Tell me all is not lost!

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Lots of similar problems out there on line but not quite the same?

I'm getting the "you are unable to log into the FileVault user account ***** at this time......" message when I try to open my main admin account.

The password's right, the account shows up in the list of accounts, but it doesn't show up in Finder under 'users' even the deleted ones! Also FileVault has not been activated.

Stupidly not backed up and now looking at losing 18 months of pictures and a load of music too.

I've tried an undelete with mackeeper but it's only finding library images and icons from other deleted accounts.

This seems to have happened after a recent update?
Also, installed Steam game platform for my kids on another account (the only one that seems to be still working properly!?)

Arranged a call with mac support and they said they'd never heard of this problem before - obviously don't read the mac forums much since 2006?

I need a genius to tell me what to do in very simple terms!
Cheers
 
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Your Mac's Specs
rMBP 13 2.5GHz 121GB SSD
Sounds very strange if Filevault had never been activated! The only thing I can think of is find someone else with a Mac, connect the two with a firewire, and start yours in target disk mode, then see if you can find your files from the other Mac.

No backup in 18 months??!
 

chscag

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Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
It sounds like your account has become corrupt. Let's try this work around and see if we can get your data back:

Activate the "ROOT" user on your machine. See this Apple KB article to learn how. LINK

Log off the machine and log on using the newly activated ROOT user account. When you log on this way, you'll see a generic desktop with the default applications that Apple places in the dock.

From the ROOT account you should be able to "see" and access all other accounts and data. If you can access your photos and music, copy them to an external drive. Also copy any other documents and data that you can to an external drive.

When you're satisfied everything has been copied over, you can log off and log back on using the good account. Post back and let us know if this works and we'll go from there to try to repair the other damage.

Also, one more bit of advice. Do not use MacKeeper. It does not work right and can actually do more harm than good. If you need to undelete data or rescue it from the hard drive, we'll give you some better suggestions.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions.
Still no sign of the information, it looks like filevault has turned itself on on this account for some reason.
I've tried changing password on account but still the same message coming up.
Still no mention of the user account in finder but lost account still works as an administrator when asked for permissions.
Can I search for photos in terminal? All of my photos were in this account.

Yes I know 18 months is a long time!! Especially now.
 

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