Check for 32-Bit Apps

If you’re already running Catalina or later, there’s nothing to see here—skip ahead to Update Your Remaining Apps. But if you’re using Mojave or earlier, you should check for 32-bit apps.

Like Monterey, Big Sur, and Catalina before it, Ventura requires 64-bit apps; older, 32-bit apps simply won’t run. As a user, you don’t need to know or care about the technical details differentiating 32-bit apps from 64-bit apps. What is relevant, however, is that if you’re upgrading from Mojave or earlier, there’s a good chance that one or more apps you use regularly won’t work under Ventura, and some of them may never work on any future version of macOS.

Thus, before you upgrade to Ventura, you should find out which of your apps are still 32-bit apps and then, depending on what you learn, decide on appropriate steps. The easiest way to do so is to download the free Go64 app. Open the app and click OK. After a few seconds, it lists all your 32-bit apps (including those, marked with an alert icon, which contain one or more 32-bit components), along with helpful information like the date you last used each one and a link to each developer.

Once you’ve identified which apps won’t run under Ventura, you’ll have to upgrade them to newer versions, replace them with comparable 64-bit apps, or remove them and simply do without them. (If you’re so inclined, you could put Ventura on a separate volume so that you can switch back and forth between operating systems, but you shouldn’t think of this as a long-term solution.)

Update Your Remaining Apps

The Ventura installer looks for, and disables, certain types of incompatible software—but there’s no guarantee it will find everything (and I should note that it does not remove any remaining 32-bit apps—they’ll still be present, they just won’t work). Given the choice, you’re usually better off upgrading third-party software before you install a new version of your operating system. (You may occasionally run into an app with a newer version designed to run only on Ventura; in such limited cases, you may have to install the updated software after upgrading to Ventura.)

Apple built an update mechanism into the App Store, so any apps you downloaded from the App Store can also be updated there—and App Store updates are free. To check for and apply App Store updates:

1. Open the App Store app by choosing Apple  > App Store.

2. Click Updates in the sidebar or on the toolbar (depending on your version of macOS) to display a list of available updates.

3. To update a single app, click the Update button next to it. Or, to update all the listed apps at once, click Update All.

4. If prompted to do so, enter your Apple ID and password, and click Sign In.

The App Store downloads and installs the updates automatically.

Software that doesn’t come from the App Store requires a separate update mechanism. Happily, most modern apps contain some sort of update feature. In each non–App Store app that you use frequently, look for a Check for Updates command (the wording may vary). Such commands usually appear in the application menu, the Help menu, or the Preferences window.

Plan A: In-Place Upgrade

As has been true since Snow Leopard, the Ventura installer offers a single upgrade method that attempts to make the transition simple by leaving almost all your files, apps, and settings in place. You run the installer as you would any other app, and it replaces all the components of your old macOS installation with their Ventura equivalents, while deleting those that are obsolete—just as the App Store app does when it installs minor updates.

The Ventura installer even helps you avoid many common incompatibilities. It automatically checks for certain categories of incompatible software and moves any such files safely aside into a Relocated Items folder.

As long as you have a complete backup, you have little to fear from an in-place upgrade to Ventura, and it’s entirely reasonable for Apple to have made it the default—indeed, the only official—option.

However, I must reiterate that as good as the installer is, there are no guarantees. Something could still go wrong before, during, or after the upgrade. It’s also possible that, due to an error or design flaw in the installer, important files could be deleted. These are among the reasons to consider following the clean install procedure that I describe next.

Plan B: Clean Install

Whether or not you trust the installer (and Ventura itself) to protect you from software incompatibilities, you might consider making a fresh start by erasing your entire disk and installing a clean, pristine copy of Ventura. This process requires a few extra clicks and a bit more time, but it’s not hard to perform. You have to start up from another volume (which could be a bootable duplicate or a bootable installer volume, described ahead) to erase your previous system, run the installer, and restore your personal files.

The main reason to prefer a clean install over an in-place upgrade is that erasing your disk wipes out any hidden directory corruption, file system problems, and other disk gremlins that may cause problems.

