MAC OS 26 Tahoe update prevents login with correct password u

Like I said I updated my MacBook last night to Tahoe. Everything looked good and it restarted like normal. I went to log in and it said my password was wrong. I have been using the same login password for years.


I have also tried to reset my apple password and was unable to do so .


What do I do?


The genius bar doesn't have any openings until Monday?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.0

Posted on Sep 20, 2025 6:40 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 12, 2025 8:16 AM

After install of Tahoe 26.1 the login screen wouldn’t recognize my password. Multiple restarts, reinstalling Tahoe, resetting my password through Recovery mode → Terminal resulted in ability to login to Recovery, but not the main screen. Thanks to the comment above, and a long conversation with great support at AppleCare, I finally noticed the tiny TUR in the top right corner of the screen. The system had for some reason changed the keyboard layout to Turkish, so of course the password didn’t work. When I changed it back to Canadian, everything was fine. Basically 2 hours wasted, but now we are back on track.

43 replies

Nov 10, 2025 7:13 AM in response to racre25

Just did a restart and got locked out on my MacBook 2020 Intel, had the latest Tahoe OS installed. Tried all sorts of ways to get in (even tried changing the British keyboard options etc).


I don’t have a recovery key, so in the end I’m having to do a full reinstall of Tahoe OS on my system (3 1/2 hours). Hopefully I can reinstall the backup after it’s up and running with new install.


Did you get this issue corrected in the end?



Sep 28, 2025 8:18 AM in response to No-type

No-type wrote:

Were you able to get this resolved?

I’m currently facing the same situation. The first restart (after Tahoe) was met with not being able to login. I was sure to enter my password correctly and that my keyboard was functioning properly, but no luck.

I have firevault enabled and even tried using the key I had saved, but that didn’t work either.

Unfortunately, I’m still locked out after trying all the advice listed in the support (besides a complete wipe).

MacBook Pro 16” M1


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Oct 1, 2025 12:44 PM in response to racre25

For myself if I tried opening a terminal window with iTerm or Terminal I was prompted for a login username and password. These were not accepted. This happened regardless if I had a ~/.zshrc file or not. If I opened an eshell with Emacs or used the terminal window in Cursor I was not prompted for login credentials. Trying to upgrade the OS to 26.0.1 also asked for a password which was rejected.


I found that I could simply reset my password within the Cursor terminal window using passwd and then everything worked properly again. I was then able to perform the OS upgrade without issue - my password was accepted.

Oct 1, 2025 6:42 PM in response to racre25

After updating to Tahoe, I was able to log in but then the welcome to Tahoe screen was shown followed by a window asking for my password because MacOS wanted to do something. However, the same password that I used to log in wouldn't work. So I tried a different user account on iMac. I was able to log in but it wanted me to identify the keyboard I was using and when I pressed the key to the right of the left shift key it couldn't recognize the keyboard. Installing the 26.0.1 update resolved both issues.

Sep 27, 2025 9:13 PM in response to racre25

Were you able to get this resolved?


I’m currently facing the same situation. The first restart (after Tahoe) was met with not being able to login. I was sure to enter my password correctly and that my keyboard was functioning properly, but no luck.


I have firevault enabled and even tried using the key I had saved, but that didn’t work either.


Unfortunately, I’m still locked out after trying all the advice listed in the support (besides a complete wipe).


MacBook Pro 16” M1

Oct 9, 2025 11:13 AM in response to racre25

I’m having the same issue!

I have 2015 MacBook Pro

I was installing the Tahoe update went through smoothly , tried to login with my password that I have NEVER CHANGED, and it won’t let me login !

this is very frustrating I boot it into recovery mode and it’s asking me to reset my password on iCloud which I did , but it wouldn’t let me change my password for my MacBook and I keep resetting it over and over and trying again and again , and NOTHING IS WORKING!!

MAC OS 26 Tahoe update prevents login with correct password u

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