When updating the OS to MacOS Sonoma, the system does not recognize the login and password

Is having multiple users is confusing Sonoma when it asks for login password?

I am not presented which user I am supposed to enter the password for on my work Apple M2 Pro. There is another Admin user configured by my employer. I am also not offered the ability to switch to another user.

I am presented a screen that asks only for a password which fails continuously:

To successfully login on my, I need to:

1. Shutdown completely by holding the power button down until the shutdown occurs.
2. Wait 30 seconds – for a complete shutdown.
3. Start the Mac Book and see that I am present both a User as well as a Password field.
4. Enter both my User and Password and login.

Hi there. I run into the same issue each month. Luckily it is right around the time I need to change my password for work.

The work around is to click in the password field but do not put in your password.

Once the cursor is there hold down the option key and hit return, this will pull up a user field as well as password field. (Alt + enter if windows keyboard.)

type in your user name and password, this will get you back on the desktop.

Then go to users and groups and change your password.

once password has been changed, restart the mac. You will then see your original user profile for the login.

if you cannot seem to get to the desktop and settings to change the mac password, then you can change it in recovery. Change Login password in

If you can't reset your Mac login password.

This didn’t make sense to me until I experienced it myself. When I booted into recovery to try to circumvent the login issue, the startup screen had my username displayed as my whole name all one word lowercase. (This was never my username in the past at any point.) I rebooted normally and this time put in the username I saw on the recovery screen with my usual password and I got in and Sonoma finished loading. What a joke! Apple screwed up huge on this one. So hard to imagine this slipped through quality control but here we are…

Here is a list of possible cures to help you out.

If you forgot your Mac login password:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860

Reset your Mac login password - Apple Support:

macOS User Guide - Apple Support

If you can't reset your Mac login password:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212190

If your Apple ID is locked or disabled:   

If your Apple ID is locked or disabled - Apple Support

If you encrypted your Mac’s boot disk with FileVault 2:

This prevents you from using your Apple ID to reset your password (since the password is used in FileVault’s encryption). 

Read this Apple support document for more information about FileVault:  

"Turn Off FileVault" Button Grayed Out - Apple Community

I ended up calling Apple support and they helped me do a password reset. I reported this problem to them, which at first they said there were no issues.

No passwords worked for me so I typed in the answer to one of my security questions saved with Apple and it worked. There is something seriously messed up with apples software. My suggestion to you is to instead of passwords you think they may want, there are 2-3 security questions you filed out a while ago. Try those answers. As messed up as this is, mine worked. Now I am stuck at another level. This is crazy. I have a new air mac 2 that I may have used for 40hrs so far in its life. I probably have to go to see a “genius” at a store to ultimately fix this problem. What a pain in my ***

We are seeing this issue as well. 5 Macs so far that do not recognize the login that worked previously. If we reboot a few times eventually it does work. This was after upgrading to Sonoma MAC OS

The error is "passCODE is not set" however has to do with "passWORD". I did not have a passWORD on my Mac, set one & was able to do the Sonoma update.

Shame on Apple for stating "passCODE" is the culprit when it is "passWORD".

There are several links telling you to update your passCODE for this fix; tried that & did don't work. Adding passWORD was the fix.

As most Apple veterans know, when you upgrade MacOS, you need to create a passWORD to complete the process, I always do & then turn it off (by creating a NULL passWORD) to live the simple life. Looks like I have saved that step here with the update, but I will eventually turn off passWORD.

I hope this HELPed...haha

Called to apple support and they informed me how to resolve the issue:

1. Shut down the mac
2. Press and hold the power button until mac will load the option screen
3. Select options and click continue
4. After that, you will see the name of your profile
5. Enjoy☺️

Update – this is no longer an issue for me. An update to MacOS Sonoma has fixed this with both the user and password fields always being presented.

I am currently on MacOS Sonoma 14.2.1 (23C71) on a Apple M2 Pro

When I start my mac from powered off, I get the login screen with various users shown. I can choose my user profile (the main one) and log in as normal. But once the computer goes to sleep, either by itself or when I tell it to sleep, I cannot get back in. The screen stays black, even if I hit return on my keyboard. Before, that would wake the screen up so I could see the login screen, and if I wanted I could choose another profile. However, if I type my password and hit return, the screen wakes and it is in the process of trying to log me in. But right away, the pointer turns into the spinning coloured ball of death and the login is stuck and won't continue. At that point I have to manually power off and back on, and log in as normal.

I made the mistake of seeing if 'log in automatically' would work, and almost locked myself out of my mac, because then even when the computer was shut down it would get stuck on login upon rebooting. I fixed it by rebooting in safe mode.

I've turned off all my login items. I've turned off their dynamic screen saver. Doesn't work. It's their bug. It's really, really annoying. I hope Apple fixes this bug soon.

(also note, my username is already a single word, so rodrigoeidam's solution won't work. But my Apple ID is different from my username...)

I got into my computer after downloading Sonoma but when I opened Photos to downsize the wallpaper photo(it was no longer fitting into the screen), the screen went black. I had logged in with all my usual ID, chose to have my “existing” wallpaper, and when I clicked on “existing”, that was the end of being able to get into/use my computer. I have NO idea how to fix this, don’t know what the terms mean online about safe mode, etc. A primary reason that I buy Macs is that they are usually easy for a non-IT person to use. Apple, why did you release this too early? It undermines your customers’ faith in you. Not good for your brand, and this current problem is getting a lot of attention.

I'm having the same issue... although I restarted my computer and now am unable to log in at all! I can't choose another user, because it's just me. I have a 2018 Mac Mini, and am completely locked out of it!! I didn't forget password.