If a clean install did nothing but erase your disk and install Ventura, then all your preferences, network settings, user-installed software, and files would be gone, and you’d have to either restore them from a backup or recreate them from scratch: not fun. But as in other recent versions of macOS, the Ventura installer also offers an optional Migration Assistant feature—available only when you install onto a blank volume—that makes the process easy. As soon as the installation completes, you’ll have the option to migrate all your apps and personal files from another volume. Since you’ve made a complete backup, the installer can take all your personal data from that disk and copy it to the analogous location on the Ventura volume.

When copying your old data, you can be somewhat selective, but you can’t select individual files or folders to migrate (or skip). If you select every possible category of data (the default), Migration Assistant dutifully copies virtually everything from your backup to your startup volume (while moving aside any software it identifies as incompatible, just as occurs in an in-place upgrade). Almost to a file, the results should be identical to what you’d get with an in-place upgrade! (There are some tiny differences, but almost certainly nothing you’d ever notice if you didn’t scrutinize every last file on your disk.)

The thing is, I recommend that you do copy all your old data, because otherwise you’re likely to be left without something you need and expect. Therefore, since the net result is essentially the same with the in-place upgrade method and a clean install, I now recommend the latter only in the following situations:

• Your startup disk has errors that neither Disk Utility nor third-party utilities can repair.

• You want to be selective about which folders and files you let Migration Assistant copy (to reduce the clutter on your disk, for example), and you’re willing to manually copy other files you may need later.

• You’re installing Ventura onto a Mac that you just purchased, and you want to erase the drive and start fresh with Ventura. You’ll transfer your data from your old Mac (or Windows PC) during the installation process.

• You attempted an in-place upgrade and it failed.

Pick a Plan

To summarize, I believe Plan A is best for most people. Let Apple’s installer do its thing. You’ll already have a full backup (because, remember, I insist on it!), so the worst thing that could happen is you lose an hour or so of your time and have to start over with Plan B’s clean install. The overwhelming probability is that everything will be just fine, however, if you go with the flow.

With any plan—even with an in-place upgrade—questions, choices, and issues may arise. I’ll explain how to deal with all of them as we go.

Obtain the Installer

Depending on your situation, obtaining the Ventura installer may be a trivial matter of a few clicks, or it may be an involved ordeal.

If, in your Software Update or App Store Preferences (see Handle Software Updates), “Download new updates when available” box is checked, the Ventura installer may already have downloaded without any intervention on your part. Otherwise, if you have an internet connection that can comfortably download 12+ GB of data, obtaining Ventura is pretty much like downloading any other software update:

1. Use this link to go to the Ventura page on the Mac App Store.

2. Click Get. Depending on your version of macOS, this may open the System Preferences > Software Update (in which case, click Upgrade Now) or turn into an Install button (in which case, click it).

3. If prompted, enter your Apple ID and password, and click Sign In.

The Ventura installer downloads to your /Applications folder—a process that could take anywhere from minutes to days, depending on the bandwidth of your internet connection.

After it downloads, the installer launches automatically. But we’re not ready to install Ventura yet, so choose Install macOS Ventura > Quit Install macOS to quit for the time being; we’ll return shortly!

Copy the Installer to a Safe Place

Unlike most software that you download from the App Store, what shows up in the /Applications folder after you download Ventura is an installer (an app called Install macOS Ventura); you must run the installer to put all the necessary pieces in place. If you do an in-place upgrade (whether to your internal SSD or an external SSD), the installer is deleted once the process is finished!

I presume the reason for this is that, once Ventura is installed, Apple wants to give you back the 12 GB or so of disk space the installer was taking up, since you likely won’t need the installer in the future (and can download it again if you do). But what if you want to install Ventura on multiple Macs—or reinstall it later on the same Mac—without having to download that huge installer again? I’ll tell you what: you’d better put that installer in a safe place before you run it! If it’s anywhere else—your desktop, ~/Downloads, or wherever—it won’t be deleted after it runs.

So, before you do anything else, I suggest that you either ⌘-drag the installer to move it from /Applications to another location, or Option-drag the installer to copy it to another location—preferably another volume—so if it is deleted, you’ll have a spare. Or, create a bootable installation volume, as I describe next.

