How do I regain main administrator status on my MacBook Air?

What is the error message, or where exactly does it fail to work?

Based on https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254631413?answerId=258649543022#258649543022

Intel Computer

1 - Shutdown the computer

1A - Restart computer and immediately hold the two keyboard combo Command r

1B - If using a Bluetooth Keyboard with Rechargeable Battery - Cable the Keyboard to computer for this unique purpose. Bluetooth Kernel may not load soon enough to execute the 2 keyboard commands

2 - Top Tool Bar >> Utilities >> Terminal

3 - Type resetpassword as one word and no spaces

4 - Press Return key

5 - Follow the prompts and remember the New Password

Apple Silicon M1 / M2 Computer

1 - Choose Apple menu > > Shut Down.

2- Do not attempt a Restart to access this feature. The computer Must be Shutdown and pause for about 10 seconds before moving forwards

3 - Press and hold the power button on your Mac until you see “Loading startup options.”

4 - Click Options, then click Continue.

5 - Top Tool Bar >> Utilities >> Terminal

6 - Type resetpassword as one word and no spaces

7 - Press Return key

8 - Follow the prompts and remember the New Password

If you have another macOS admin user account on this Mac, then log into that admin user & make your "Standard" user an admin. Otherwise, you will need to erase your Mac & restore from a backup made prior to your admin user becoming a "Standard" user account.....or you can create a new admin user during Setup Assistant (use a different name), then restoring your most recent backup followed by upgrading your restored "Standard" user to an admin user. There are no other options when running macOS 14.x+.

Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings - Apple Support

Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support

Of course if you don't already have a good Time Machine backup, then you will first need to make one. Of course if you utilize some other backup method, then you will need to restore things a bit differently depending on your third party backup.

Edit: Did you by any chance try to change your macOS user name or try to relocate your home user folder? If not, then what happened between the last time your account was an admin and now?

battleship2016 wrote:

Hi Tesserax ....Ok so I have tried this method as an intel processor and it has not changed . In user and groups Im still have a "standard" logon profile so I click on the information icon which reveals another box which asks me to "Allow this user to administrate this computer" I then click the button pertaining to this line and it then asks me to put in my "Administrator user name and password" when I do this it tells me Im wrong by shaking the box ?

So I can't make myself an Administrator of my computer which is very frustrating....... any ideas please ?

Many thanks Alex

Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip

This would include the MacBook Air from 2019

The Secure Enclave on this computer would be associated with the Touch ID functions

Does the Touch ID on this Standard Account work to unlock various matters

Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac, log in, or switch users

• Unlock your Mac and some password-protected items: When you wake your Mac from sleep, or open a password-protected item, just place your finger on Touch ID when asked.
• Log in from the login window: Click your name in the login window, then place your finger on Touch ID.
• Only user accounts that have passwords can be unlocked with Touch ID. Sharing-only users and guest users cannot use Touch ID.

If none of this works , this begs the question

Are there " Profiles " listed and used on this computer ?

Intro to device management profiles

Still no success ?

Thanks to a respected contributor @leroydouglas

if in doubt about admin from your logged in user account,  from Terminal.app copy and paste —

dscacheutil -q group -a name admin

What is the Terminal output of the above command ?

Which exact model is your MBA? I'm assuming that it is still running macOS Sonoma 14.8, per your tagline ... correct? Since you have an Intel-based Mac, I am trying to ascertain if yours has the T2 chip. If it does, it will introduce another account, named the "Owner" account. The only way to recover this account is to completely erase your Mac and re-install macOS.

Let's start with how did your Mac get into this situation? Did you accidentally rename it? Re-installed macOS? Migrated from another Mac? Etc?

As you know a Mac has to have, at least, one Administrator-level account. By default, when you first set up your Mac, this is the first account that it set up. Typically, when your Mac is in this situation, using Recovery > Terminal > resetpassword, allows you to set a new password of the Administrator account. This account should appear in the list of users.

Start by seeing if this post can help: Restoring Lost Administrator on macOS Sonoma

... then Limnos has already provided you the answer. Which path you take will depend on whether your MBA has an Intel or Silicon CPU.

What changed, or what might you have changed, between the time you had admin access and now?