MacOS Monterey Problems – Fixing Issues with macOS 12
Difficulties with new system software versions seem to always occur for a small subset of unfortunate users, and MacOS Monterey is no different. While MacOS Monterey has installed fine for most users, for an unlikely group, there may be a variety of problems or issues experienced with MacOS Monterey.
This article will detail some of the problems and difficulties experienced with macOS Monterey, and when possible offer some solutions or fixes to the issues experienced. Be sure to share your own experiences in the comments as well.
Problems with MacOS Monterey & How to Fix Them
Let’s check out some known issues with MacOS Monterey, along with some troubleshooting tips to resolve the problems.
MacOS Monterey Not Showing as Available, “Unable to Check for Updates” Error, etc
If MacOS Monterey is not showing as available to download in Software Update as expected, it may be because of several reasons, both of which are typically easy to determine and remedy.
- The Mac is incompatible with MacOS Monterey – you can check a list of macOS Monterey compatible Macs here if you are not sure
- There is a temporary hiccup in communicating with the Apple update servers – confirm that wi-fi is on and you have internet access, then refresh the Software Update control panel by hitting Command+R
If you know you’re on a compatible Mac, and Software Update is still not showing Monterey as available, you can also find a direct download link for MacOS Monterey InstallAssisant.pkg here, which will place the full installer within your /Applications/ folder.
MacOS Monterey Feels Slow
Some Mac users may feel that MacOS Monterey is running slower than a prior macOS release they had installed. This is fairly common after any major system software update, because after installing a new OS a variety of maintenance and indexing tasks are kicked off in the background to do things like rebuild the Spotlight search index and reindex photos.
If the Mac feels slow after updating to MacOS Monterey, the best thing you can do is simply leave the Mac turned on and wait. You can typically speed up the indexing process by leaving the Mac on and idle with the screen off, perhaps overnight. Performance should recover within a day or two, depending on the amount of data to index.
Wi-Fi Dropping or Not Working as Expected with MacOS Monterey
Wi-fi issues seem to happen with some regularity to a subset of users with any system software update. From wi-fi dropping connections, to slow speeds, to other wi-fi abnormalities, all manner of wi-fi problems can crop up for some users after updating system software.
Fortunately wi-fi problems are typically one of the simplest issues to resolve, and often simply trashing current wi-fi preferences, rebooting, and then rejoining a wi-fi network is enough to resolve the problem.
Bluetooth Dropping, Not Connecting with MacOS Monterey
Some users have found that MacOS Monterey drops bluetooth connections for some devices.
Sometimes simply disconnecting and then reconnecting the Bluetooth Device from the Mac will resolve the problem.
Also, be sure the batteries on the Bluetooth devices are fully charged, or if they’re swappable are fresh. Often Bluetooth randomly disconnects due to batteries being low, so charging the batteries of the device that is problematic is a simple solution.
If you know the batteries are charged, another trick is to remove the Bluetooth Device from the Mac, reboot the Mac, then add and pair the Bluetooth Device to the Mac again. Yes that’s a little tedious but it tends to resolve these issues.
If all else fails, you can often fix Bluetooth errors by trashing the preferences.
You can also reset your Bluetooth module with the following command entered at the Terminal:
sudo pkill bluetoothd
This basically mimics the Option+Shift click of the Bluetooth menu item to reveal “Reset Bluetooth Module” menu option in prior macOS versions.
MacOS Monterey Won’t Download or Install
Some users are experiencing issues even earlier in the update process, where macOS Monterey won’t download, an incomplete installer has downloaded, or MacOS Monterey won’t install at all.
Typically these sort of issues can be resolved by dumping the current installer, rebooting the Mac, and then redownloading the full macOS Monterey installer either from System Preferences, the App Store, or by direct download of the InstallAssistant.pkg file.
Some users may see an error stating “An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.” If you see this error, try redownloading the installer and running it again. Note however if the Mac is using a third party non-Apple SSD, that particular error message may persist until a firmware update has been able to install with an official Apple SSD, more on that in a moment.
MacOS Monterey Won’t Install Onto Macs with Non-Apple SSD
Some Mac users who have replaced the built-in SSD drive on their Mac may find a peculiar “A required firmware update could not be installed” error message on the Mac running with a third party SSD.