Make a Bootable Installer Volume

The installer for Ventura and other versions of macOS doesn’t include or require boot media. But you might want to have a copy of the installer on a bootable disk for one of these reasons:

• As a backup, so you don’t have to re-download it if you need it in the future

• To simplify installing Ventura on multiple Macs

• To facilitate downgrading from Ventura to your previous version of macOS should that become necessary (in which case, you’d want to create a bootable installer volume for the old version, not for Ventura)

If none of that applies to you, skip ahead to Update Your Backup.

The easy way to create this sort of disk is to use an app that does all the work with a few clicks—all you’ll need is a blank USB thumb drive, SSD, or other storage device with a capacity of at least 16 GB. A free app that can do this is Install Disk Creator, but it has not been updated to work with Ventura (or even with Monterey), and I suspect it’s kaput.

The other option is a command-line tool called createinstallmedia that is buried inside the installer (and thus is a method that Apple officially sanctions). Using this tool requires mucking around in Terminal, but it requires no help from third-party apps. Apple offers complete instructions for using this tool. You can also find many tutorials on the web about how to use the command-line approach—for example, this one by iDownloadBlog.com.

But there’s a catch, in that a bootable installer requires a full macOS installer to work with, and in some cases, that may not be what you get when you download Ventura, as I explain in the sidebar ahead.

Update Your Backup

Earlier in this chapter, I instructed you to make a complete backup of your startup disk. If you did that just minutes ago—and your backup includes the Ventura installer file located outside of the /Applications folder—then you can move along to the next step. Otherwise, I suggest updating your backup before running the installer.

Start the Installer

Before you run the installer, if you haven’t already done so:

• If you are installing onto a laptop, connect its AC adapter to a power source. (If you forget to do this, the installer will prompt you.)

• Quit all open apps. (The installer attempts to do this for you—and prompts you if it can’t—but you might as well take care of this beforehand.)

To begin the process, double-click the Install macOS Ventura icon in your /Applications folder or wherever else you put it. A window appears with just one button: Continue. Click it!

The Software License Agreement appears next; click Agree, and then click Agree again in the confirmation dialog to proceed.

Select a Destination

The next screen asks you confirm which volume you want to install Ventura onto. In most cases, it displays its best guess—typically your startup volume (Figure 2)—but you may see multiple disks here, in which case you should select the one you want. To install Ventura onto a volume that’s not shown, click Show All Disks to display all available options and then make your selection.

If the installer can’t use a volume as the destination for any reason, that volume is dimmed; click it for an explanation. If the volume is empty or contains a recent version of macOS, it should be OK; if not, the instructions may tell you to back it up and erase it (or in some cases reformat it).

With your desired destination volume selected, click Continue or Install (the wording varies depending on your setup).

At this point, particularly if you’re upgrading from Mojave or earlier, you may see a dialog listing any apps that are “not optimized for your Mac,” which means 32-bit apps that won’t run under Catalina or later. Make a note of these apps and click Continue.

Next, you’re prompted to enter your administrator credentials (in order to add a helper app); do so and click OK (or, in some cases, Unlock).

The installer begins copying files. The copy process typically takes several minutes, but when it finishes, the installer tells you that it will restart your computer automatically in 30 seconds; you can also click Restart to skip the wait. If any apps are still open and the installer is unable to close them automatically (for example, if there are unsaved changes you must respond to), the installer displays a prompt asking you to click Close Other Applications.

Clean Your Windows

Depending on a number of variables, including the speed of your Mac and the size of your disk, installation may take less than a half hour or as long as several hours. If you’re installing onto a hard drive or Fusion drive, it will be much longer than you might otherwise expect, because of the extra time required to convert your volume to APFS. Apart from the steps you’ve already performed, the process normally requires no intervention until the very end. Until then, you won’t be able to use your Mac for anything else, so now’s a good time to clean all the windows in your house, watch a movie, or go for a jog—you have a bit of time to kill.

As the installer progresses, your Mac will restart one or more times, and it may make some unusual sounds (like a long beep). If you weren’t already running Big Sur or later, you may also hear, for the first time in many years, your Mac’s startup chime—perhaps even more than once! (See the sidebar The Startup Chime for more on this topic.) At the end of the installation, you’ll continue with several additional configuration steps.

Finish Setup Assistant

What happens next depends on how your Mac was previously set up:

• If you had Automatic Login turned on previously, Ventura should log you in automatically.

