I upgraded my 2015 MacBook Pro from Catalina to Monterey using System Preferences > Software Update method. After upgrade, it asked me to create a new user (login). But the existing user accounts (logins) have just disappeared. The folders exists on the disk, but System Preferences > Users & Groups show only the newly created user. How do I get back to the older user account I had?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.1
Thanks for the reply.
I got help from Apple support (chat/phone) and they diagnosed the issue:
I had 2 volumes on disk. Say V1 and V2. existing macOS catalina was on V1. Somewhere during upgrade process I must have chosen to install Monterey on V2 (may be even create it and then install). So all I had to do was erase / delete V2 - which had no other data and it booted back to Catalina using v1.
I have subsequently upgraded to Monterey installing int on V1. No issues.
Now I think easier fix could be to set V1 as startup disk? (i could not try it, but I am guessing it would have worked).
Thanks for the reply.
I got help from Apple support (chat/phone) and they diagnosed the issue:
I had 2 volumes on disk. Say V1 and V2. existing macOS catalina was on V1. Somewhere during upgrade process I must have chosen to install Monterey on V2 (may be even create it and then install). So all I had to do was erase / delete V2 - which had no other data and it booted back to Catalina using v1.
I have subsequently upgraded to Monterey installing int on V1. No issues.
Now I think easier fix could be to set V1 as startup disk? (i could not try it, but I am guessing it would have worked).
Recovery them from your Time machine backup.
Restore your Mac from a backup - Apple Support
You want to recovery your user(s). In the link that would be John Appleseed.
Old users deleted/not ported on upgrade from Catalina to Monterey
