[Robert Hodgen]

Having the ability to change the text on Mac OS X’s Login window is not an explicit feature of Apple’s operating system, it is however possible. Some of the reasons you may want to add text to your Mac’s login window are: security, lost/found and identification. Adding text to the login window is easy and I'll show you two ways of doing it.

Method One - the text editor way

This method requires a program like TextWrangler that can edit and save protected system plist files, I've tested it with TextWrangler so I know it works in addition to being my favorite.

Step 1: Open the file com.apple.loginwindow.plist in the folder /Library/Preferences located on the root of your boot drive. The full file path is /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist

Step 2: Add something like the text below after the <dict>:

<key>LoginwindowText</key>
<string>Text to be shown at user log in.</string>

Step 3: Log out and enjoy your new login text!

Method Two - the terminal way

This method uses the terminal so there is no need to locate the file above or add the XML markup. Here we can also verify if we were successful.

Step 1: Open Terminal.app in the Utilities folder in Applications.

Step 2: Type the following line into the terminal, but change the text within the "quotes", then press return.

defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText "Text to be sown at user log in."

Step 3: Log out and enjoy your new login text!

Optional: Verify if you were successful.

Open Terminal.app and type the following in then press return. If you were successful you should now see the text you set.

defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText

[Robert Hodgen]

I'll go ahead and give an example of how I use this on my MacBook Pro.

I mostly use this in case my laptop is lost or stolen, and I use the following (of course with a real phone number):

This laptop is the property of Robert Hodgen.
If found call +1 555-555-5555 for reward.