Menu bar items on right side not visible other than spotlight Mac OS Monterey

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Level 1

5 points

Menu bar items on right side not visible other than spotlight Mac OS Monterey

I can't seem to understand why my menu bar items i.e. wifi, control center, bluetooth, clock will not show up in my menu bar in Monterey. Before anyone suggests the dock and menu bar preference settings, I have tried everything, everything is selected properly in System Prefs. On the Lock Screen the clock and wifi icons are there. When I log in the icons disappear other than spotlight. I have even erased my hard drive and installed a fresh copy of Monterey. I have searched for two hours online and nothing is helping. Monterey 12.7.3, Mac Pro 2013. I have to select my wifi from the network preference. Thank you to anyone who can help with this!

Mac Pro, macOS 12.7

Posted on Jan 23, 2024 9:56 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

251,171 points

Jan 24, 2024 8:15 AM in response to theporche

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

ut in the old dys it was these files...

Apple Menu Bar Icons Gone

You've probably got a couple of corrupt preference files.

Move these files to the Desktop for now...

With Sys Prefs closed...

/Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

/Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences>com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

/Users/<yourname>/Library/Preferences/ByHost>com.apple.systemuiserver.xxx.plist

where 'xxx' is a 12 digit (hexadecimal) numeric string.

This will reset your Menu Bar to the default, you'll need to go through System Preferences to reset the ones you need. (If they are already checked, uncheck them first and then recheck them).

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2024 1:30 AM in response to theporche

You are running with boot args that are unusual; and you also have security updates and SIP disabled.

It appears to me that you may have been running a hack to allow your mac to boot an unsupported OS.

Perhaps you have at some point tried to install Ventura on this Mac? These hacks are not needed for Monterey, which is supported.

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Answer 3

Jan 24, 2024 7:04 AM in response to theporche

Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

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Answer 4

theporche Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 25, 2024 4:53 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi, thanks for the help. Yes I saw that, I bought the computer just a few days ago used and this is what happened when I booted it up. I turned SIP back on through terminal. I don’t know what boot args are or how to normalize that. I did another complete erase and fresh install of Monterey from disk recovery and still the same problem. I then did an erase and install of Big Sur and now menu bar is functioning normally. All items are visible. Leads me to believe there was something going on with the latest version of Monterey with a 2013 Mac Pro that wasn’t happy. Let me know your thoughts as I would prefer to be in Monterey.

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Answer 5

Jan 25, 2024 5:36 AM in response to theporche

The previous owner should have properly erased the drive and put in a clean OS before transferring the Mac to you.

It appears that you have now done just that, so it should be ok.

I suggest that you post a new Etrecheck report, just for confirmation.

If things are ok, you should be able to upgrade to Monterey without further problems.

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Answer 6

theporche Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 24, 2024 2:05 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi, thanks for the reply. I tried both and no luck. Still same menu bar. On the right side it shows only spotlight magnifier. I can uncheck it in system prefs and it goes away. I can also check Siri and the Siri option appears. Nothing else that is "checked" i.e. clock, wifi, bluetooth, sound, shows up as visible.

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