How to Make Yourself an Administrator From the Terminal on a Mac

User permissions on the Mac OS X operating system determine whether a user can perform certain operations, like changing sensitive settings or installing new programs. Setting a user as an administrator will allow her to perform these sensitive operations on a Mac. User permissions can be changed from either the System Preferences or the Terminal app.

1. Open a Terminal window. Click the "Go" pull-down at the top of the Finder, select "Utilities" and double-click the "Terminal" icon.

2. Type "sudo dscl . -create /Users/username" and press "Enter." Replace "username" with a one-word name to identify the user. Replace all instances of "username" in future steps with the same one-word name. Enter your computer's administrator password and press "Enter" again. The prompt drops to the next line.

3. Type "sudo dscl . -create /Users/username UserShell /bin/bash" and press "Enter."

4. Type "sudo dscl . -create /Users/username RealName "John Smith"" and press "Enter." Replace "John Smith" with the new user's full name.

5. Type "sudo dscl . -create /Users/username UniqueID 1001" and press "Enter." The number after "UniqueID" must be an ID number that is not assigned to another user.

6. Type "sudo dscl . -create /Users/username PrimaryGroupID 1000" and press "Enter."

7. Type "sudo dscl . -create /Users/username NFSHomeDirectory /Local/Users/username" and press "Enter." This creates a home folder for the new user.

8. Type "sudo dscl . -passwd /Users/username password" and press "Enter." Replace "password" with the desired password that the new user will use when logging in to the computer. You may need to type your computer's administrator password again to complete this action.

9. Type "sudo dscl . -append /Groups/admin GroupMembership username" and press "Enter" to give the new user administrative privileges. To make the new account a limited user account, skip this step.