Login Window is skipped and partially freezes MacBook

[sam_hummerstone]

I couldn't find this issue described anywhere else, but very recently, a few of the MacBooks around the company are experiencing a bug where they will close their screen when they leave it, and then when they open it, the login window does not appear, although I think it is still active, and leaves the user unable to type or use the system toolbar, or anything useful really. Our MacBook users are setup with a monitor, and the monitor always shows the background of the login window, and the main screen does not, as if the login window is invisible. I can't replicate the issue on my iMac, so I believe it is due to multiple screens.

Has anyone got any idea what payload may be causing this? We currently have a few active, including security, restrictions, login window and energy.

[sarky_marty]

We have an issue here which may be similar or related. It has come to the fore after upgrading the JSS to the most recent release, but I don't know whether or not it's related. We have a similar set of configuration profiles active, and I noticed that the scoping and effectiveness of these changed after the upgrade. For example, immediately after the JSS upgrade, all computers gained a Shutdown and Wake schedule of 07:00-21:00, despite no configuration profiles in the same site pushing this out.

The "Ask for Password when waking from Sleep or Screensaver" configuration seems to be ignored in many cases, despite being set by a configuration profile and appearing to be set in System Preferences on the local machine.

Additionally, some MacBook Airs and Pros are becoming unresponsive when waking from sleep. The keyboard often doesn't respond, and clicking with the trackpad is ignored, although sometimes works if a 'double-click' is used instead. The foremost application windows also appear as though they are in the background, with only one application hogging the menu bar regardless of what we can mange to bring up on the screen. If the "shutdown" menu can be invoked, the shutdown process is seemingly ignored, with the only method of rebooting being to press-and-hold the power button.

If we can mange to switch to the login window by using the "Fast User Switching" menu, the keyboard and trackpad allow access and correct functionality in our local admin account, but the problem persists if switching back to the original user account.

[aaronkerrgfs]

We are experiencing this exact issue on multiple Macs managed by Casper. We are working with support on it.

[aaronkerrgfs]

For reference, we had this happen on a machine early this morning, and I captured a quick video:

Video on YouTube

It is happening multiple times a day to several of our Mac users in the IS department.

[sam_hummerstone]

@aaronkerrgfs That is the exact Issue I am having, interesting to see that it is occurring on non-monitor setups too. I have turned off the login window payload for now in order to see if we come across any locks; None so far. Disabling the login window payload has also appeared to fix the 'Ask for Password' issue that @sarky_marty has described. I also think that this may have something to do with the latest JSS update. Hopefully this is something that will be addressed. I will update if I get any more scenarios of locking up with the login window payload disabled.

[aaronkerrgfs]

Sam, the issue corresponds very closely with our installation of the latest JSS update as well (9.8.2). We are going to select a few test users today and disable the login window profile for them to see if it resolves the issue. My testing so far makes me think the issue will disappear for them.

Thanks for the feedback and additional info!

[aaronkerrgfs]

For those who are seeing this issue, are you running any type of Antivirus on the affected systems?

[milesleacy]

Some troubleshooting questions:

What OS X version is affected?

What is/are the Model Identifier(s) of the affected Macs?

Given: A user account (let's call it "User X") is affected. When logging in with your "local admin account" (let's call it Admin X), the behavior disappears. What is the behavior when logging in as another non-admin user? Another admin user? Can the behavior be reproduced under an alternate account?

[sarky_marty]

Phew. Glad we're not the only ones!

Here are some answers to the questions posed:
- Sophos Antivirus is running on the Macs.
- So far, we've seen the issue on machines running 10.10.5, 10.11.1, and 10.11.2.
- The issue has been confirmed on 13" MacBook Air (Mid 2013), 15" Retina MacBook Pro (Mid 2012), and 15" Retina MacBook Pro (Late 2013), and may possibly be occurring on others.
- We have no non-admin accounts on our machines, so I am currently unable to test that behaviour.

That YouTube video looks exactly like our issue.

[sam_hummerstone]

Seems to affect 10.10.5 and 10.11.2;
Mostly Mid-Late 2015 macBook Pro Retinas;
Does not seem to happen on demand, very sporadic;

We haven't had any lock-outs over the past 2 days though, after turning off the login window payload for everyone (Although the dastardly annoying lack of askForPassword after screensaver is back again).