MAC OS 26 Tahoe update prevents login with correct password u

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.

Follow the steps here (carefully, there are many of them with 'If..." so pay attention to the instructions):

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

You may also be able to reset your password from your Apple Account.

https://account.apple.com

I have a Mac Studio M1 Max.

What finally worked for me after mutiple searches for possible solutions, huge frustrations booting and rebooting, being locked out over and over, and trying different options, was (it seems!) a new keyboard. Someone else here mentioned keyboards as a possible culprit. I found this during a search: “older Apple Magic keyboards (or other Bluetooth keyboards) can be unable to use certain keys during password entry." 

My new Magic Keyboard arrived two hours ago (I hate to thank Amazon but I was so happy for next-day delivery) and hooked it up via a USB-C cable -- one end into my Mac Studio and the other into the keyboard. I also read that the keyboard must be wired.

I had tried to get into Recovery mode before but it never went past the initial screen, nor was I able to get on using my Apple ID since the "@" symbol on my old keyboard did not work. Now I was able to use my Apple ID to log on and when I clicked under the Option box in Recovery mode, it went to the page where you can select whether to wipe the computer, re-install Tahoe, etc. -- as opposed to kicking me off and sending me back to my home screen as it had done before. I clicked "reinstall Tahoe" and hoped. I was prompted for my computer password during installation. I entered my old password and IT WORKED.

I am typing this on my Mac Studio now. Tahoe 26.0.1 is now reinstalled and I did NOT have to change my password. I have not tried to shut down where I would need a password to restart, so I do not know if this will continue to work, but right now I have my new keyboard attached to my Mac Studio and I am hoping for the best.

Also, I read there were issues with FireVault compatibility (“It appears to be related to the new OS's APFS driver no longer fully supporting the old software-based FileVault”) so I turned that off too just in case.

I hope my fix works for others! I was just so happy I did not have to wipe my hard drive and start over. I hope this was not a ploy by Apple to sell more keyboards.

This happened to me when I added my other languages to the keyboard. For whatever reason, the keyboard would switch languages on login.

In the upper-right corner, you should be able to switch back to the language you use for your password. That fixed it for me.

The recovery mode reinstallation of Tahoe did indeed shift it to 26.0.1. However further administration was still not being accepted, so I re-started it again in recovery mode, from the Utilities menu opened Terminal and typed in ‘resetpassword’ from there I was able to deactivate the Mini and reactivate it using a new password.

This has worked.

Had same issue and the problem was not in wrong password but in wrong Name of the computer. Apple is stupid that the name is not automatically sellected. I saw the "name" of computer in restore settings after holding power button for a while. Name of computer was different than the original name.

So after standard restart I put the name I saw in recovery section, my password and all worked OK

Hope it helps

Did you check the keyboard input? See my (and others') notes below. Installing 26.1 for some strange reason changed my keyboard setting to Turkish instead of Canadian, so the password I was typing bore no resemblance to what I thought I was putting in. Turned out to be an easy fix.

If you can get into Settings, you must already be logged in?? If not, in the login screen, look at the upper right corner. There may be a small 3-letter indicator of which language is selected for the keyboard. Different languages have different key layouts. Click on that symbol and you should get a drop-down menu with language choices, depending on what you have installed. Select your correct one, and then try the password again.

I have a MacBook Pro M3 chip and the password problem only happens when I do updates. I don't even have a password. Easiest way around this is by reinstalling Tahoe and it also installs the update and lets me in.

Shutdown and hold the power button until the screen comes on with a selection then choose to install Tahoe. Has nothing to do with my keyboard because it's a laptop, my filevault is off and has not been turned on. Apple seems to not figured how to fix this issue with any updates yet. you have to do the reinstall to get around the password issue though.

[Edited by Moderator]

rst4cst wrote:

Thank you for this. This worked for me. My temporary workaround was to hold down the power button for options, scan my hard drive using the disk utility repair function (which of course you have to enter the admin password to complete, and this took my password, no problem), then restarting from there, the login screen would take my password. Weird how that workaround worked.

Thanks for your post here rst4cst !

Good computing !!

If your password contains ` try to put the same character, There is a bug in mac tahoe when you hit ` it is taking some wrong character

Hi,

I found there is bug in Tahoe 26 update which is not recognizing the correct keyboard in the Macbook hardware itself. So even you are typing correct password from physical keyboard input it will type something different as per wrong keyboard input. If you are in Europe and you are facing the problem then it should be a bug in the new update Tahoe 26. It is detecting ANSI keyboard input instad of ISO because European keyboard has ISO input format and USA and Asian keyboard has ANSI input format.

I send feedback to apple but if there is more people who are facing the same issue, they should have to resolve it on immediate bases.

Macbook Pro M4 max 14"

racre25 wrote:

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?

Is this the initial setup screen...?

If you know your password is correct I would not change it willy-nilly— that is not the issue.

A malfunction at the junction.

if it is looking for your Appleid/Account password to set up icloud or sign terms & conditions...

log in on line https://www.icloud.com/ to verify your password here. Log out and back in and compare your results.

Use another device if necessary...

So, i contacted apple through chat. The apple expert after trying several things...finally asked me to start the machine in safe mode. I did it. Didnt work the first time. Tried the second time...and it worked putting the password (iCloud "apple account).

The fix: Shutdown the hold the power button until options comes up and select reinstall Tahoe. It will install to 26.0.1 and hopefully the password problem is solved. I don't have a password on my mac, but it did do the latest update.