Unable to login with user folder on external drive since 12.5.1 upgrade

My comment was intended only to add to the information available to those who read this thread. Everything we all have done shows what does not fix this problem. I spent a long time over several days with fairly high level Apple tech support. Nothing Apple suggested helped, and they know it. This morning I ran a system diagnostic as I tried the log in that does not work, and submitted that as part of a Feedback Assistant report. Hopefully, with enough data, Apple will fix this.

Meanwhile, everything seems to work well, except for the inconvenience of having to log in twice.

Oh yes, you're right: this should have been an absolute basic information. For the records, struggling with the issue on a Mac mini 8,1 (Intel i7) and I wouldn't be too surprised if it turns out to be a Mac-Intel only issue.

Now a somewhat unexpected information is that the log-in (assuming during a system boot, not during fast user switching) to your wife's account is not affected and the link to the belonging Home Folder still is the same as it was before the 12.5.1 update (= ext. Volume without a numbering).

An observation that I did not reported so far is that I have an Alias to an Apple idms.appleid web address listed in the extended options of my affected user account in System Preferences. (Unfortunately I cannot remember, if this link was present before 12.5.1 as it has been a while that I had looked into these options).

My other admin account on the internal ssd does not have such a link listed although both accounts share the same Apple ID (as noted, this account is a "fall back" purely for safety reasons).

(Meanwhile I had a brief check with symlinks but log in failed. Will try this solution again, but currently I think about removing the Apple ID link once just to check what happens. This is because I lately reconsidered if the whole issue might be related to the boot process and Apple ID or iCloud… )

raederlandree wrote:

Also, for everyone's benefit, even yours Tom, I submitted a bug report to product feedback, per R.Simon's suggestion. I asked Apple to respond to this thread with their feedback.

It is highly unlikely Apple will respond here or anywhere.

Thanks to Barney-15E’s hint, I was able to solve the problem here (see end of page 2).

After everything is back to normal for the last couple of days I finally also deleted that Volume Folder without any issues.

And if 12.6.1 revives the issue, it seems to be an easy fix.

(Btw Apple really very rarely responds to a Product Feedback. But those entries are being analysed)

Hi, So what's the actual step by step break down of this with Ventura., Sam asking cause some people who encounter issues with the hard drive disconnecting, update, etc will need to re read all this.

Thanks

hi, its a very interesting subject and I think Apple will solve the issues,

So far I need to switch to the internal admin user account if I need:

-to access offline google drive docs

-work with pro tools

-delete any system files during an un install

But all these things appear to be new in Ventura, things im certain apple will solve.

Assuming you know what settings in a iPhone look like Ventura is identical

I hope my post is taken with a grain of salt, I know this thread was more about how ext user structures broke with Monterey, but just saying Ventura is much more reliable in most areas and very much worth looking into...aside these issues im reporting here.

Two more weird misfunctions I just cleaned up (I think, I hope). I can't say for certain they were produced by the same macOS malfunction. It seems similar, but different enough to warrant separate mention. I will describe them for others potential benefit, perhaps including Apple fixing the underlying problem.

My AmpliFi Alien router implements a VPN through its Teleport app on my remote devices. About the same time the login problem began the Teleport lost its ability to connect. Creating and using new connection codes, and many other guesses at possible solutions, did not help. Finally, Revoking Access for the client, then re-establishing the connection did work. However, it may be that that simple process worked because before revoking I had cleaned up things as described in this tread.

I also found I could not log in from my laptop to my desktop to transfer files. Finder windows on the laptop showed the icon of the desktop, but the directory was of them laptop! I can't say when this problem began, but in the past this connection has worked easily and well. AirDrop worked as expected. Using Barney's suggestion I examined the Volumes ion the laptop and discovered one was only an alias. I deleted that alias and restarted the MBP. Afterwards I revoked, then reestablished the Teleport access and it worked.

I have no way, nor time, to test to confirm deleting the Volumes alias was a necessary part of the solution, but that seems a fair guess. At some point a warning dialog said something about a problem with a Handoff server. I do not remember details, but this clue pointing to new technology involved with these issues may suggest more to someone more knowledgable.

Our discussion here has been about manually correcting problems caused by incorrect Volume names. What Apple needs to figure out is why and how these incorrect directory structure are created in the first place.

Updated to 12.6.1 (including Safari 16.1) using the Admin Account on the boot volume and had no issues (except that the update procedure involved 5 automated reboots [see posting above]).

Can't comment on macOS Ventura (which might be the OS version that you probably asked for) because I never upgrade to a new OS version before at least the 2nd or 3rd point update is released.

Seems to be an indication that the issue is a result of an intended change within macOS.

The link is connected to your Apple-ID (had that too) and this might be an indication, that there is a connection to the Apple-ID and/or iCloud services, that causes "our issue".

It also might indicate that the times for somewhat "unconventional" macOS setups come to an end.

It would be much appreciated if Apple would comment on what happens, why it happens and what users should/could consider for future setups.

you mean to say that you created a new user account after migrating, its true that you can create multiple user accounts then link them to your iCloud account...although a mess which will result in repots of multiple devices its common that developers or techs people do this to test devices.

Your method worked but be prepared for Ventura, I know this is a monetary thread but Ventura had changes to it that totally throw all the posts here off which makes me sick to be honest...im tired of the ever changing OS just to maintain control of the accessory hardware market.

Just a note: 12.6 obviously does not fix the issue.