There isn’t a great solution to this problem for the time being, but one solution is to replace the third party SSD with an Apple SSD again, install MacOS Monterey onto the Apple SSD, then replace the Apple SSD with the third party SSD again, and install MacOS Monterey onto there. This allows the firmware update to install onto the Mac, but it’s obviously a huge hassle because you have to physically swap out a hard drive several times.
Presumably this issue will be resolved in a future MacOS Monterey update.
Additional info can be found at the tinyapps blog.
“Your System Has Run Out of Application Memory” Error and Memory Leaks with Monterey
Some Mac users running MacOS Monterey have discovered issues with runaway memory usage. This is not subtle if you are impacted by it, because you will receive a pop-up error informing you “Your System Has Run Out of Application Memory” and offering a Force Quit menu with memory usage shown to quit out of offending apps with.
In the most absurd examples, apps like Mail, Pages, Final Cut, Brave, or Firefox are consuming 80GB of memory (in the form of swap), rendering the Mac and the application basically useless and nonfunctional. Sometimes system apps and tasks are running into this issue as well, like Control Center, FaceTime, or Notifications.
Some reports indicate that using a custom cursor size or color in macOS may cause the memory leaks, therefore if you are using any customizations to the Mac cursor, it would be a good idea to reset those back to default for the time being.
One temporary solution to this is to quit out of the memory hogging app, then rebooting. The “system out of memory” error may appear again after some time, in which case again quitting and rebooting is the temporary solution.
Sometimes, the Mac becomes completely unusable by the memory leak, requiring a hard forced reboot (pressing and holding the power button).
Alternatively, you could try using a different app with the same functionality, for example using Safari instead of Firefox.
This is obviously some type of bug that will certainly be resolved in a future macOS Monterey update, and perhaps updates to individual apps as well.
MacOS Monterey Rendering Some Macs Unusable / Unbootable / Bricked
This is a rare but serious problem; some Mac users have discovered that installing MacOS Monterey renders their Mac completely useless. If you are impacted by this, the MacOS Monterey update does not succeed, and the Mac eventually boots to a black screen that does not progress further. A forced reboot does nothing. A future boot leads to nothing but a black screen. Attempting to reboot into Safe Mode or Recovery Mode also does not work (if it does, simply reinstalling macOS through Recovery should resolve the problem).
We first received reports of this bricking Mac problem on the day that macOS Monterey was released, but assumed they were a fluke. Since then, the reports have been more frequent, and more covered in other Apple resources online, suggesting the issue is more widespread than a rare fluke.
It’s not entirely clear what the issue is with this, but it’s presumed to be a failure of a firmware update during the MacOS Monterey installation.
Unfortunately there is no known fix or resolution to this issue, except for contacting Apple Support and having them start a repair.
At least one report online suggested that restoring an Apple Silicon Mac in DFU mode by using another Mac resolved the issue, but that process is extensive and rather advanced as covered here for Apple Silicon and here for Intel, requiring two modern Macs.
This is obviously a bug or some other issue with the MacOS Monterey installer, and will certainly be resolved in a future update.
Though this problem is not common, it is also not so exceptionally rare that it should be discounted entirely. If your Mac is mission critical, you may want to hold off on updating to MacOS Monterey until this particular issue is resolved.
Update 11/5/2021: Apple has acknowledged this issue with T2 Macs and apparently resolved the firmware issue. For anyone who is currently impacted by this problem, impacted users are told to contact Apple Support for assistance, according to MacRumors.
“Volume Hash Mismatch detected on volume. macOS should be reinstalled” Error
A fair number of macOS Monterey users have reported a curious error message that states: “Volume Hash Mismatch – Hash mismatch detected on volume disk1s5. macOS should be reinstalled on this volume.” or some variation of that error message.
Often the “Volume Hash Mismatch” error appears after a major system crash, kernel panic, and reboot.
Some Mac users have discovered their Mac becomes increasingly unstable after they have experienced this error message.
For some users, reinstalling macOS fixes the issue.
Reinstalling macOS does not resolve the error for everyone however, which makes it even more curious.
Using Disk First Aid also does not seem to make a difference.
Downgrading to macOS Big Sur does appear to do away with the error, but that’s not a reasonable option for most users.
