Apple just released the first major update to macOS Monterey. The update comes a month and a half after the October 25th release.
Quick Summary
112.1 is now available as a delta update, Full Installer & M1 IPSW Restore file
Universal Control = Delayed until Spring 2022
Memory Leaks – Multiple reports. Some are saying some of the memory leaks are fixed, while others are still having issues.
2021 16″ M1 MacBook Pro charging fix when lid is closed
Mojave to Big Sur & Monterey Upgrade issue fixed! – More info https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-upgrade-to-big-sur-failed-stuck-progress-bar-fix-prevention/
macOS Monterey Patch Notes Summary
1. New Features – 7
2. Resolved Issues – 7
3. Security Fixes – 42
3. New Enhancements – 3
4. Enterprise – 5
5. Undocumented Fixes – 1
Other Apple Releases
1. iOS 15.2 (19C56)
2. iPadOS 15.2 (19C56)
3. watchOS 8.3 (19S55)
4. tvOS 15.2 (19K53)
5. HomePodOS 15.2 (19K52)
6. Monterey 12.1 (21C52)
7. Big Sur 11.6.2 (20G313)
8. Catalina 2021-008 (19H1615)
9. Xcode 13.2 (13C90)
My macOS Monterey 12.1 What’s New Update Video!
Table of Contents
1. Apple Links
2. Mr. Macintosh articles of interest for Apple Silicon & macOS Monterey
If you installed the Big Sur 11.6.1 Update, Recovery OS will be upgraded Monterey on your M1 Mac.
Normally when you install a macOS update, recovery gets updated so it matches the OS version.
Example: You have an M1 Mac that has Big Sur 11.5.2 on it. Then you installed the 11.6 update. The following happens.
M1 Mac
MacOS is updated to 11.6
Recovery OS is updated to 11.6
Fallback Recovery stays on 11.5.2
Intel Mac
MacOS is updated to 11.6
Recovery OS is updated to 11.6
Big Sur OS and Monterey Recovery on M1?
MacAdmin @nstrauss first reported something strange last week.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 Command + R vs Option + Command R. The OS that shipped with your Mac vs the latest available supported version. What’s the equivalent to this on Apple silicon? If I’m not ready to move to Monterey, but recovery is only offering Monterey, what can I do?
How could you have an M1 Mac with Big Sur installed but Monterey as the recovery OS?
There is one way you can get into this situation.
Upgrade an M1 Mac to Monterey
Boot to recovery with Big Sur USB Installer
Erase the drive
Install Big Sur
You now have an M1 Mac with Big Sur OS and Monterey Recovery.
The only way to fix this is to use Apple Configurator 2 + DFU mode. You can restore macOS and Recovery back to Big Sur with the 11.6 IPSW.
This was not what happened in Nathaniel’s situation.
The Big Sur 11.6.1 update changed the normal process.
EDIT: This happens with ANY Big Sur update!
Example: You have a Software Update deferral in place. You are offered the 11.5.2 or 11.6 update, you will also get Monterey Recovery.
I started talking with someone who knows the recovery system very well. He was just as confused as I was.
I decided to test on my M1 that was on 11.6. I Booted into recovery, and recovery OS was on 11.6. Then I booted into fallback recovery and it was on 11.6.
The version was 11.6 because I used AC2 and the 11.6 IPSW to restore.
I then installed the 11.6.1 update in System Preferences > Software Update.
When the update was complete, the OS was on 11.6.1. I then booted into recovery and found this.
macOS recovery is now on 12.0.1 Monterey after installing the 11.6.1 update on an M1 Mac.
Recovery is on macOS Monterey 12.0.1 …. ok
Let’s try Fallback Recovery. If you are not familiar with FBR this is what Apple says about it.
Fallback Recovery = From a shutdown state, double- press and hold the power button. The same process as recoveryOS boot, except that it boots to a second copy of recoveryOS that is kept for resiliency. However, LLB doesn’t lock an indication into the Boot Progress Register saying it is going into recoveryOS, and therefore the fallback recovery OS doesn’t have the capability to change the system security state.
