Resetting XCreds Authentication DB

When doing a macOS migration, reinstall, or for resolving issues, it is sometimes beneficial to reset the authentication database back to factory default. The authentication db is responsible for determining if the login window is shown, and is also responsible for when the user is prompted for admin credentials.

Resetting the database

To reset the database, boot to recovery, open terminal and run this command (substitute /Volumes/”Macintosh HD” for your disk name):

mv /Volumes/"Macintosh HD"/var/db/auth.db to /Volumes/"Macintosh HD"/var/db/auth.db.aside

Reboot after running this command. At reboot, macOS will recreate the auth.db. Note that this does not delete the database, but moves it aside to a file named auth.db.aside. Once everything is verified to work, you can remove auth.db.aside.