• If Automatic Login was off, your entire screen becomes a login screen. Select (or enter) your username if necessary, enter your password, and press Return to log in. This initial login process may take longer than usual, so be prepared to wait a few minutes before the login screen disappears.

The first time you use Ventura, the installer’s Setup Assistant app runs, although you won’t see that name—if it appears at all, it looks like a continuation of the installer itself. Setup Assistant may display one or more screens that ask you to make various setup choices.

In some cases—especially if you’re doing an in-place upgrade from Big Sur or later and you already have most of Apple’s recommended features enabled—you may not see any Setup Assistant screens at all; or you may see just a Setting Up Your Mac screen that appears briefly and disappears on its own, because the installer may have all the information it needs without asking for any additional input.

However, depending on which version of macOS you’re upgrading from and your previous settings, you may see one or more additional screens. Those may include (not necessarily in this order):

• Sign in with Your Apple ID: Even if you were signed in to iCloud in your previous version of macOS, this screen may prompt you to sign in again. Depending on the circumstances, you may be asked only for your password, or for both your Apple ID and your password. If you don’t want to enter an Apple ID—and are willing to forgo all iCloud features for the present—select Set Up Later (the wording may be slightly different), click Continue, and then click Skip again to confirm. (You can enter this information later, in System Settings > Apple ID.)

• Terms and Conditions: Setup Assistant wants to be sure that you’ve consented to a bunch of additional legalese, so it may invite you to read, study, and agree to two or more statements, including “macOS Software License Agreement” and “Game Center Terms and Conditions.” Handle these however you want; I’ve found that my lawyer enjoys chatting with me about each paragraph of such agreements in detail (at his usual hourly rates).

• Enable Location Services: If you hadn’t previously enabled Location Services (which is used for iCloud’s Find My Mac feature, Maps, Spotlight suggestions, and numerous other things), a dialog may appear asking if you’d like to do so. Check “Enable location services on this Mac” if you like (if you leave this disabled, you can enable the setting later in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Privacy > Location Services), or click the “About Location Services & Privacy” link to learn more.

• Analytics: Ventura can automatically send diagnostic and usage data to Apple and/or third-party developers to help them track down the causes of crashes and other bugs you may encounter. This information is anonymous and doesn’t contain personal data.

  If you want to send this troubleshooting data in the event that a problem occurs, select Send Diagnostics & Usage Data to Apple. With that selected, you may also select Share Crash Data with App Developers. (You can’t share crash data with app developers unless you also share diagnostic data with Apple.)

• Siri: You’ll see this if Siri was disabled in your previous version of macOS. This screen has a single control, Enable Ask Siri, which is enabled by default. Leave it enabled to enable Siri voice control after Ventura is installed, or deselect it to disable Siri. (You can always enable or disable Ask Siri later—go to System Settings > Siri & Spotlight once Ventura is up and running.) You may also see a second Siri screen, titled Improve Siri & Dictation, which asks you to give Apple permission to listen to recordings of your voice in order to improve speech-to-text accuracy. For privacy reasons, I recommend selecting Not Now.

If you had to struggle through any or all of that, here’s when the “Setting Up Your Mac” screen makes its brief appearance. Then Setup Assistant quits automatically and your Ventura desktop appears.

Check for Proper Operation

In all probability, your upgrade will have gone smoothly, and everything will now work more or less the way you expect. However, even if everything looks fine, don’t declare upgrade victory until you Perform Post-Installation Tasks, including dealing with any alerts and queries that pop up shortly after installation, checking for software updates, and configuring a few new options in System Settings.

If anything did go amiss, or if you later discover problems that aren’t solved by following the advice in Troubleshoot Upgrade Problems, you can fall back to Upgrade Using Plan B: Clean Install.

Assuming your installation is now complete, you can skip the rest of this chapter and head on to Adapt to Ventura Changes.

Start Up from Another Volume

Unlike Plan A’s in-place upgrade, Plan B requires you to start up from another volume that contains the Ventura installer. You have a few choices:

• A bootable installer volume (see Make a Bootable Installer Volume)

• A bootable duplicate stored on an external SSD

• Recovery mode

For the first two bullets, see the next topic; for recovery mode, skip ahead to Start Up in Recovery Mode.

