User profile for user: Deebers
Deebers Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Menu bar disappeared and all Finder-related tasks greyed out and unclickable after Monterey upgrade

Hi everyone,


I thought I'd reopen this query as no real solution was given for this guy's question, so I will post it again with a few edits.


Original question was posted here:


  • Using Monterey
  • I've got an iMac 27" Retina,
  • After restar, on the log-in window, I can type my password to get in to my General account
  • When I log into my user account, the menu bar has disappeared or won’t appear on hover over
  • If I double click on the Hard Disk icon on the desktop, the Finder window opens but all Finder shortcuts in the sidebar are greyed out and unclickable. I can right-click them to remove them, open in a new tab etc.
  • I can open a Photoshop file for example, but it opens the picture only and all the Application palettes are gone
  • Am unable to do anything Finder-related, like search
  • I cannot type anything!
  • Keyboard shortcuts do not work
  • My mouse can click on items and I can right-click using the contextual menu
  • The Dock appears and I can open Launchpad to open apps, such as Terminal, but as I cannot type anything, it is useless
  • I can open the Activity Monitor but all the menu items are greyed out
  • I can not take screenshots (as that is Finder-related)
  • The more I try to look around to see what I can do, the less responsive it becomes
  • On the log-in screen I can switch to an Administrator account where everything including the menu bar and Finder works fine (although I don't know if the kind of account it is is relevant), so the problem is related to my user account
  • If this occurs when I am in the office, I find a restart does not fix the problem, but a proper shut down via the button on the computer seems to mostly fix the problem. Only when I reboot do I get the error message that the computer shut down because of a problem.


At the moment I am logging into my account remotely as I am working from home today, so am able to take screenshots via my home computer.


You can see the greyed out favourites and the file open from Photoshop. The dock did show but the whole screen froze after this screenshot was taken.


Thanks in advance for any suggestions. The fact that this appears to happen to my user account and not the Administrator account narrows it down a bit.


For example, would deleting any preferences fix the problem?


Posted on Apr 29, 2022 5:18 AM

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User profile for user: Owl-53
Owl-53
User level: Level 10
102,283 points

Posted on Apr 29, 2022 8:48 AM

Trouble Shooting


1 - Suggest restarting in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

3 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps is the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

7- Suggest downloading the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. And Safe to use.

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 in-order to replace any modified, altered, removed or corrupted elements of the OS this software has inflected on this computer

Although some or all of these Applications maybe available on the Apple Apps Store, it does not mean Apple has verified what exactly the Application can do, does do or is doing to the Computer. That responsibility is left to the User to perform their due diligence on the Application before purchasing and installing it.

Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions

This includes AntiVirus, Disk Cleaners, Disk Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.

This will include CleanMyMac , This will include BitDefender ,

This will included Norton Antivirus , Sophos Av Software

Intego AntiVirus, McAfee, MacKeeper, Avast AntiVirus

Ad Guard, Webroot

The The Built in Security  is all that is required.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Owl-53
Owl-53
User level: Level 10
102,283 points

Apr 29, 2022 8:48 AM in response to Deebers

Trouble Shooting


1 - Suggest restarting in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

3 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps is the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

7- Suggest downloading the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor. And Safe to use.

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 in-order to replace any modified, altered, removed or corrupted elements of the OS this software has inflected on this computer

Although some or all of these Applications maybe available on the Apple Apps Store, it does not mean Apple has verified what exactly the Application can do, does do or is doing to the Computer. That responsibility is left to the User to perform their due diligence on the Application before purchasing and installing it.

Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions

This includes AntiVirus, Disk Cleaners, Disk Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.

This will include CleanMyMac , This will include BitDefender ,

This will included Norton Antivirus , Sophos Av Software

Intego AntiVirus, McAfee, MacKeeper, Avast AntiVirus

Ad Guard, Webroot

The The Built in Security  is all that is required.

Reply

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Menu bar disappeared and all Finder-related tasks greyed out and unclickable after Monterey upgrade

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