HOW TO Get your Mac up and running again

1 Reset the NVRAM

If an Intel Mac is generally out of kilter when you log into Monterey, try resetting the NVRAM by holding Cmd+Opt+p+r during startup. Unfortunately, there’s no equivalent procedure for M1 Macs.

2 Start up in safe mode

Another way to fix many glitches is to start up in safe mode. The Shift key does that for Intel Macs, but M1 models need to enter it through Recovery, using the Shift key with the selected disk.

3 Boot from another disk

If your Mac has serious problems after upgrading, and you have an external drive, that can be an alternative to booting into Recovery mode. Be careful or you could cause more problems.

4 Repair the Data volume

Replace broken files or folders from your copy or backup in the Finder. You can restore all your files on the Data volume, but to restore any system files from there you’ll need to start up from another disk.

5 Restore a snapshot

Both Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner make snapshots, which you can use to revert your Data volume to an earlier state. To do this, you’ll first need to restart from an external drive and restore from there.

6 Revert as a last resort

Rolling back to your old macOS should be a last resort, as it will be long and painful. Find the full installer, preferably on the App Store, then use that to perform a clean install, as explained for macOS 12.