Erase Your Disk

Having started up from another volume or recovery mode, follow these steps to erase your destination volume in preparation for Ventura:

1. Open Disk Utility. If you’ve started up from an external volume, you can find it in /Applications/Utilities. If you’re in recovery mode, click Disk Utility in the macOS Utilities window.

2. If only the volumes are visible in the sidebar and not the drive itself, choose View > Show All Devices.

3. In the sidebar, select the disk or partition you want to erase. (Be sure to select the top-level icon, not an indented container or volume.) If it is not already mounted, click the Mount icon on the toolbar; if prompted to unlock it, enter your password.

4. On the toolbar, click the Erase button.

5. Type a name for your disk, make sure Format is set to APFS, and if the Scheme pop-up menu appears, choose GUID Partition Map.

6. Click Erase.

7. If you see a confirmation dialog, click Erase again. Disk Utility erases the disk, which normally takes just a few seconds. Click Done if prompted to do so when the Erase process is complete.

8. Choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.

You’re now ready to install Ventura on the empty volume.

Run the Installer

Your next steps are slightly different depending on how you started your Mac:

• If you’ve started from an external drive, make sure you’ve quit all running apps and then double-click the Install macOS Ventura icon in your /Applications folder or wherever else you put it.

• If you’re running in recovery mode, click Install macOS (or Install macOS Ventura).

A window appears with one button: Continue. Click it!

The next few steps are identical to those for an in-place upgrade:

1. The Software License Agreement appears; click Agree, and then click Agree again in the confirmation dialog.

2. Now select your destination. If needed, click Show All Disks to display all available options and click the one you want to use.

3. With your desired destination volume selected, click Continue or Install (the wording varies depending on your setup).

4. Next, you’re prompted to enter your administrator credentials (in order to add a helper app); do so and click OK (or, in some cases, Unlock).

The installer begins copying files, a process that typically takes just a few minutes, but may take longer. Then, depending on your configuration, it may restart your Mac automatically or it may ask you to click a Restart button. After the restart, the main portion of the installation process occurs.

During the installation, you may want to Clean Your Windows, but be sure to come back here once you’ve read that topic. As the installer progresses, your Mac will restart one or more times, with or without The Startup Chime. You’ll know the process has finished when the Select Your Country or Region screen appears. That’s part of Setup Assistant, to which we now turn our attention.

Use Setup Assistant

Setup Assistant is a program that looks like a continuation of the Ventura installer. It runs automatically after Ventura restarts at the end of the installation process, and walks you through a number of setup and configuration questions. It also offers to transfer files from another Mac or PC, another volume (which can be your bootable or data-only duplicate; see Use Migration Assistant, next), or a Time Machine backup.

Here’s an overview of the screens you may see. Depending on your hardware setup and which decisions you make as you work your way through the installer, this list may vary somewhat:

• Hello: A “hello” screen greets you in a series of languages, changing every few seconds. There’s just one button at the bottom of the screen, “Get Started,” which you should click—even if the language has changed and you can’t read what it says!

• Select Your Country or Region: Your first task is to select a country or region on the Welcome screen and click Continue.

• Written and Spoken Languages: In some cases, you may be asked to confirm your preferred written and spoken languages, including those used for your keyboard and dictation.

• Accessibility: This screen gives you a convenient way to set a wide variety of accessibility preferences. Clicking any of the four titles shown leads you through a series of options in that category, each with graphical descriptions of what the options do. You can adjust any or all of these, in any order—or click Not Now if you want to adjust them later in System Settings:

  • Vision: The nine screens that appear after you click Vision are VoiceOver, Zoom, Hover Text, Speak Selection, Pointer Size, Reduce Transparency, Increase Contrast, Appearance, and Reduce Motion.

  • Motor: The Motor category contains just one option: Accessibility Keyboard (an onscreen keyboard).

  • Hearing: In the Hearing category, there are screens for Closed Captions and “Flash for alerts.”

  • Cognitive: The four screens in the Cognitive category are Appearance, Speak Selection, Typing Feedback, and Hover Text. Except for Typing Feedback, these are identical to the options with the same names in the Vision category.

