Finder bar disappeared and all menus & links greyed out and unclickable after Monterey upgrade

I’ve just tried a fresh install of Monterey and initially all seemed ok, until I restarted and then on reboot the same issue occurred. I also noticed I keep getting an error on reboot saying the computer didn’t shut down properly which also has something to do with it.

I also can’t access any files on HD as it says they can’t be found. Could be a hardware issue such a HD has died?

Currently, it’s utterly unusable.

I’m conscious I’m not explaining myself very well so I have just tried reinstalling Monterey again as I’m running out of ideas and it worked ok again for first boot straight after install, so I took a photo which shows main Apple menu bar / Finder as present and everything working as required with Favouties, ICloud, Locations all working accessible and also showing white, hence active. The second photo I took straight after a restart which shows no Apple bar / Finder visible and Favourites, ICloud, Locations menu items all ‘greyed out’ as they’re not active/clickable etc. I also took some videos but hopefully the photos help explain enough (even though I can’t rotate them as I’m posting from my iPad).

It’s certainly not something I have seen in 20 yrs or so of using Macs..

Yes the shortcuts, couldn’t think of the word, but they appear totally disabled as they’re all unclickable and a colour close to the background. If it’s a standard apple colour thing then that’s very daft.

Does is really matter what they’re called?!? At the end of the day I know how to use the computer as I have used macs for years and I’m now saying nothing works. I can’t access any menu’s, I can just open system preferences but again I can’t access anything via the side menu bars etc.

Do you have any actual suggestions as to what the issue could be?

Sorry but I don’t think any of you are grasping how nothing is working!! I CAN NOT click anything, I CAN NOT use any short cuts like apple Q or short cuts to take screen shots! This is so frustrating as it only allows me to log in and see a home screen but aside from opening system preferences as it was still in my ‘recents’ in my dock, the computer will do nothing. I can open Safari from the dock but I can’t type anything!

This is my 5th Mac in over 20 odd years so I know how they work as a designer, just not how to fix them otherwise I would jump on the genius band wagon. So please spare me the snide commentary on my poor terminology and ways I deemed best to put my issue across to be better understood and resolved..

I downloaded said software and uploaded the report. I notice you didn’t comment on that?

I have long been aware of this issue and it is not that.

As for the second point, I assure you on screen it does not look the same for the second image in the flesh, they are nearly the same colour as the background, hence my comment about ‘greying out’.

That did not work sadly, though as expected the finder bar reappeared and links worked though still were greyed out (not sure if that’s a Monterey setting though).

Has that worked? Etrecheck and this community board are both a bit new to me.

thanks for any help!