It’s unclear what the cause of this error is or what will ultimately resolve it, perhaps a future macOS Monterey version.
USB-C Hubs Stopped Working with MacOS Monterey
Some Mac users discovered that some USB-C hubs stop working after updating to MacOS Monterey, or they may work sporadically, frequently disconnecting, or only some of the USB-C hub ports are working.
Curiously, some users who are impacted by this find that switching USB-C cables, using a shorter USB-C cable, or changing ports on the Mac can resolve the issue.
“A required firmware update could not be installed” Error During macOS Monterey Update
The “A required firmware update could not be installed” update is typically associated with using a Mac that was upgraded with a third party SSD, or on a Mac where MacOS Monterey is attempted to install on an external SSD.
Variations of this error may phrase different error messages, like:
“Compatible internal storage is required in order to update.”
or
“An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.”
or
“A required firmware update could not be installed.”
Sometimes simply attempting to reinstall macOS Monterey will resolve this issue.
In some cases, where the problem is associated with a third party SSD installed on a Mac, the current workaround is to switch the SSD back to the Apple SSD, install MacOS Monterey onto that, then switch back to the third party SSD, then install macOS Monterey again. A hassle, certainly.
Trackpad Tap To Click Not Working Properly in Monterey
Some Mac users have discovered that tap-to-click is no longer working as expected after updating to macOS Monterey.
Some reports state that tap-to-click ignores the first tap input, requiring repeated taps to achieve the same result.
In testing, I was able to replicate this issue a few times on a Retina MacBook Air 2018 model, but not with any consistency. It’s possible this is a bug, or the input sensitivity for tap-to-click was changed.
If you use tap-to-click as your preferred input mechanism, this can be a frustrating issue. Using a regular click is a temporary workaround, or simply dealing with the sometimes ignored tap clicks.
Adobe Photoshop Elements Not Working, Freezes with MacOS Monterey
Many users report that Adobe Photoshop Elements may freeze upon launch, crash, or not open at all.
This is presumably going to be fixed by Adobe in a future software update released by them.
Apps Crashing, Freezing, Not Working as Expected in macOS Monterey
Some third party apps are experiencing issues with MacOS Monterey, whether the apps crash, freeze, or otherwise don’t work as expected.
For third party apps that are experiencing incompatibility with MacOS Monterey, updating apps regularly, and/or reaching out to the app developer is the best course of action.
Part of the purpose of Apple’s beta software period is for app developers to get their apps compatible and ready to function as intended with the new macOS system software and whatever architectural changes are made in it. For some developers, this process can take longer than others, and some apps may be incompatible with the latest MacOS Monterey release because of that.
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Have you experienced any trouble with MacOS Monterey? Did you find a solution here that worked to resolve the issue for you? Did you find another solution to a problem with MacOS Monterey? Share your experiences in the comments below.
I have a late 2015 iMac, which was running perfectly until now having Monterey.
Images in Luminar software keeps zooming to max size. does not hold still. not possible to work in this software.
however in Photoshop there is no issue of images zooming.
But in PhotoShop and LightRoom the Bracket keys don’t work. The brush slider cannot be controlled by the bracket keys and also in the slider. Also the use of Option key keeps zooming the image in photoshop. Tried all different set up of Preferences, no use.
hello, i have an early 2015 13in airbook, with macos 12.6.1.
ive had this airbook as my daily use device when im at home, use my smart phone when i leave the house, etc. since 2020
its also been a learning experience device, happenstance wise.
some things that ive learned most all of it after the fact not before hand
there are specific instructions for removing
xcode
safari tech preview
beta OS software, and exiting asociated groups etc.
you cant or shouldnt just drop them in the trash can.
also i for a time was experiencing a ?multi kernel panic event, or its just a single kernel panic
screen goes black and white text appears stating that the system will reboot in a second or you need to restart the machine, due to a kernel panic, etc
this would happen each time i connected my corded kensington orbital trackball mouse, while the airbook was on or running
if i connected the trckball while it was off, and then turned power on, everything was fine,
almost like the usb plugnplay element wasnt working or the usb ports werent hot swappable, only thoughwith that trackball mouse
i first thought it was an initial voltage/amperage onset ramp up issue or it maybe
the mouse is trying to pull more current than is nominally available or more than its capable of instantaneously thus panicing the system?