• Select Your Wi-Fi Network: Setup Assistant next looks for a network connection. You see a screen called Select Your Wi-Fi Network. Select the network to which you want to connect and, if required, enter the password. Then click Continue. (If you connect to the internet some other way—or if you have no internet connection—click Other Network Options and select the appropriate option.)

• Data & Privacy: A Data & Privacy screen appears, showing a handshake icon. Read the screen to learn that this icon should appear when an Apple feature is asking for permission to use your personal information. Finally, click Continue.

• Migration Assistant: Next is the Migration Assistant screen (Figure 3), which enables you to transfer files from your backup. I cover this process next.

Respond to Immediate Questions

Depending on your starting point, configuration, and upgrade path, you may see a normal desktop and nothing more after installing. In other situations—especially when you have a lot of third-party software—you may be immediately confronted with a large stack of overlapping dialogs and notifications.

Among the most common questions are requests for your user account password or Apple ID password. For example, certain apps may once again need an administrator’s authorization to make changes to your data, and various apps that use your Apple ID may need you to sign in again. You’ll also see requests to enable notifications; permit apps to have access to your contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and various resources in System Settings > Privacy & Security; and perhaps agree to updated iCloud terms and conditions—among other alerts.

Work your way through any such dialogs you see, even if they seem redundant or if they ask for permissions you’d previously granted. After that one-time process, most of them will not reappear.

Handle Software Updates

The next thing you should do is to update macOS itself (and any other crucial Apple software) to the latest version. Sometimes Apple releases bug fixes and security updates almost immediately after a major upgrade, and if any such urgent updates are available, it’s in your best interest to install them right away.

In some cases, Software Update and the App Store notify you automatically of updates, but I recommend checking manually after your Mac starts up under Ventura for the first time. Start with System Settings > General > Software Update for updates to Ventura itself.

For updates to other Apple software and third-party apps you’ve purchased from the App Store, choose Apple  > App Store. Then click Updates in the sidebar. To update a single app or group of apps, click the Update button next to it. Or, to update all the listed apps at once, click Update All. The App Store downloads and installs the updates automatically.

In addition to installing any updates, decide how you want Software Update to handle future updates. Your Mac can optionally check for, download, and even install updates in the background.

Follow these steps to configure software updates:

1. Go to System Settings > General > Software Update (Figure 4). macOS checks for updates, and any available updates appear. To apply them, click Update Now.

   

2. Click the Info icon next to Automatic Updates. A dialog (Figure 5) appears.

   

3. Turn on “Check for updates” (it’s on by default) to enable or disable automatic checking. (In some situations, you must enter your password after changing this.) If it’s enabled, you can also enable any or all of:

   • Download new updates when available, which not only notifies you of updates but also downloads them for you so you can install them as soon as you’re ready (in the notification, click Install to install immediately; click Later and choose Try in an Hour, Try Tonight, or Remind Me Tomorrow from the pop-up menu to “snooze” the reminder; or click the notification itself to open the App Store and see which updates are available)

   • Install macOS updates, which downloads and installs updates to macOS itself and asks you to restart your Mac (you may be prompted for your password if you change this)

   • Install app updates from the App Store, which silently updates installed apps from the App Store (except those requiring a restart or other interaction)

   • Install Security Responses and System Files, which automatically (without prompting you) installs these essential updates—without requiring a restart

Review the Relocated Items Folder

The Ventura installer places an alias named Relocated Items on your desktop; it points to a folder located in /Users/Shared, and it may contain any number of other files and folders, possibly including empty folders. (This will usually happen during smaller system updates, too.) There should also be a file called What Are Relocated Items?.lpdf, which you should double-click to open in Preview. It will tell you what’s in that folder, why, and what to do with it.

Although you might not understand all the explanations, or even recognize most of the items that were moved, the short version is that this folder, if it exists, contains items that the Ventura installer didn’t know what to do with for one reason or another. Follow Apple’s advice as best you can. Whatever you do, don’t try to move these items back to their original locations. Ventura will almost certainly prevent you from doing so, but even if you succeed, the software won’t work. In my experience, almost without exception, the files in this folder have been system files I never knowingly interacted with, and could therefore delete safely.

Once you’ve dealt with these items, or at least made a note of what they are, you can delete both the /Users/Shared/Relocated Items folder and the alias to it on your desktop.

