Okay, ye geniuses of MR... here's a puzzle for you.
A 2015 MB Pro that I handed over to my wife has been running fine for a while now. All of a sudden, though, just a few days ago... it stopped booting her profile. And just hers. There are two other User profiles on there that boot just fine.
Hers, though, froze up while she was using Safari... was restarted... and afterward, it gets about 80% through the white progress bar under her profile pic and freezes. We've waited hours and still no go.
So, before you ask, here's what we've got to work with and what we've tried so far...
* All three User accounts on the computer are admin level.
* The system running is Monterey 12.5, which was recently updated.
* We have tried a Safe Boot, which gets us past the stuck progress bar but opens to a black screen.
* We have tried Disk Utility in recovery mode, no problems found.
* We have tried changing the password (which was successful, but progress bar still sticks).
* We have reset her home folder permissions, with the guidance of an Apple rep.
* We have reset SMC, PRAM (or NVPRAM... it's 2015 though, so I think it's PRAM).
* We have tried key combinations that would force quit apps in the background.
* We have looked at the User folder from other Admin accounts and all the data is there.
I think that's the full list.
Right now, I'm in the process of copying her Home folder to an external drive for backup. (Slow going as it's 600GB+ and, because it's a 2015 machine, we're going between a USB A port on the MB to a USB C port on the drive).
When that's done, what I hope will work is that I will go into another admin account on the computer, hit the minus button on her User profile, and then create a new User that I can reattach to her original home folder. I have instructions from Apple that describes the process:
-----------
As mentioned on call,
Use System Preferences > Users & Groups to remove the affected user [HERE, HE GIVES THE NAME OF HER ORIGINAL USER PROFILE], selecting the option "Don't change the home folder" when prompted.
Go into the /Users folder and rename the deleted user's home folder from "[HERE HE NAMES THE ORIGINAL USER FOLDER NAME] (Deleted)" to "[HERE, HE SAYS TO CHANGE THE HOME FOLDER NAME TO THE SAME AS BEFORE, BUT MINUS A SPACE IT HAD]". Please note how the space has been removed. No spaces should be used for the "Account Name" or the name of a home folder (these items should match) for a user in macOS.
Create a new admin user with the Full Name "[HERE, HE SAYS TO USE THE NAME OF HER ORIGINAL USER PROFILE THAT WE DELETED]" and Account Name "[HERE, THE NEW HOME FOLDER NAME MENTIONED ABOVE]", so that the existing home folder (/Users/[NEW HOME FOLDER NAME]) will be assigned to this user.
Log out and login as the recreated user.
-------------
That sounds very practical and doable to me.
Only problem: just to see the prompt that I should get when I delete the afflicted User Profile, I went as far as the minus sign option... and the prompt that comes up isn't what's expected.
That is, I don't get a box that asks me what I want to do with the home folder.
I just get a box that asks me if I really want to permanently delete that user. With no other buttons than a confirmation or cancel. I cancelled and started the back of of her home folder.
What's weird is that when I try the same on another, working User Profile on the same computer, I do get the prompt to keep that home folder where it is.
Why would one not give me that option while the other does?
Again, both accounts -- broken and working -- are admin level.
Once the backup is done, I'm going to go ahead and delete her busted User account. And then, I hope to see her user account home folder in finder listed with the "(deleted)" after it. After which, I'll go ahead and follow the steps above to create a new user profile that I can attach to the renamed home folder.
But still... something is weird here, right?
Anybody here, among this experienced and wise bunch, have knowledge that can enlighten on this?
To add to the challenge, please note I've now spent a cumulative 9 hours on the phone with Apple reps. They've done screen shares while I followed their steps. We've done things in command line (the permissions fix in Single User mode, for instance). And we've talked it all over on the phone, extensively.
It was escalated to the engineer level, but the guy I'm working with was out yesterday. That's why he emailed me the instructions above. I hope to follow them before Monday and, hopefully, have a fix.
In the meantime, though, I'd love any ideas you guys could share. Many advance thanks.
