Q&A for How to Bypass Parental Controls on a Mac

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Is there a master password to bypass the parental controls?

Community Answer

No, there isn't a master password.

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Question

If i delete the new administrator account, will it reset the parental control on the controlled account?

Community Answer

No, it will not. Deleting the new admin account will leave the current settings.

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Question

Does this delete the original admin account?

Community Answer

No. It just creates a new account with administrative privileges.

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Question

Will this erase everything on my computer?

Community Answer

No, everything you have saved on that computer should remain the same. Your account that you have used to access administrator should not be affected in other ways other than having administrations.

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Question

Can I delete the new admin account?

Community Answer

Yes, give admin privileges to your restricted account with the account you just created, then log into your main account that used to be restricted and delete the admin account you just created.

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Question

Will my data from other accounts stay safe with these methods?

Community Answer

Yes. You're just creating another account or logging into Parental Controls, it should not remove anything.

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Question

What should I do if my screen gets stuck at the continue or go back point? Nothing happens when I click continue, the back button can't be selected, and the computer won't shut down.

Community Answer

Hold the power button down for a few seconds. It may have frozen and the power button bypasses that.

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Question

How do I give admin privileges to my restricted account?

Community Answer

Do the instructions above and follow them carefully (case sensitive). Also don't forget to do the spaces in between some of them. If you do this correctly, you can make a new account with admin privileges and remove the parental controls.

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Question

Will bypassing parental controls allow me to delete anything that I want on my Mac?

Community Answer

There are some things that you can't delete, but everything else should work.

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Question

Will this delete the other admin account?

Community Answer

No, you can delete the other account on your own by going into the parental controls.

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Question

When I reset the computer, does it lose it's settings?

Community Answer

It depends if you saved them the last time you changed or edited them.

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Question

What should I do if I went to the startup terminal but it said "Permission denied"?

Community Answer

That means your account is not the admin account, and you need to contact the administrator to access the terminal.

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Question

Was this supposed to completely reset my computer?

Community Answer

No, it wasn't. It was supposed to create a new account that had administrator rights.

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Question

Will I be able to keep the applications that aren't built-in when I do it without authorization?

Community Answer

It depends on where you store them. Anything in the Applications folder should be fine. If you want to save them and avoid moving them to the Applications folder, every user has a "Shared" folder that can be used.

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Question

What do I do if when I run the commands nothing happens?

Community Answer

When you first type in the commands, it will appear that not much has happened, but if you continue with the instructions, you will see the effects. If that doesn't work, try typing them again, making sure you type exactly as instructed.

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Question

If you have two accounts on your Mac, will it delete the one that is not the administrator's one?

Community Answer

If you follow the steps, the third method allows for the creation of a completely new account. This should not delete any of the other system accounts.

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Question

What should I do if the startup terminal says "access denied" when I open it?

Community Answer

You do not have admin privileges. Do method three to get admin privileges to open the terminal.

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Question

I've tried Command-R and Command-S. Nothing is working, what should I do?

Community Answer

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Parental Controls. Click the lock icon to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password. Select the user, click the Action pop-up menu then choose Turn Off Parental Controls.

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Question

Is a Mac OS Mojave the same thing as a Mac OS X?

Community Answer

Mac OS X was the original name for what Apple's Mac computers ran on, and was called 'OS X'. In the 2019 WWDC, Apple renamed it to 'macOS', to line up with iOS, watchOS and tvOS. The different versions of macOS have different names, with different desktop backgrounds for each one. They were originally named after big cats, but then Apple ran out of big cat names, so they used names of locations in California, where Apple was founded and is based. Mojave is the 14th iteration of these versions of macOS, being 10.14. Originally, Apple had macOS going up in integer numbers, but then they stopped at Mac OS X and used that for the versions until now. The next version will be macOS Catalina.

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Question

How do I bypass parental controls on my Mac if command + S doesn't do anything?

Community Answer

You can do Command + R, then click Utilities. Click Terminal, then type in Resetpassword, then Return. It should reset your admin password to what you want.

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Question

If the AppleSetupDone method were to not work, how would I revert the changes made to the Mac?

Community Answer

Reboot into single user mode with the COMMAND-S combination at startup. Then type (without the quotes): "mount -uw /". This mounts the hard disk for writing. Then: "vi /var/db/.applesetupdone". This restores the file. Then, click the following keys: a colon, then a W, then a Q, and finally Enter.

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Question

How do I bypass the blocks of parental controls on a Mac?

Community Answer

Do step 3 and create a new admin account. It should give you administrative access for you to be a administrative user on the computer.

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Question

What model of Mac does the steps for bypassing parental controls work for?

Community Answer

Every type of mac should work with it. Even with the old mac types, the admin system should be the same so it should be fine.

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Question

Will the other admin be able to see that I did this?

Community Answer

This account will be visible to everyone. For the website changes they cannot see unless they go into parental controls.

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Question

Does creating a new admin account reset the Macbook or in any way erase data on the computer?

Community Answer

It would create a new profile with its own files. All data on other profiles would be kept intact.

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Question

What if a family member changed my password so I can't access my account on my MacBook?

Community Answer

Boot into recovery mode, open terminal, and type sudo resetpassword. This will open a window that will allow you to create a new password without knowing the old one.

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Question

Can you turn the password back to the old one after you make a new account without your parents knowing?

Community Answer

Yes, if you know the old password. If not, no. As the article says, doing this carries a risk of getting caught and getting in trouble.

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