Apple Platform Security
The idea here is FBR is a 2nd copy of recoveryOS that is one version behind. This a great troubleshooting tool that you could use if you installed an update but something went wrong.
So I booted into FBR and it was on 12.0.1 Monterey.
How can you confirm that you are booted to FBR? From the Apple Security Guide, you should not be able to modify system security.
M1 Mac on 11.6.1 booted to Fallback Recovery Mode
Once in Fallback recovery, I attempted to modify the Startup Security Utility and got the message above.
Howard Oakley wrote an excellent article on Fallback Recovery if you would like to learn more.
We now know that installing the 11.6.1 update will update recoveryOS to Monterey. What about the Big Sur 11.6.1 full installer?
1st test – 11.6 installed = 11.6.1 Full Installer
After using the 11.6.1 Full installer, macOS recovery will be updated to Monterey 12.0.1
2nd test – 11.6 installed – 11.6.2 Beta Update
The update showed up in system preferences as a full 11GB update. After updating, recoveryOS was Big Sur
3rd test – 11.6.1 installed – 11.6.2 Beta Update
Maybe the issue was just in the 11.6.1 update? After installing the 11.6.2 Beta update, recoveyOS was on 12.0.1 Recovery. You would think that the 11.6.2 Beta update would have installed 12.1 Beta recoveryOS but that was not the case.
If you still need to Reinstall Big Sur.
This is where the new M1 Recovery system comes in handy. All you need to do is create a Big Sur USB installer.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Boot to M1 Boot Picker by holding down Power.
Select Install macOS Big Sur.
You are now in recovery and can use the Big Sur USB installer to reinstall macOS Big Sur.
Conclusion
So what is the deal with this situation? We have a few possibilities.
This is a bug or mistake on Apple’s part. This is unexpected behavior that we have not seen before.
There is a technical reason behind the change.
Apple wants users to upgrade to Monterey when reinstalling macOS.
I’m not pointing in any one direction because I don’t know why this is happening.
I’ve submitted a ticket to Apple Enterprise Support to find out. I will update you when I hear back.
Thanks
Hat tip to someone who reached out to help clarify the situation.
2nd hat tip to Howard Oakley, Mark Buffington and Pico for additional confirmation plus answering some of my questions.
Benchmarks for M1 Pro & Max are starting to appear in geekbench. Single-Core Score = 1783& Multi-Core = 12693. Comparison 2020 M1 Mac Mini = 1756 Single & 7727 Multi-Core
My macOS Monterey RC Update Video
Full list of Apple Beta releases.
iOS 15.1 RC (19B74)
iPadOS 15.1 RC (19B74)
watchOS 8.1 RC (19R570)
tvOS 15.1 RC (19J572)
audioOS 15.1 RC (19J572)
Monterey 12.0.1 RC (21A558)
Catalina Security RC 2021-007 (19H1519)
Big Sur 11.6.1 RC (20G221)
macOS Monterey Beta Patch Notes Summary
1. Enterprise – 0
2. New Features – 0
3. Known Issues – 0
4. Resolved Issues – 8
5. Deprecations – 0
6. Undocumented Fixes – 2
7. Undocumented New Features – 2
Table of Contents
1. Apple Links
2. Mr. Macintosh articles of interest for Apple Silicon & macOS Monterey
macOS Monterey Beta 10 is now available for Developers.
UPDATED 10/14
Yesterday, Apple announced a new MacBook Pro Event!!!
The keynote will be held on Monday October 18th at 12:00 PM CST
New MacBook Pro event on October 19th at 12:00CST!!!
Apple also just dropped macOS Monterey Beta 10. The update comes only one week after beta 9! Let’s jump in and find out what’s new in this update.
Monterey final release prediction.
Monterey Release Candidate right after the October 18th Event. This will protect the new MBPro specific information contained in the RC installer until after the announcement. We could see the public release between Oct 19-21st.
