How to Fix My MacBook Pro Frozen or Stuck on Login Screen

Mac computers have gained a reputation due to their fast processing speed, outstanding security level, and perhaps the sleek outlook. However, I encountered one troublesome issue not long ago, which was my MacBook Pro frozen & not letting me log in.

I recently upgraded to macOS and then turned on my MacBook Pro as usual. It showed the Apple logo, then the loading bar, but strangely, when it came to the login window, my MacBook Pro wouldn’t accept the password but frozen with a spinning wheel.

To fix this issue, I made several efforts. If you are troubled by the same login problem, keep reading, and hope this post will help you!

Read also: Best Monitoring Software for MacBook OS Activity

What the Means Macbook Pro Frozen?

“MacBook Pro Frozen” typically means that the MacBook Pro’s operating system has stopped responding and no longer functioning properly. This can happen due to a variety of reasons, such as a software or hardware issue.

In this state, the computer may not respond to any input from the user, such as keyboard or mouse commands, and the screen may not display anything. To fix a frozen MacBook Pro, you may need to force restart the computer or try other troubleshooting steps such as booting in safe mode or running a diagnostic test.

Solutions: How To Fix MacBook Pro Frozen or Stuck not logging in

Depending on different situations, you have several solutions to try. Here I’ll list four useful methods.

Solution 1: Try to Skip the Login Item When Starting up

It’s possible that some software stops your Mac from booting up. Under this circumstance, you can avoid these login items. How? Follow the steps below:

1. Shut down your MacBook by force and then restart it.
2. On the sign in page, enter the admin account and password if you can, but DON’T click on Log in immediately (in case of a login loop).
3. Press and hold the Shift key to stop frozen apps launching. Then, you can click on the Login button.

Does it work? If not, you can move to the next method.

Solution 2: Boot Your Mac into Safe Mode

Safe Mode is capable of loading only required or installed programs by macOS, therefore, it can prevent your computer from loading software that may affect the startup process. To enter the Safe mode, you need to:

1. Restart your Mac and immediately press and hold the Shift key.
2. Release the Shift key till you see the Apple logo or the loading bar.
3. If your Mac loads successfully in Safe Mode, try to uncheck login items in Users & Groups.

Nevertheless, this method doesn’t work for users who have enabled FileVault. When the FileVault is turned on, your startup disk is encrypted and You could decrypt your startup drive temporarily by booting Password Reset Assistant. Then you will be able to boot it into Safe mode.

Solution 3: Reset Your Login Password

It happens a lot in daily life that you forget your password and try different ones multiple times. However, after entering the wrong PIN too many times, the system will be locked and you can’t enter the password even if it’s right. In that case, you can reset the password by following this:

1. Entering your Apple ID
2. Providing a recovery key if you have created on before.

You can do this via Terminal as well. However, we don’t suggest doing so since it might be a little technical for normal users.

Solution 4: Repair Corrupted Startup Disk

Have you thought about the possibility, that your startup disk might be corrupted? A damaged Macintosh HD cannot be loaded as usual. But you don’t need to panic since Mac has offered a built-in tool to fix this issue, Disk Utility. You’ll have to enter the macOS Recovery mode first and then select the tool. Here are more detailed steps:

To boot into macOS Recovery mode:

1. Hold the power button until the Mac turns off.
2. Restart the Mac and immediately press and hold the Command and R keys.
3. Release those keys when you see the loading bar.

Now you should see the macOS Utilities window and you can check the following steps:

1.  Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities window and click Continue.

• Click on View and choose Show All Devices to list all detected disks and volumes.
• Select Macintosh HD in the left sidebar.
• Click First Aid on the top menu of Disk Utility.
• Click Run to check and repair errors in this drive.

Now you can exit macOS Recovery mode and try rebooting your Mac. Does it go normal now?

Conclusion

Hopefully, the above four methods should be useful to you. Besides these, you can also reset NVRM, check and fix user preference settings, and even reinstall the macOS to fix the Mac login issue.