Restoring Lost Administrator

Dan_Binder wrote:

Got the same issue here, though without even changing user name.

The problem with Erase All Contents and Settings is... you need admin privileges

I've seen some reports on these forums where a person's single admin user account became a Standard user account upon upgrading to Sonoma. You can try reinstalling macOS Sonoma over top of itself to see if it will allow you to create a new macOS admin user password, but I'm doubtful it will work due to the information I previously quoted to @leroydouglas, but it is your only option besides using the firmware "Restore" option which does require access to another Mac running macOS 12.4+. FYI, in order to reinstall macOS over top of itself will require booting into Recovery Mode. If Filevault is enabled, then it is unlikely you will be able to authenticate to access Recovery Mode.

Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac using Apple Configurator - Apple Support

Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon using Apple Configurator - Apple Support

I don't think this will work anymore. I believe Apple removed Single User Mode even from Intel Macs. And @Barney-15E noted this in their User Tips:

Restarting Setup Assistant to create Admin user - Apple Community

Here is the Apple article @Barney-15E linked wtihin the above where Apple specifically mentions removing the /var/db/.AppleSetupDone file no longer works if a macOS user account already exists (look near the bottom in the section "Bug fixes and other improvements":

What's new for enterprise in macOS Sonoma - Apple Support

* Removing /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone no longer relaunches Setup Assistant if a local user already exists on the Mac. Erase All Contents and Settings can reset the device and launch Setup Assistant.

Got the same issue here, though without even changing user name.

The problem with Erase All Contents and Settings is... you need admin privileges

chenrriquez wrote:

I have a 2021 Macbook Pro that is currently running Sonoma 14.1.1. I am the only user on the computer and recently tried changing the name of my user account. When I changed the name, my user account changed from an 'administrator' to 'standard'. I am now without an admin account on my computer and cannot change anything. Is there a way to restore administrative privileges?

Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder ...

Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder - Apple Support

Not advised to try and change the username because it can lead to some major headaches and loss of admin privileges.

Allow a new user to be setup with administrative privileges.

—Reboot macOS into "Single-User mode" by holding down Command-S

— Remove the file controlling whether the setup process is run by typing:

 rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

—Reboot by typing:

 reboot

— When the Setup Assistant appears, create a new account called admin (or any name other than the actual account name that you are trying to get back.)

Once this is done the previous account (still Standard) and a new admin account.

>System Preferences/Settings > Users & Groups

From your newly created account— then elevate the standard account back to admin by ticking 'Allow user to administer this computer'.

Alternatively you could leave the account as standard and just use the admin's credentials when prompted for authentication.

If you need more information you can reference more:

Lost Administrator Access admin changed to standard how to set an a… - Apple Community

Hi! have the same problem here, have you fixed it?

Hi! have you fixed this? i'm having the same issue.

I forgot to mention, that it is a good idea to have a second admin user account to have as a backup in case something happens to the main admin user account, but even this is not foolproof especially on the 2018+ models.