Editor’s note: igamesnews tested the macOS Ventura 13.3.1 update released on Friday, and it appears the update fixes this issue. This article has been updated to reflect these findings.
If you are a macOS Ventura user and have configured your user account with the home directory saved on an external storage device, you should wait before updating to version 13.3. A number of users who have configured their Macs this way have found that they cannot access their accounts after installing the update. [Hat tip to igamesnews reader Lee.]
The issue, which is resolved on Reddit, is that after updating to 13.3, the Mac reboots, then when the user tries to log in, a message pops up saying the login “failed because an error occurred. produced”. No explanation of the error is offered and clicking the OK button simply returns the user to the login screen.
Updated April 7, noon PT: Apple has released macOS Ventura 13.3.1 and our testing indicates that the update fixes this issue. Update to 13.3.1 if you encounter this issue.
If you can’t install the 13.3.1 update, a workaround explained by Neat_Release_2683 on Reddit offers a way to get your Mac working. This involves disabling System Integrity Protection in Recovery Mode. I was able to reproduce the issue on a 14 inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro with Ventura 13.3 and an account home folder saved to a USB-C drive.
I used the steps below to fix it.
macOS Ventura 13.3 external home folder bug workaround
If your user account’s Home folder is saved on an external drive and it is the only account with administrator rights, you can try using the workaround below. If your Mac has another administrator account with the Home folder saved on the Mac’s internal drive, you can use another workaround.
- Time to complete: 5 minutes
- Required tools: macOS Ventura 13.3
Boot into recovery mode
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On M-series Macs, press and hold the power button until the screen says “Loading boot options.”
On Intel Macs, hold down the Command and R keys.
Select the Option icon when it appears and click Continue.
The macOS Recovery screen should appear with user login icons. Select an account with administrator rights, then click Following. Enter the account password.
Go to terminal
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You are now in recovery mode. Skip the main window and click the Utilities menu. Select Terminal. If you’re unfamiliar with using the terminal, that’s okay. The terminal is the command line interface for Mac, and you will enter a simple command.
Disable SIP
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A Terminal window appears, with a prompt that says something like, -bash-3.2# then a slider.
Type csrutil disable then press the Return key.
This command disables System Integrity Protection, and if you have never disabled it before, a warning will appear. Type y continue.
Enter your username and then your password. It may seem like your Mac is not doing anything but wait a bit. A message asking you to restart your Mac will appear when the changes are implemented.
Restart, sign in, check iCloud, re-enable SIP
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Now restart your Mac ( > Restart). You should be able to log in to your account.
Go to System Parameters and check your iCloud settings to make sure everything is turned on.
You can now re-enable SIP by repeating steps 1-4, but on the terminal in step 2 enter the command csrutil enable instead. However, igamesnews UK reader Andy wrote to us saying that SIP should remain disabled for them in order for iCloud to work properly on “all relevant apps”. So you might want to keep it off until Apple releases a fix.
Workaround if you have multiple administrator accounts
You can try the following workaround for the user account with the Home folder on an external drive. But you must have another account with administrator rights on the Mac that also has its Home folder on the internal Mac storage. Also, igamesnews reader Scott informed us that the method below may work only with MacBook; it was not available on his Mac mini M1. Apple’s support document for this SIP feature only discusses “Mac laptop[s] with Apple silicon.
- Log in to the administrator account whose Home folder is saved in the internal storage.
- Go to System Settings > Privacy and Security.
- In the main section of the window, scroll down to the “Allow accessory connection” section. Click on the pop-up on the right and select Always.
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- MacOS requires a username and password to change this setting. Enter the information and click Modify the parameters.
- Log out and you should be able to log in to the account whose Home folder is on external storage.
What is the cause of the problem?
Based on my hands-on experience (not a deep tech dive into working code), the problem appears to be related to a feature of macOS’s System Integrity Protection called SIP. One of the features of SIP is that it can alert you whenever an accessory (such as an external storage device) is connected to your Mac.
With Ventura 13.3, this alert appears to be hampering the ability to connect, creating a Catch-22 situation. Since the external drive has not yet been trusted by the user, the Mac cannot access the drive and the connection cannot be made. But if you can’t sign in, you can’t approve the player. If SIP is disabled, alerts will not appear and the external reader will be able to connect.
Why would someone save a home folder to an external drive in the first place? This is mainly because the Mac internal memory is exhausted. The Home folder saves a lot of user information, such as app libraries and your files. It is possible to save individual components of the Home folder to an external drive instead of the entire Home folder. For example, on a 2013 Mac Pro with a 512GB SSD that I use at home, I save my iMovie, Photos, and Music libraries. on a 5TB external hard drive. But some people may not want to bother with individual components and just put the whole Home folder on an external drive.
Apple has been contacted about this but has not yet responded to our request. It’s unclear if this issue is fixed in the macOS Ventura 13.4 beta currently in the works. We will update this article with any further developments.
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