Mac going into Recovery Mode when running OS updates

This is something that has now happened to me 3 times across 2 entirely different Macs when running Ventura updates and I'm wondering why it's happening and whether I can fix it?


So what happens is that I run the OS update from the System Prefs, the update will be doing it's usual thing and the Mac will restart a few times, but on one restart I get the Recovery screen. I managed to get around the first time by restarting in safe mode and the other 2 times I've just clicked restart and the Mac has restarted OK, and when it did I checked the About This Mac pane and noticed that the update had been installed.


So yeah, I'm confused as to why it would be going into recovery mode at all? It's something that's never ever happened before and now it's happened on my M1 Studio Ultra and my iMac Pro. Seems strange that it would happen on 2 entirely different Macs.

Mac Studio, macOS 13.4

Posted on Jun 16, 2023 9:30 AM

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Posted on Dec 22, 2023 1:17 PM

I've been experiencing this on my M1 MAX for a year or two now. It's really annoying to say the least. Been using Macs for 20 years and have never had an issue like this. Wondering if Apple is going to do anything about it?

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Dec 22, 2023 1:17 PM in response to benekk

I've been experiencing this on my M1 MAX for a year or two now. It's really annoying to say the least. Been using Macs for 20 years and have never had an issue like this. Wondering if Apple is going to do anything about it?

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Jan 5, 2024 8:55 AM in response to benekk

I've Macbook Pro M2 Max and since I updated to Sonoma, every single time after system update macOS is going to Recovery Mode. After restarting, I can log back into the system just fine.


This is a bit frustrating and I feel like every time I do macOS updates there is a chance of being unable to use my Macbook... I wish there is some update from Apple that would fix it for everyone!

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Jul 28, 2023 1:17 AM in response to PRP_53

OK, I'll look into this, thanks for your help. The thing I find strange is that this is happening on my Mac Studio Ultra and my iMac Pro … I wonder whether it could be having external hard disks connected whilst performing the update, though this has never mattered in the past.

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Apr 15, 2024 10:38 PM in response to benekk

I’ve had the same issue (M1 Max MBP, 64gb RAM, 8TBssd) since upgrading to Ventura. If I don’t disconnect everything, including my two Apple Studio Displays and a USB-cable for charging my phone, the MBP will automatically go into Recovery mode during Software Updates. If I disconnect every cable, it boots up as it should. This has been happening since Ventura.

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Jun 17, 2023 11:47 AM in response to benekk

benekk wrote:

This is something that has now happened to me 3 times across 2 entirely different Macs when running Ventura updates and I'm wondering why it's happening and whether I can fix it?

So what happens is that I run the OS update from the System Prefs, the update will be doing it's usual thing and the Mac will restart a few times, but on one restart I get the Recovery screen. I managed to get around the first time by restarting in safe mode and the other 2 times I've just clicked restart and the Mac has restarted OK, and when it did I checked the About This Mac pane and noticed that the update had been installed.

So yeah, I'm confused as to why it would be going into recovery mode at all? It's something that's never ever happened before and now it's happened on my M1 Studio Ultra and my iMac Pro. Seems strange that it would happen on 2 entirely different Macs.


Try the update from a Safeboot...and compare your results


 How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


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Sep 20, 2023 12:57 AM in response to benekk

Same here. Have a new Mac Studio M2 Ultra and the two times I've performed a system update I ended up in the recovery mode screen. I have to click restart to finally reach the login screen. No external drives. Next time I'll try to perform the disk repair from disk utility.

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Nov 10, 2023 6:17 AM in response to sergi288

This happens to me on every start up after an upgrade since Ventura I'm now on Sonoma and it's still happening not only that I'm an editor and I have three monitors and all my monitor preferences are erased on every update and I have to go in and fix everything again. I'm on an M1 Mac studio.

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Dec 11, 2023 1:05 AM in response to Michael Tate Jones

No I don't. I've had the same issue every single update since I bought the Mac Studio. I recently updated to Sonoma 14.1.2 and it still happens. And I'm experiencing some issues with apps freezing when opening since Sonoma upgrade. It looks like a Windows OS more than a Mac one. :(

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Jul 27, 2023 2:00 AM in response to benekk

There could be some amiss on the drive of the iMac Pro


Apple suggests " Install after repairing your disk

Use Disk Utility to repair your startup disk. Then try updating or installing macOS again."


Full link for above info below


If an error occurred while updating or installing macOS - Apple Support (CA)


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Jul 26, 2023 10:53 PM in response to leroydouglas

So I tried running an update from safe boot and it didn't make any difference. On both my iMac Pro and my Mac Studio, whenever I run a Mac OS update, towards the end of the update when restarting, the Mac will restart in Recovery Mode. I now know to just click on restart, the Mac will restart a couple more times and will then bring up my usual log-in screen. Once logged in, the first thing I notice is that True Tone and Automatically Adjust Brightness have been enabled in the System Settings (I run dual screens).


I would like to get some understanding and ideas of what could potentially cause the Mac to restart in Recovery Mode during an OS update. As far as I'm aware, there is no new software on either of my Macs which I believe could be doing this. I'm just working the same as I always have done, but I've never encountered this before now and I don't have any ideas right now why it would be happening … It happened again this morning when updating my Mac Studio to Ventura 13.5.


If someone can give me some ideas of what could could make the Mac go into Recovery Mode during an OS update, then I can start trying to localise the problem.

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Jul 28, 2023 1:38 AM in response to benekk

Personally on any of the 3 different M1 / M2 machines I have, never had to resort to Safe Boot to install any of the upgrades or updates.


Also, and personally, I usually do not have any non Essential External anything attached during updates or upgrades


Very " Old Thinking " here, but if it is not broken, why try to fix a good thing.

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Jul 28, 2023 1:47 AM in response to PRP_53

Yeah, me too… I've been working on the Mac since the mid nineties and I've never had one go into recovery mode during an OS update and I've never ever felt any need to unplug any attached hard drives or displays, so to me it seems very odd that over the past few updates of Ventura that I've run on my Intel iMac Pro AND my M1 Ultra, both go into recovery mode during the install … but oddly my MB Air doesn't – and that has nothing attached.

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Dec 7, 2023 12:27 PM in response to benekk

I'm experiencing the exact same issue on my Mac Studio M1 Ultra. Every MacOS update boots into recovery mode once the update is finished. A simple restart and everything is back to normal and the update was installed. I'm curious, by chance is anyone else that is having this problem have the SwitchResX control panel installed on your system(s)?

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Dec 28, 2023 10:01 PM in response to benekk

Just an update that this happened again when I updated from Ventura to Sonoma. I unplugged all my external devices and had just one Studio Display attached to the Mac, but still it went into Recovery Mode during the install.

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Mac going into Recovery Mode when running OS updates

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