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Mac stuck on the splash screen. What to do?

Mac stuck on the splash screen. What to do?

macOS Big Sur introduces Fast User Switching, which lets you navigate between accounts without completely logging out like before. However, judging by the Apple Community Forums and Reddit reports, sometimes switching doesn’t work as planned – a splash screen appears on the entire Mac screen that completely overlaps the desktop. And it cannot be removed in any way without closing the lid or forced shutdown. Interestingly, the problem affected ONLY Apple computers with M1 chip.

You can also read: How to Speed Up macOS Big Sur? 7 Easy Methods

The screensaver turns on itself and does not allow working on the computer.

Mac stuck on the splash screen. What to do?

When the splash screen suddenly appears, the mouse pointer is still on the screen, and you can move it in different directions. As a result, users have to close and reopen their MacBook Air or MacBook Pro lid, press the power button once, or press Alt + Command + Q to return to the login page.

Here’s how one of the readers of the MacRumors forum describes the problem:

I have a brand new Mac mini on M1‌, second day of use, macOS Big Sur 11.1 (20C69) with sleep mode set to 20 minutes. I was just editing some calendar entries when all of a sudden the computer showed the splash screen and blocked the login. I ended up using remote access from my MacBook Pro to log in and out of the user on the Mac mini. Then the computer went to the login screen and now it works fine again. Very strange.

It turns out that the problem manifests itself not only with fast switching.

I have the same problem. M1 MacBook Air, Big Sur 11.0.1. Occurs when both user accounts are in use even though the screensaver is disabled in both. There is no way to exit the screen saver mode except to close and open the lid. It manifests itself several times a day with active use of the computer, complains another user.

A MacRumors forum member shared the video.

How to set up Fast User Switching on Mac?

Suppose we turn a blind eye to this problem, which is likely to be solved in the next update of the operating system. Fast User Switching is really one of the coolest features of macOS Big Sur. To set it up, follow these steps.

  1. Open System Preferences, select Menu Bar, and Dock.
  2. On the left side, enter the Fast User Switching menu.
  3. Check the box next to the desired item if you want to add fast switching to the menu bar or control point (or both at once).

You can choose one of the items or both at once

To switch between accounts without logging out, click on the appropriate button in the menu bar or control point.

If you have multiple accounts configured, they will appear here.

Why the splash screen on the MacBook freeze?

Disabling Fast User Switching prevents the problem from occurring but obviously makes it difficult to switch accounts.

Users only Mac computers have reported this issue with an M1 chip – MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and it occurs in all macOS Big Sur versions, including the latest 11.1 updates. Affected users are encouraged to send feedback to Apple to speed up the fix.

Have you encountered such a bug on your Mac? Maybe something happened after updating to the latest version of Big Sur? Share in the comments.

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