anyways
i observed something i think as odd, in system preferences/sharing/file sharing/computer settings.
it opens a window and it shows a list of the computers or accounts
that i can enable access for, there are a total of 3 in this list 1 of those is my admin account for the airbook
the other 2 entries are blank entries but if you click the box for the blank entry it pops up a window saying that i need to input the password for said account….
any ideA?
another questison or two
last night i was running ONYX after i had ran an ertesoft pro report the other day and had opted to view the hardware software profiles.
in the onyx window
il backpedal.. each time ive ran ertesoft pro the past year, I think the issues started after joining /leaving os beta program and which was after i had deleted xcode also,
but ive always had the erte report notate these minor issues with kernel based things, mainly Kexts,(kernel extensions running,
activity monitor always shows insane high cpu use, and insane memory ramm percentages
in like 3 apple system processes that are like core functions of the OS,
im not privy as to how important every single one of these profiles are, in regards to my airbook
but the error messages and then what id call a worrysome amount of these being errror’d
i went through and wrote down each one that were in the list…. not doing that knowingly ever again Took a couple hourS
the main 2 messages or description id see
were
dependicies: incomplete
DEPENDECY ERROR:
Dependency failure resolution: kexts already loaded for this library arent comPatible with the one requested
or
no kext library isnt able to located
or
indirect dependency can not be resolved
some are content/plugins,
all of these are in the system/library/extensions folder/section
in several various ext folders across the entire laptop, hrdware software, inputs, etc
i know this is prolly alot to take in,
any insight is appreciated in advance,
is there i guess a way to go through file system manually verifying that each folder is where it should be and contains whats needed, and or then correcting as needed,
or should i just do a wipe and reinstall
My new iMac running Monterey 12.6.1 will not let me save any photo to my computer? Any suggestions.
10 April 2022
Just upgraded to Monterey from Catalina on a Macbook Pro 2015 laptop.
Initially the upgrade was easy and the computer ran wonderfully for 3 hours. Used Adobe apps, all sorts.
Then after shutting down the machine suddenly several hours later it was unbootable!
Unbelievable.
Tried rebooting 10+ times, constantly freezing, spinning ball cursor all menus and apps non actionable.
I really regret upgrading to Monterey.
Monterey OS is as unstable as a crack addict. Other users please don’t do it.
This OS is a mess. Horrible. Utterly useless. Never experienced anything like this. My Mac has been downgraded to a zombie brick by this junk developer code.
I’ve ran into far too many problems and I’m not certain is it the M1’s or Monterey.
Programs just crash randomly, stops playing videos in all browsers randomly, my M1 iMac keeps dropping montiors… I’ve lost bluetooth, external drives all randomly, sound stops working the last two days. All of these require a restart to resolve which is time consuming and quite upsetting.
Apple support abandoned the ticket I opened on these issue for my iMac, I had to purchase another so I bought a Mac Mini M1 and problems persist there, except it only dropped a monitor once.
Movavi screen recorder suddenly stopped working with the update to Monterey 12.3. Yes, I understand third parties should be up to date with newer operating patches… However Apple is turning them out quicker than normal because of problems; causing more problems and sometimes third party vendors can’t keep up.
However I put this all on Apple. Too much change at once and they themselves not testing enough before releasing. Then raising prices and putting out newer M1’s for more money all while abandoning those who already laid out a ton of cash.
I’ve experienced so many problems with M1/Monterey. Been using apple since the 1980’s and they’ve had problems like any manufacturer but with this release, it’s horrendous how bad this thing operates, especially with the minimum 16G memory. Yes, they have memory leaks everywhere. Yes, it hasn’t been tested very well. Yes, I will never buy another apple again. Windows has improved enough for me to not have to put up with this. Yes! They are asking a premium for their untested software to the level that they were asking for tried & true software that was mostly tested. No, they haven’t worked with third party vendors to help with compatibility with software/hardware. What a piece of junk! The big issue is that they changed the chipset from Intel to one that they just designed (who? where? China?) and didn’t test it, just threw it out. That’s a huge change!!!!! You can’t just make a change like that and expect to run the same tests that you’ve been doing on the Intel chipset that you’ve been delivering for decades!!!! I know. I’m a quality test engineer. This is a piece of junk. Very sad. I used to love apple now I hate it.
