset the password for your account from there. Once logged in, you just need to log in to System Preferences> Users and Groups, select your account from the left sidebar, click on the button Change password ... and proceed as I indicated in the step of my guide dedicated, in fact, to changing the password.
If you think you need more details on the above practices, you can refer to the appropriate information page attached to the section of the Apple website dedicated to support for its products and operating systems.
How to set passwords on Mac
