Mac stuck on login screen after update to Ventura/Monterey/Big Sur/Catalina or after entering password? Mac won’t boot is not a new issue but still a tough call for ordinary users to fix it. Well, this article will walk you through the reasons, symptoms and 6 solutions to solve Mac won’t let you login in after a macOS update or stuck on spinning wheel after login with password.
macOS stuck at login screen is a complex issue, indicating there’s something bad coming with your Mac system and it needs to be repaired as quickly as possible.
The symptoms of "MacBook stuck on login screen" can be different, but generally your Mac may stuck on:
Or your Mac:
By knowing the symptoms, we can now take immediate actions to fix the problem.
Do the most essential things at first, as they don’t require any tech support.
When everything is ready, boot your Mac with peripherals reconnected.
Safe Boot feature is included since Mac OS X 10.2. It minimizes the apps on your Mac to help identify the issue that causes your macOS stuck at login, or any issue correlated with your startup disk. So not only will it restrict your applications, but also check through startup drive.
Matters need attention:
Just like booting in Safe Mode, the Single User Mode assists to isolate and fix the common problems that can keep your MacBook stuck on login screen from starting up properly. This method is suitable for advanced users who are comfortable with UNIX or has comprehensive knowledge of the command line.
SMC controls a host of important functions in a Mac. It deals with many amusing things, from keyboard backlight, charging, fans, etc. to system performance. That resetting the SMC to original factory settings is an all-in-one solution, which can also fix your iMac, MacBook Air or MacBook stuck on login screen after update.
For desktop Mac, iMac or MacBook:
For Mac laptop:
For old Mac laptop with removable battery:
NVRAM is used to store some settings and access them fleetly. PRAM is similar to NVRAM, and shares the same steps with NVRAM. If you experience issues like Mac stuck on boot screen after update to latest macOS, resetting NVRAM/ PRAM may give you a hand.
Recovery Mode was offered since OS X Lion in 2011. It shows you 4 options applied to fix connected drives with Disk Utility, restore data from Time Machine, reinstall macOS and get help online. I guess two of them are likely to repair your macOS stuck at login issue.
Option One. Run First Aid from Recovery Partition
Option Two: Reinstall macOS
If none of the solutions work out to fix the MacBook stuck on login screen issue, then reinstalling macOS will be the last option.
Attentions of reinstallation:
Also, you can check the video tutorial as following:
Data loss from the hard drive may follow Mac stuck on boot screen.If you didn’t manage to back up your Mac data before, you won’t be able to recover lost files via Time Machine after macOS upgrade.
Fortunately, Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac- an effective and powerful recovery program, allows you to retrieve a wide range of file formats (Keynote, PDF, JPG, PNG, MOV, RTF, etc.) or any types (video, documents, archive, etc.) of deleted, formatted, corrupted data on Mac. It’s absolutely safe and keeps your data private.
After the installation, launch Cisdem Data Recovery on Mac.
Go to Disk Data Recovery and choose the drive where you lost the files.
Click on Search for lost files button to find files on your drive. You can use the filter tool to quickly search specific lost files.
Once the scanning process is done, you can preview them for saving your time on data recovering. Finally, choose the target files and click on "Recover" button. In no time, your files that lost after “Mac stuck on boot screen” fixed will be retrieved.
It can be troublesome and distraught that your MacBook stuck on login screen after update to Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur or stuck after entering password with unknown reason. Worse still, you may lose files in the meantime. We introduce 6 practical solutions to get macOS stuck at login issue fixed, along with 1 data recovery program to restore lost files after mac update, but the safest plan is to keep backups of all vital files on Mac.
Peter has always had great enthusiasm for writing, programming and web development. He likes writing about software and technology, his works are featured on some tech blogs or forums like Tom's Hardware, CNET, etc.