A 2015 MB Pro that I handed over to my wife has been running fine for a while now. All of a sudden, though, just a few days ago... it stopped booting her profile. And just hers. There are two other User profiles on there that boot just fine.
Hers, though, froze up while she was using Safari... was restarted... and afterward, it gets about 80% through the white progress bar under her profile pic and freezes. We've waited hours and still no go.
So, before you ask, here's what we've got to work with and what we've tried so far...
* All three User accounts on the computer are admin level.
* The system running is Monterey 12.5, which was recently updated.
* We have tried a Safe Boot, which gets us past the stuck progress bar but opens to a black screen.
* We have tried Disk Utility in recovery mode, no problems found.
* We have tried changing the password (which was successful, but progress bar still sticks).
* We have reset her home folder permissions, with the guidance of an Apple rep.
* We have reset SMC, PRAM (or NVPRAM... it's 2015 though, so I think it's PRAM).
* We have tried key combinations that would force quit apps in the background.
* We have looked at the User folder from other Admin accounts and all the data is there.
I think that's the full list.
Right now, I'm in the process of copying her Home folder to an external drive for backup. (Slow going as it's 600GB+ and, because it's a 2015 machine, we're going between a USB A port on the MB to a USB C port on the drive).
When that's done, what I hope will work is that I will go into another admin account on the computer, hit the minus button on her User profile, and then create a new User that I can reattach to her original home folder. I have instructions from Apple that describes the process:
-----------
As mentioned on call,
Use System Preferences > Users & Groups to remove the affected user [HERE, HE GIVES THE NAME OF HER ORIGINAL USER PROFILE], selecting the option "Don't change the home folder" when prompted.
Go into the /Users folder and rename the deleted user's home folder from "[HERE HE NAMES THE ORIGINAL USER FOLDER NAME] (Deleted)" to "[HERE, HE SAYS TO CHANGE THE HOME FOLDER NAME TO THE SAME AS BEFORE, BUT MINUS A SPACE IT HAD]". Please note how the space has been removed. No spaces should be used for the "Account Name" or the name of a home folder (these items should match) for a user in macOS.
Create a new admin user with the Full Name "[HERE, HE SAYS TO USE THE NAME OF HER ORIGINAL USER PROFILE THAT WE DELETED]" and Account Name "[HERE, THE NEW HOME FOLDER NAME MENTIONED ABOVE]", so that the existing home folder (/Users/[NEW HOME FOLDER NAME]) will be assigned to this user.
Log out and login as the recreated user.
-------------
That sounds very practical and doable to me.
Only problem: just to see the prompt that I should get when I delete the afflicted User Profile, I went as far as the minus sign option... and the prompt that comes up isn't what's expected.
That is, I don't get a box that asks me what I want to do with the home folder.
I just get a box that asks me if I really want to permanently delete that user. With no other buttons than a confirmation or cancel. I cancelled and started the back of of her home folder.
What's weird is that when I try the same on another, working User Profile on the same computer, I do get the prompt to keep that home folder where it is.
Why would one not give me that option while the other does?
Again, both accounts -- broken and working -- are admin level.
Once the backup is done, I'm going to go ahead and delete her busted User account. And then, I hope to see her user account home folder in finder listed with the "(deleted)" after it. After which, I'll go ahead and follow the steps above to create a new user profile that I can attach to the renamed home folder.
But still... something is weird here, right?
Anybody here, among this experienced and wise bunch, have knowledge that can enlighten on this?
To add to the challenge, please note I've now spent a cumulative 9 hours on the phone with Apple reps. They've done screen shares while I followed their steps. We've done things in command line (the permissions fix in Single User mode, for instance). And we've talked it all over on the phone, extensively.
It was escalated to the engineer level, but the guy I'm working with was out yesterday. That's why he emailed me the instructions above. I hope to follow them before Monday and, hopefully, have a fix.
In the meantime, though, I'd love any ideas you guys could share. Many advance thanks.