I have not found issues with the M1, mine feels marginally better than a comparable Intel mostly with longer battery life and less fan noise, but I do find macOS Monterey has serious RAM leaks and disk read/writes, can’t imagine these SSD volumes lasting long with the amount of I/O from swapping and whatever else is going on.
I’m having the same issues. 1 of my external monitors keep turning off. The computer seems to randomly freeze and then restart or it’s just off by itself. It’s been happening since 12.3 and it is still an issue on 12.3.1. This is so annoying and unbearable it’s unreal.
I’m having issues with Terminal not allowing to zoom in anymore. I can zoom out with cmd+- but I can’t zoom in with cmd++ as I used to before. If anyone has a solution for that (Monterey 12.3), I’m glad to try out anything.
I’ve also run into issues with screen sharing, where I was unable to give access to the screen to Chrome or any other browser for that matter.
Bluetooth accessories not connecting after upgrade to MAC 0S 12.3
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021)
I tried all the usual things but could not get my magic kb and trackpad to connect, Finally I connected them directly to a port as when charging, and everything worked from then on.
After upgrading to Monterey, I cannot type my password in the login screen – I have tried everything. Any thoughts? I have an IMAC 21.5 2018
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021) After upgrading to OSX 12.3, bluetooth Keyboard and trackpad wouldn’t connect, after the usual things I directly plugged the devices into the USBC slots on the Mac and “presto” they were recognized and bluetooth worked from then on.
Contacts app in MacOS 12.2.1 does not accept new contacts. Just beeps and needs to be restarted. No success with any kind of fix, yet. Was told it might be a permissions issue but checks do not actually show a problem.
I’ve updated my MacBook Air 2017 to Monterey this week and the screen started flickering. Can someone help me out?
Another graphic designer here. Monterey deleted all the files on my desktop (and keeps doing it over and over again, all it takes is a restart). After three hours on the phone with Apple support, what I have is a big “I don’t know”. The system resets to factory defaults whenever I restart and I have to reconfigure Siri and all else, as if I had just installed it. I’ll probably have to downgrade because it’s so unstable.
Upgrade to Monterey 12.2 on my MBP 16″ 2019 with 16GB + 4GB GPU + 4GB eGPU > Displayport > Viewsonic V3785 4K as extended display; 27TB disk in 2 RID 1s plus spares and 8TB SSD.
Echo the complaints about all open windows shifting to the MBP monitor every time they are hidden. This happened in 12.0 and, I believe, 11 as well.
Much worse, 12.2 has broken and hidden my profiles – both ICC and PST are scrambled. I have calibrated monitor and Canon Pro 9500 II printers, which have worked together beautifully until OS 12. Now open file != Print Setup preview (Cmd-Y) != Print dialog preview != print output. Back to guessing and wasting 9 trials per image.
I’ve reinstalled some display and print profiles but some is not enough. Next I’ll have to rip them all out and re-profile all.
This has brought my photography business to a standstill. Why did I quit Windows only a year ago for this monster mess?
“Apple support” is an oxymoron, or maybe just a bunch of morons with one or two support geniuses among them. I would (and did) fire people releasing this sort of untested garbage dump of sins – both omission and commission.
Of course, Adobe is worse. What a pair. Can anyone help me straighten out print profiles?
Seems slower on my M1 Mac Mini, still feel it struggles with my 4K monitor. All those GPU cores on M1 not sure why I get scrolling that’s choppy in Safari and an overall feel of sluggishness. I am back to using a 1080p monitor which is better in my opinion for response. Maybe my 4K LG monitor just isn’t matched well to the Mac?
Monterey runs very well here on M1, check background apps, uninstall old software. Check what is running on your user load.
My MacBook Air 2015 fans are continuously running since upgrading to Monterey 12.1.
Laptop gets very hot and noise of fans is very noticeable.
Biggest item of disappointment is that the Trackpad Tap To Click is not working properly. Sometimes it works like expected and other times I have to push to click.
