If you’re a Mac user and have been using Lion since its release in late 2009, you may be wondering how to break into the OS X operating system and start using it as your primary computer. If you’re not sure how to do this, or if you just want to try it out for yourself, here are some tips:

  1. Start by restoring your hard drive to its original condition. This will help you restore your computer’s original settings and data.
  2. If you’re using a Mac that was manufactured before Lion was released, there is no need to restore your hard drive; the computer will already be set up in this way. However, if you’ve been using Lion since its release, it’s a good idea to restore your hard drive so that all of your old settings and data are backed up and available if something goes wrong during the installation or startup process of Lion.
  3. If you’re not sure how to do this, consult Apple’s online support document for Lion (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT56922). This document provides step-by-step instructions on how to restore your computer to its original condition without restoring your hard drive.

It’s trivial to break into a Mac using an OS X boot disk, but new Macs use a restore partition for OS installations. Here’s how you can use that partition to reset a user password and break into a Mac.

All laptops that come with OS X 10.7 “Lion” or laptops that were upgraded to Lion have a restore partition for easy OS recovery. This easy-to-use recovery partition also opens up hackers to break into your Mac without needing any additional tools.

To reset a user password on a Mac with Lion you first need to restart the computer and hold the Command+R (⌘+R) keys. When the gray Apple logo shows up on the screen you can release the keys. Your computer should automatically boot into the recovery partition.

Start by selecting your language and then go to Utilities -> Terminal in the menu.

When the terminal opens, type the command

and the password reset utility will automatically start.

Once the tool opens, select the user you want to reset the password for and enter a new password (or nothing to blank the password).

Reboot the computer and you can log into the account with the new password.

The only way for a Mac user to protect themselves from this attack is to either set a firmware password or encrypt their hard drive. Even if the recovery partition is erased from the hard drive a hacker can automatically restore the partition by using Apple’s internet recovery feature. Look for more details on these options in future articles.