Deal With Other Surprises

You may encounter a couple of other peculiarities when first using Ventura that cause some initial surprise.

Can’t Select Installation Volume…

If you run the Ventura installer, click Show All Disks when asked to choose a destination, and find that the volume on which you want to install Ventura isn’t available, chances are excellent that if you click the volume in question, the installer will usually tell you why it can’t be used and explain how to fix that problem.

Mac Won’t Start Up Under Ventura…

Following installation, if your machine will not start up under Ventura at all, if it gets stuck on a gray or black screen for more than about 15 minutes, or if you experience a kernel panic upon the first restart, try these steps in order until you are able to start up normally:

1. Force a shutdown and restart: Press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds until your Mac shuts down. Then press it again and wait for it to restart. (In fact, wait a little longer than seems necessary—again, 15 minutes is not unreasonable—especially if you’re booting from a mechanical hard drive.)

2. Disconnect non-essential USB devices: If your Mac gets stuck on a gray screen and won’t finish booting, try this:

   1. As in step 1, press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds until your Mac shuts down.

   2. Disconnect all USB cables from your Mac except any that go to a keyboard, mouse, or other pointing device.

   3. Press the power button again and wait for your Mac to start. If it starts normally, you can then reconnect your USB devices. If it’s still stuck after 15 minutes or so—or if it starts but then you experience a kernel panic—move on to the next step.

3. Try safe mode: Safe mode disables some third-party software and checks your disk for certain types of errors.

   To enter safe mode on an Intel-based Mac, choose Apple  > Restart. As soon as the screen goes black and your Mac begins to restart, press and hold the Shift key until the login window appears. (If the Mac is frozen or you see a kernel panic message, press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds until the Mac shuts down. Then press the power button to turn it back on and immediately hold down the Shift key until the login window appears.) The Mac will complete the startup process, which may take considerably longer than usual. You’ll eventually see the words “Safe Boot” on the screen—likely in red at the top of the login screen.

   On an M-series Mac, choose Apple  > Shut Down and wait until the Mac has fully shut down. Then press and hold the power button until you see “Loading startup options” on the screen. When the Options icon appears, select your startup disk, hold down the Shift key, click Continue in Safe Mode, and then release the Shift key.

   If Ventura starts up normally after a safe boot, a third-party extension or startup item may be the culprit. Check in /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, and ~/Library/LaunchAgents for third-party items that haven’t been updated recently (older items are more likely to have compatibility problems).

   If you find any that you explicitly recognize and suspect, look for an uninstaller from the developer, and if there is one, use it. If not, consult the documentation that came with the software, or the developer’s website, for removal instructions.

   Restart and see if the problem is still gone. If so, reinstall the uninstalled items one at a time, restarting after each one, until you find the culprit or you’ve installed new copies of them all and your Mac is still working well.

   If the problem does not go away after a safe boot, go to…

4. Try recovery mode: You can boot into recovery mode on an Intel-based Mac by choosing Apple  > Restart, clicking Restart, and immediately holding down ⌘-R until the Apple logo appears. On an M-series Mac, turn it off and then press and hold the power button until you see “Loading startup options” on the screen; when the Options icon appears, click it and then click Continue. Either way, a few moments later, you’ll see a macOS Utilities window; that means you’re using recovery mode.

   Once in recovery mode, select Disk Utility and click Continue. When it opens, select the problematic Ventura volume in the sidebar, click First Aid, and follow the prompts to repair any problems that may have appeared on your Ventura volume. Choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility to return to the macOS Utilities window. Then choose Apple  > Restart.

5. Remove any nonessential hardware: Try restarting with only your Apple-supplied keyboard, mouse, and display attached, and (if you have a 2019 Mac Pro) without any third-party PCI or video cards. You may even need to remove extra RAM. If this works, check for driver updates, and then reattach the devices one at a time, restarting after each one.

6. Reinstall Ventura: If you still can’t start your Mac, consider reinstalling Ventura. Perform a clean install (described in Upgrade Using Plan B: Clean Install), omitting items in the Applications category when you work your way through the file transfer portion of the installation to eliminate any possibility of software conflicts. (You can add those items later using Migration Assistant.)

In most cases, these steps will lead to a happy Ventura installation.