Another item is that the machine is slow to respond at times, like the keyboard/mouse priority level has been reduced. Disappointed in this release for sure.
My entree to Apple products via MacOS Monterey commenced with attempting to get an Apple ID; there was no warning that the birthdate had to be MM/DD/YYYY and having inserted in a number higher than 12 initially – there was no error message; in fact it was much worse – the msg. was “Can’t create….at this time”. The Apple support area states that this means that too many ID’s are recorded on the machine. An apparent re-install (don’t know if it actually occurred there was no confirmation or other advice) didn’t remove the previous owners Log in P/W; this led me to erase the OS. Getting an ID on a Win 10 device was easy but I didn’t include “payment details” which Apple indicated was optional. Attempts to download a free App. led to a loop about “reviewing” )which seems to have been an issue for years); I concluded that valid payment details were mandatory; attempts to add them led to red fonts and some meaningless failure msg. at the phone no. stage etc. etc.
After install MacOs 12 Monterey some programmes don’t work anymore like Apple iMovie and Final Cut
Adobe Photoshop is also giving problems, like quit by opening a .PNG file
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After initial problems with Monterey and hours upon hours of talking to Apple I have a system which works UNTIL I connect my ASUS monitor to my I Mac.The screen then flashes on and off and is unusable. Apple say it has nothing to do with them but my monitor works on another computer without any issues.
I would buy another monitor if I was confident that it would work but I am stuck now. Any suggestions?
I had the same issue David, although it was on Big Sur.
I have a 2019 MBP 16″. The solution for me was to replace my HDMI to HDMI cable with a USB-C to HDMI cable. Bypassing the mini hub that came with the MBP fixed the problem.
Hopefully that helps you.
David,
I have been experiencing a similar issue. I have a NEC calibrated monitor which works great with my 2016 MBP. I use a USB-C to Dvi-d dongle to connect it to my new 2021 MBP. It is very finicky and often requires that I unplug and then plug it back in as many as 8 times before it connects properly. Very frustrating. Once it connects properly it continues to solidly work. But if I move my laptop I have to go through this multiple times. Keep trying until you get it. Getting a new monitor may not solve your issues. Hopefully Apple will be able to resolve this issue.
Upgraded to Monterey and the email is now buggy. Often will not allow you to erase junk mail. Often will not allow you to delete an email. The deleted mail pops back in. System restart fixes it usually.
For me mail was sluggish and would not delete emails nor empty junk during first day. Now Outlook and Yahoo and Hotmail and Gmail all get the color wheel of death if you click on anything in mail list or even any of the drop down actions. System Restart is not fixing it. All other internet and wifi actions on all other windows work fine like FarceBook or VK(East european style facebook) or Instagram. m2
After upgrading my IMAC desktop the keyboard will not work. The track pad works fine and the “volume” keys work on the keyboard, but when I restart and it asks for my user name and password it will not let me type anything in the password area. I tried to reinstall the OS tht came with it (high Sierra) through the internet recovery utility but it shoes the hard drives are locked.
I had a similar problem that I was able to resolve by going to System Preferences –> Keyboard–> Input Sources. Delete all keyboard types other than U.S.
It’s looking like an issue few have run into, but I have a custom website through GoDaddy and email service as well. In the Mail app it gives an error while writing emails that says couldn’t move the message to “drafts”. Specifically “APPEND”
The work around I found is to go into Mail > Preferences > Accounts > (the account in question) > Mailbox Behaviors
and change drafts, sent, and junk to be stored “on my Mac”. This makes it so it doesn’t have to ping the server for these mostly local features.
Here’s hoping that it get’s fixed in the next patch update. I’d like to have sent messages stored on the server so I can access them from my mobile device
My MacBookPro won’t get past Preferences. If i’m too slow it won’t even get past clicking Mail before the colour wheel of death. And the colour wheel never finds what it’s looking for. At least not after 9 hours. m2
Since “upgrading” to Monterey my Canon iR1435 printer is virtually useless. If I turn off/on the printer, it will print the first job, but will then indicate that “the printer is in use” until I again turn it off/on. EVERY TIME. Is this a Monterey problem or is it a Canon problem?
I have exactly the same problem, luckily my daughter has Sierra Macbook so all works fine it is %100 Monterey problem.
