How do I change the root password?

Everybody seemed very confused by the story and extra information I gave so I will simply ask a very straightforward question. Irrespective of your personal opinion on the utility of doing so; how does a person change the root password?

Also, the apple help page that I linked originally, and that some of you additionally linked to does not actually say how to change the root password, it only says that it can be done.

If you can already log in on an account with administrator privileges (normal OS X account) and know its login password, you can reset the passwords of other admin accounts in System Preferences > Accounts. If you can't, you can reset the passwords of admin accounts in single user mode. See this question.

If you actually mean the password of the root user, it can be changed from /System/Library/CoreServices/Directory Utility.app/, but you have to be logged in on an admin account and know its login password.

If you don't have the password to the current admin account, there'll be no way to reset anything without a) calling your dad and asking for the old admin password, or b) restarting the computer in an alternate mode of some sort.

However, to expand on what @patrix and @jaberg said, you should not reset (/set) the root password. Resetting the root password is both more difficult and less useful than resetting a regular admin account's password. On OS X, the root account is generally disabled for login because you do not need (or want) to log into it. If you need to do root-like things in the GUI, there may be a padlock to click on & then enter your admin name & password, or you may just be prompted directly. At the command line, you can run commands as root with sudo (note that it'll prompt for your admin password, not the root password).

You can either change the password to your dad's admin account (in System Preferences -> Users & Groups), or create a new clean admin account for yourself (also System Preferences -> Users & Groups, then click the padlock and authenticate with your dad's admin password, then click "+", choose "Administrator" from the New Account pop-up menu, enter the rest of the account info you want).

You may still run into other leftover password issues, like the Apple ID account & password that was used to buy apps from the App Store; this has nothing to do with local accounts on your computer, so the root/admin/etc passwords are irrelevant here.

If you have Admin on the box try this in a terminal window:

Adminuser$ sudo passwd root

Adminuser$ Password (enter your Admin password)

Adminuser$ Changing password for root.

New Password: *****

Retype New Password: *****