Password reset on iMac circa 2002

There is no "recovery mode" for a Mac of that vintage, so Command-R is useless. The feature was not introduced until OS X Lion shipped in 2011. Up until that point Mac's shipped with a set of OS reinstall CD or DVD discs that would be used to reinstall the OS and accompanying apps. If you have those, now would be the time to use them.

However, if you don't have those discs, you might be able to trigger the Setup Assistant to run again by booting the Mac into single user mode and deleting a particular OS file. If you can trigger that, then you can create another new user account with admin privileges that you can use to access the Mac and reset the password or the existing user account.

Please see this old Community thread: Removing AppleSetupDone doesn’t trigger s… - Apple Community

That could be one of the models from 2003. The latest system it can run is 10.5.8, Leopard. The Safari for that model will not operate many of the websites that require more modern browsers.

As already recommended it's time to retire the iMac and get a new one.

That being said conside this: a 10 Core Mac Mini M4 with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD ($999 + tax) with a 27" LG 4k monitor ($250 + tax from Amazon.com)  is $1249 + tax which is $560 less than a similarly configured new 24" iMac ($1799 + tax)  re 07/2025.   

You'd be much better off upgrading.

If you cannot discover a way to change the password to your son's user account on the iMac, then the first thing to do will be to copy your son's entire home folder to another, external drive. Once done, you can again park the old iMac in a corner and work on your MacBook to recover his photos from the copy without further risking the loss of the originals. Better yet, make two copies on two different drives.

To access the files and folders in the copy of the home folder, do a Get Info on the home folder. Unlock that panel by clicking the lock icon at the bottom of the info window. Once unlocked you can then add yourself as an administrator with read/write privileges. Finally, "Apply to enclosed items..." that change. If done successfully you should now have unlimited access to all of the folders and files nested within that home folder.

Change permissions for files, folders or disks on Mac – Apple Support

JohnSS007 wrote:

That's very helpful thanks. I presume I can copy his home folder onto a USB memory stick?

You're welcome.

Yes you can, if the memory stick has the capacity. Macs of the era typically didn't use much storage space as compared to what is expected these days, obviously. A memory stick would be fine.

JohnSS007 wrote:

Partial success! Got in via Command+s, following instructions from another thread. OSX is 10.1.5

I have set up a new Admin account too, but I'm unable to change the password on my son's account. I really need to gain access to his family photos (unfortunately he is no longer with us). Any ideas please?

If you have control of an Admin account, you should be able to change your son's password. Remember that you will have to authenticate (e.g., click on a lock icon in the GUI or use the sudo command in the Terminal) to do this. Having a Admin account doesn't mean that you run with superuser (root) privileges all of the time. It means that you can gain those privileges temporarily by authenticating.

If it is really that old, then you;ll need to search online for how you enter the recovery mode on a 23! Year old mac