Quick Summary
NEW MacBook Pro EVENT!!! October 18th 12:00 PM CST
Beta 10 is now available as a Delta update & M1 IPSW Restore File
Public Beta TODAY! & Full Installer (tomorrow)
Safari favorites bar is now positioned between the url bar and your tabs.
Universal Control =NEWS! – New (Beta) Universal Control settings! (click the advanced button in system preferences > display) The setting is not working right now from what I can tell. The change is not mentioned in the Beta 10 patch notes. The checkmark box can’t be selected. If you run the old FeatureFlags workaround the box can be selected but the feature still does not seem to work.
My macOS Monterey Beta 10 What’s New Video!
Full list of Apple Beta releases.
iOS 15.1 (Beta 4) 19B5068a
iPadOS 15.1 (Beta 4) 19B5068a
watchOS 8.1 (Beta 4) 19R5566a
tvOS 15.1 (Beta 4) 19J5567a
audioOS 5.1 (Beta 4) 19J5567a
Big Sur 11.6.1 RC (20G214 –> 20G219)
Catalina 2021-007 Security Update Beta
macOS Monterey Beta Patch Notes Summary
1. Enterprise – 0
2. New Features – 0
3. Known Issues – 1
4. Resolved Issues – 0
5. Deprecations – 0
6. Undocumented Fixes – 0
7. Undocumented New Features – 1
Table of Contents
1. Apple Links
2. Mr. Macintosh articles of interest for Apple Silicon & macOS Monterey
macOS Monterey Beta 7 is now available for Developers.
UPDATED 9/28
Apple just dropped macOS Monterey Beta 7. The update comes one day after iOS 15 Launch Day. It has been 3 weeks since macOS Monterey Beta 6. Let’s jump in and find out what’s new in this update.
Beta 7 is now available as a Delta update, M1 IPSW Restore File & Full Installer
Full Installer & Public Beta are not availableEDIT: Available now!
Something is wrong with the Monterey Beta 7 Full Installer! Once downloaded it is only a 32MB stub file. I’ve submitted this issue to Apple Enterprise Support. The installer should be fixed in Beta 8.
Does Monterey Beta 7 address the FORCEDENTRY iMessage zero-click exploit? – Unknown
Universal Control =Not mentioned in iOS 15.1 Beta or Monterey Beta 7 Patch notes
SideCar Preference Pane = SideCar settings was moved to the Display Preferences Pane.
New “Focus” setting Notifications when settings are changed on iPhone or iPad.
macOS Monterey Beta Patch Notes Summary
1. Enterprise – 0
2. New Features – 0
3. Known Issues – 20
4. Resolved Issues – 3
5. Deprecations – 6
My macOS Monterey Beta 7 Update Video.
Table of Contents
1. Apple Links
2. Mr. Macintosh articles of interest for Apple Silicon & macOS Monterey
macOS Monterey Beta 6 is now available for Developers.
UPDATED 8/31/21
Apple just dropped macOS Monterey Beta 6. This release comes almost 3 weeks after Beta 5 and one week after iOS 15 Beta 7. It looks like Apple has now moved to a weekly beta release schedule for iOS. It will be interesting to see if Apple will do the same for macOS Monterey. Let’s jump in and find out what’s new in this update.
Beta 6 is now available as a Delta update & M1 IPSW Restore File
Full Installer & Public Beta now available
Universal Control = NOT ENABLED
SideCar Preference pane is MISSING! (Still works through display pane)
New Kernel Panic Feedback Assistant Report Message
Change in Safari Tabs Layout (auto collapse tabs & show color moved)
macOS Monterey Beta Patch Notes Summary
1. Enterprise – 1
2. New Features – 4
3. Known Issues – 12
4. Resolved Issues – 10
5. Deprecations – 6
Table of Contents
1. Apple Links
2. Mr. Macintosh articles of interest for Apple Silicon & macOS Monterey
