Monterey Login Screen is Stuck on Chroma Red (different than the Pink Monterey Valley screen!)

Just received and am setting up my MBP 16" M1 Pro 32G 1TB. Had an all apple "ecosystem" MINUS computer, and thanks to a generous bday gift, am now all in: 2 iphones, AW7, ipad pro M1 11", apple tv and this $3500 extravagance... My last macbook allowed me to customize desktop, lock/login screen and screensaver quite easily. EVEN the default APPLE options were appealing and soothing and 'feel good,' so that when I booted up, i was greeted with the perfect mood to start off my work or play day... THIS GARISH, awful, bleak, masculine, offensive login screen TRULY is the MOST DEPRESSING graphic apple could have chosen to FORCE US TO SEE every time we boot up.... NO workaround 'works' other than turning OFF vault encryption and then you only have the possibility to have your desktop pic double as your lock/login screen...

I TRULY assumed I was missing something, but after two long calls with apple support, was reassured that i was NOT overlooking some obvious solution, but that THERE WAS NO SOLUTION and I would be stuck with this god-awful image greeting me every. single. day. AT LEAST give us a selection from which to choose our poison, but APPLE almost seems to have gone OUT OF ITS WAY to pick THE. MOST. DEPRESSING graphic they could muster....

I've now joked to APPLE CS and friends that I think I would rather compromise the security of my files by deactivating filevault encryption, then compromise my mental health... And, so....until or if APPLE changes this MOST BIZARRE forced feature, I will either just NOT use file vault encryption and just make double duty of my desktop image, or -- and I know this sounds extreme -- maybe THIS IS A SIGN that I should return this SUPER PRICEY, yet arguable capable, beautiful, and impressive piece of tech that I have coveted for MONTHS.... PLEASE, someone at APPLE MUST NOT BE AWARE OF THIS, or IF THEY ARE, it is INCONCEIVABLE that they have no geniuses at their bar (let alone top level software engineers-designers) who could come up with a fix..... SEEMS SUPER DUPER EASY TO DO; JUST ADD MORE WALLPAPER FILES TO THE DIRECTORY HOLDING THE PNG LOCK SCREEN PIC....

For the love of GOD, PUHLEASE MAKE THIS CHROMA RED INDECENCY GO AWAY.; It really makes me feel viscerally ill. It induces the OPPOSITE effect APPLE products have PREVIOUSLY had on me over the years which is, y'know, the little hug of 'hello' that we've grown to know and expect.

thank you.

Depressing is a great description of this.

I've spent hours combing the internet to come to this thread...and I'm just stunned.

With all the beautiful possibilities, why why why did they choose this? Even just a plain blue screen would be better than this.

Please - please, just change this with the next OS update? Please. We know you can do it.

I have a space gray M1 Macbook, and since I received it in February 2022 it's always been stuck on Chroma Red for the login background, and it is definitely terrible. Having a computer this nice with such a fugly login screen is weird for sure. I'm glad I haven't spent too many hours battling it, since it seems like an Apple problem, not a user problem. Apple is weird. They want to decide what's best for their users and give them that with few or no alternatives, and people seem to love that. In this case the thing they provide with no alternatives looks like a bad dream.

Simply couldn't agree more. It is the most DEPRESSING and HIDEOUS image imaginable. No, really. Give us a simple BLACK or GRAY screen, instead of this vomit of a graphic!

I have used Macs for over twenty years now, always purchasing the latest device (mostly MacBook Pros) when upgrading but I will do that NO MORE and will from now on always go for second hand as Apple Micky-Mousing the OS has been bugging me increasingly and this ugliness is really just too much.

FFS!

We have five Macs and from the very beginning in 2015 with their OS versions up thru 12.4 none of them have had any kind of problem with selecting backgrounds.

I suspect you have a specific problem and that it's not a generic "bug". But if you have it fixed and never touching backgrounds is your workaround, you're home free.

It’s easier to look straight into the sun, than to see what Apple has hiding behind the noxious visual they’re attempting to call login wallpaper! Steve Jobs was a brilliant friend to the creative, free thinking artist, those days are entirely gone now. This M1 Mac with Monterey 12.4 couldn’t possibly belong to an artist, I’m sending it back!

I came from the original thread this thread came from. May I add another twist to this annoying saga? My MBP 16” M1 Max is stuck on the blue chroma. It looks like the screen is cracked

My 'Chroma Blue' & silver vs 'Chroma Red' & space grey observation seems to be consistent with Apple's own product images.

I have the same issue.

Has anyone called Apple Support?

Same issue here. We have 12.1 out already and the bug still persists.

Same issue on macbook pro m1 pro with 12.1 and still stuck with this awful Chroma Red image.

Same. You would think apple would have fixed this very simple issue in the update.