macOS Monterey takes 25+ minutes to boot

Same problem here… taking 30 minutes to boot up after upgrading to Monterey from Big Sur. I’m using an external 1TB NVMe inside an RTL9210 enclosure. Was never a problem with Big Sur on my Late 2015 i5 iMac

Once eventually loaded it seems ok, so just going to leave it on permanently & let it sleep until a resolution is found.

Have tried reinstalling Monterey & clearing SMC & PRAM, but no difference. Looking at the verbose mode output, it seems to be doing lots of tx_enter, tx_flush, tx_leave operations which are taking ages.

Apple’s MacOS upgrades are always very aggressive, which is why a lot of people wait months for fixes to be released. I foolishly upgraded thinking Apple might have got it right this time. Should know better 🙄

I've noticed the same problem, but only a few days ago, after updating from Big Sur to Monterey. At the beginning everything was running smoothly and fast. But now it takes several minutes until startup is done.

To be honest don't know what to do, although I'm a power user since decades.

Intel iMac 2019, 128 GB RAM, 2 TB internal NVMe-SSD.

Etrecheck

Suggest downloading the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. 

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with nor receive compensation from the Developer.

The application is free or paid from added features. 

Run the application with Full Disc Access ( Security & Privacy - Full Disc Access ).

It will take a Snap Shot -  both the hardware and software.

 The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.

This includes AntiVirus, Cleaners, Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.

The The Built in Security  is all that is required.

Regardless, both Intel and M Chip based computer running Big Sur and above all boot from the now " Sealed and Read Only Volume ." Kernal extension unless allows to be installed by Apple will always reside outside that volume.

The "Sealed and Read Only Volume " was introduced in Big Sur and a refinement of the Catalina Read Only Volume whee kernel extension may have been written to that volume but not any more.

System and kernel extensions in macOS

I finally tried to resolve this same issue yesterday, but with updating to Big Sur from Catalina on 2019 iMac w/ 1TB Fusion Drive, using macOS Recovery (Erase & Reinstall macOS Big Sur) and now my iMac won’t finish the installation. See link below.

Reinstall macOS Big Sur after Erase Mac H… - Apple Community

Download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the first window that comes up so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click the About… vurron and read the info to further permit full disk access.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.

That will allow us to evaluate the report to see if there is anything that stands out that might be contributing to the performance hit.

leobraun wrote:

Thanks, that's good to know.

My system is also on an external SSD drive. So it appears that Monterey has problems specifically with external drives.

Not so. I boot into Monterey on an external SSD in about the same time as it takes to boot from my internal SSD.

Download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the first window that comes up so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click the About… vurron and read the info to further permit full disk access.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.

That will let us examine the report to see what might be causing the problem.

Yep sounds like an external drive issue then. It also seems slow when running Monterey, like it has a big problem with booting & running via external drive. Was fine with Big Sur.

Just hold Cmd+V on startup and you’ll see the output log. You may have to take a screenshot or record it with your phone to read it properly, as it scrolls off the screen.

It’s been tough going recently… Had no end of problems with the Developer Transition Kit too.

Thankfully have another Mac with Big Sur I can use for development. Fingers crossed they release a fix for Monterey soon🤞

I am currently operating my late 2013 MacPro on an external NVMe drive via USB3 port and it boots as expected on USB3 port and operates fine. Thus, t

slowness on external drive is not applicable to all Macs on Monterey.

I have a 2015 13" MBP w/ 16 GB of RAM that is exhibiting the super slowness booting up. It is not connected to external storage. It took somewhere around 45 minutes to be able to get to a point where I could do anything. I usually wait to upgrade and am kicking myself for this one.

Thank you the Report and taking the the time to run the Application.

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be adware and should be reviewed.

System Integrity Protection disabled - System Integrity Protection is disabled. Not a good idea to run with this disabled on a Regular Basis and should be be done for remove a specific file when no other way possible and then Re-Enabled.

Automatic updates disabled - Automatic updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection. One may have personal reasons - so can not argue that but better to have it on.

Security updates disabled - Security updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection. One may have personal reasons - so can not argue that but better to have it on.

Kernel panics - This system has experienced kernel panics that could be related to 3rd party software.

Apple security disabled - Apple security software is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.

Configuration profiles found - This computer may have configuration profiles installed. These are sometimes used by adware and malware.

Core files found - This computer has core files.

Minor Issues:

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

System modifications - There are a large number of system modifications running in the background.

Kernel boot arguments - This computer has custom kernel boot arguments.

Kernel extensions present - This computer has kernel extensions that may not work in the future.

disk0 - APPLE HDD ST1000DM003 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 7200 RPM)

Internal SATA 6 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 [APFS Fusion Drive] 1000.00 GB

disk1 - APPLE SSD SM0032L 28.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Fusion drive are good for storage but for Performance - even the 7200 RPM Drive will be slower that all SSD Drive

System Software:

macOS Monterey 12.0.1 (21A559)

Time since boot: About 2 days

Boot args: debug=0x20

Configuration Files:

One core file: Total size 2.32 GB

Configuration Profiles:

This computer may have configuration profiles installed.