Mac Password

There are several steps to password protect a Mac, we’ll cover the essentials so that if someone is to turn on your Mac, wake it from a screensaver, or wake from sleep, they will be required to enter a password in order to use the computer.

Password protect system boot

This will require a password on system boot before anyone can use the Mac

• Open “System Preferences”
• Click on “Accounts”
• Click on “Login Options” in the left corner of the Accounts window
• You may need to enter the administrator password to make changes here, in that case click on the lock icon in the lower left corner
• Under Login Options, set “Automatic login” to “Off”
• Optional security measure: set “Display login window as” to “Name and password” – this will require someone to enter a name and a password into a blank field, providing no hints for usernames
• Click the lock icon again to prevent any further changes

Now anytime your Mac boots, a user login screen will appear before anyone can access the desktop or your files. If you’re into tweaking things, this login screen can be customized rather easily with a unique background, message, and logo.

Now this password protects your Mac on boot, but let’s also password protect your Mac when waking from sleep and waking from a screensaver.

Password protect a Mac screensaver and when waking from sleep

We’ve sort of covered this tip before when showing you how to lock a Mac screen using a keyboard shortcut, so you may already have this enabled:

• Open System Preferences
• Click on “Security”
• Under the “General” tab, select the checkbox next to “Require password after sleep or screen saver begins”
• Optional security measure: set this to require a password immediately, otherwise set the amount of time you are comfortable with
• Exit System Preferences

Now anytime your Mac activates a screensaver or is put to sleep, you will need to enter a password to gain access to it again. You can also use the keystroke Shift+Control+Eject to activate the password lock screen immediately.

If you’ve somehow managed to forget your Macs password, you can learn how to reset it using a variety of measures.

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