It’s not a Canon problem. I have the same issue with my HP. I tried uninstalling, but now I can’t reinstall, even though the Mac sees my printer, it won’t set it up.
When I got my new iMac 2021 (M1) and Monterey, I could no longer use my Canon MX870 printer, which had worked perfectly on my previous Macs. There was no new print software for it on the Canon website. Then, at some point, I presume with one of the updates, I found I could now print simple plain paper stuff like return labels, but the print preferences in InDesign were gone, so I couldn’t print my glossy brochures on a high-quality setting, basically making my printer useless. Then with another Monterey update, I noticed there were now print prefs in InDesign, but not all of them work. For instance, I can print from the cassette but not the rear tray, which makes it impossible to print my glossy brochures. If I put one piece of glossy paper in the cassette, it falls out of the bottom of the printer! I’ve always loved this printer because if I don’t use it for nine months, it still prints perfectly, unlike Epson printers I’ve had which, when the ink dries when not being used, they no longer function. I considered buying a new printer, but they all have terrible reviews. So I am stuck. I didn’t know others had the same issues until I read this comment.
Updated to Monterey because of the newest versions of Adobe CC apps. My 2019 iMac (3GHz 6-core i5, though only 8GB RAM) is running very slowly since the update. Like, saving a 2MB InDesign file is giving me a beachball for 15 seconds, other apps like Mail and Excel are freezing for 10 seconds while scrolling, etc. These were not issues at all in Catalina.
I’m also noticing my PDFs are not previewing properly – they look fine in Acrobat and in other programs, but the preview in the Finder and when attached to an email are giving me weird redraws.
Hi folks,
My M1 is connected with two external monitors by HMDI (one directly and one with an adapter).
Everytime my mac wake up from sleeping mode, the screens position are swapped, no matter if I position again, next time it displays the login page, the screens swap again, forcing me to adjust manually the positions on the configuration page..
Note that the monitors are the same model…
With MacOS Big Sur, it was not a problem.
If you have a multi screen setup, think twice before jumping into Monterey
My advice to ANYONE who has mission critical projects DO NOT update to OSMonterey!
Apple software has increasingly come with more bugs and glitches.
I won’t speculate on the cause of this degradation of software programing, however, it has become bad enough that my very high profile firm is now eliminating Macs from the premises!
I will keep this short but I know at least 12 to 14 colleagues who have thrown in the towel with Apple and have switched over to the new Windows or Linux platforms.
I can only say after working with Apple for more than 25 years when I started using a new Windows PC with 11 it performed magnificently! Windows is extreme fast and it is also extreme secure given the amount of experience Microsoft programmers have dealing with security issues. I also feel those of us who have been buried in the Apple ecosystem have been fooled as to its capabilities.
I don’t care about the Apple prettiness anymore. If a machine is slow, buggy, and has issues for decades that programmers either won’t fix or don’t know how to fix, it is time to withdraw from that ecosystem.
100%. Amen. Monterey OS update crippled me as a veteran MAC user and graphic designer 2 weeks ago on a Macbook Pro 2015 model. Had to buy a new computer to even be able to work for my deadlines. I went to Apple and they replaced my battery and did not fix my software conflicts after I spent $200. My finder hangs doing simple tasks and I am about to just wipe it down to an old time machine backup and use as a glorified ipad. This is also after I tried a Big Sur update that didn’t tell me I didn’t have enough space (which I thought I did) and it bricked my laptop in a boot loop which forced me to wipe/reinstall a time machine from the prior day. So disappointed in the hassles. One thing i always said was mac was easy, user friendly and not buggy, but now… i can’t justify it.
Same here, I had my IMAC 2008 for over 12 years and it was heaven. It crashed on me last November and I bought the newest IMAC 2021. No problems so far. It accepted my Samsung SSD as an external HDD so I thought I was fine. After upgrading to monterey (no warning about it being buggy) I now lost everything. I does not want to mount my external HDD anymore so I lost years of data.
Apple is becoming a shitty brand. I am going to see if I can return this monster since I only bought it 2 weeks ago.
Sorry to hear you lost your data. However, by now you should know that any data that only exists on 1 drive is at risk. Always have your data on more than 1 drive.
Apple did change how they format drives with 10.14, from HFS+ to APFS. However, this should not cause data loss. I suspect something else happened but would not rule out an Apple causee issue.
I have been an Apple professional since early 1984, and have seen many ups and downs with them. Monterey has been a down, having just upgraded a client to 12.4 which seems to have caused their MacBook to intermittently slow to a crawl. Yet sometimes it runs very fast even though it admittedly has too little RAM at 4GB. Seems like memory management issues that are not consistent. But who knows really. Apple said this model would run Monterey. And it does, kind of, sorta.
My M1 iMac crashes frequently running Monterey. I have not found a cause. Monterey installed without issue and runs okay — until it “hisses” and crashes and then reboots.
Very annoying.
Same issue here with an 14″ M1 Pro MacBook Pro, mostly after switching user and browsing on Firefox.
Had this issue with 12.1, seemed to be solved in 12.2, but came back with 12.3 …
Update on 2017 iMac failed with mac stuck trying to restart. infinite reboots. Tried restore from earlier backup but mac would not accept it as the reformat to the drive was different to the backup.Internet restore completed and mac booted but kept freezing and crashing, wifi would not connect, internet not available, weird screen in InDesign and generally unusable. This should not happen on a basic os upgrade. Do I have to go to an Apple Store?
After Monterey upgrade (2021 M1 Macbook Pro) app windows I put (move to) on extra monitor do not stay in place if I close (or logoff) and reopen the mac. They always fall back to the mac monitor, so they have to be moved back to the extra monitor each time. Clearly a bug in Monterey
Yes, I am having the same issue after installing latest version of Monterey.. Very frustrating. If anyone knows a fix, please share.
Safari 15.1 freezes on my 2015-vintage iMac, still running Big Sur. Happens when I click on a URL to load it, usually. Spinning wheel continues until Safari is forced to quit.
Thanks.
I’m having VPN issues, and I kind of require a custom VPN to work, so my day to day has become a nightmare.
VPN doesn’t connect, or connects but disconnects, or connects and blocks the rest of the traffic, or just blocks all connections. The only solution is to turn off and on WiFi… but obviously that disconnects the VPN.
Unusable!
My MacBook Pro 2020 crashed and died when I tried to install Monterey I will not turn on and is dead. I called Apple and after trying a few things they declared it was a hardware issue and too bad it is out of warranty. The unit is only 18 months old!
An 18 month old Mac should not fail during a system update.
If it were me, I would contact Apple Support and escalate the issue until it is resolved, there are a lot of reports online about catastrophic failures with Monterey installations so it has to be known.
If it is an Intel based Mac, you might be able to recover it with these instructions, they’re fairly complex and require another modern Mac:
https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-configurator-2/revive-or-restore-an-intel-based-mac-apdebea5be51/mac
Same instructions/requirements for an Apple Silicon Mac:
https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-configurator-2/revive-or-restore-a-mac-with-apple-silicon-apdd5f3c75ad/mac
I hope you get it working again, let us know how it goes!
It happened to me and was revived in one Apple store with DFU procedure. They say it is rare in some websites but the day I went to Apple Store they told me many people had this problem and another acquaintance in another part of the planet the same. But he was unlucky that they wanted to make way about 600 euros for replacing the motherboard and components! I am so surprised that after many first cases (mine was on the 27th October) Apple has not warned users or released some update. It is so deceiving because mine is like your model and only one year old!!!
Just a heads up on the Monterey bricking T2 Macs issue… apparently Apple has acknowledged the problem and is telling impacted users to contact Apple Support. The article has been updated to reflect this.
And yes DFU restore should work, but it does require another Mac.
My Mac won’t take Monterey. It’s too old they say. I’m considering getting a computer from someone else.
Honestly you’re not missing much, macOS Monterey is basically Big Sur with a few extras.
As far as modern macOS versions go, the latest Big Sur 11.6.1 is actually pretty good and I still prioritize that on my workstation.
For my other Macs, I also still like the last Mojave release because it’s the last version with 32-bit app support, but it no longer receives security updates from Apple so have to be cautious about what you do online. Catalina offered no benefits to me and was problematic so I avoided that one, but it still gets security updates.
Sometimes older macOS versions perform better. The rush to update is not always the right thing to do.