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White Border on left side of login screen in Mac: How to Fix

In this guide, we will show you the steps to fix the white border that appears on the left side of the login screen on your Mac. While the Mac ecosystem is bug-free up to a large extent, however, one or two issues might still creep in. In this regard, some of them are really quite intriguing that only a handful of users get bugged with.

White Border on left side of login screen in Mac

In this regard, a selected few users have voiced their concern that they have suddenly started getting a white border on the left side of the login screen on their Mac. This isn’t a hardware issue or anything related to dead pixels because it goes away as soon as the users log into their system.

White Border on left side of login screen in Mac

However, it makes a comeback the next time users boot up their PC. While this is definitely quite an infuriating issue, however, there does exist a few nifty workarounds that might help you. So without further ado, let’s check them out.

How to Fix White Border on the left side of login screen in Mac

White Border on left side of login screen in Mac

It is recommended that you try out each of the below-mentioned workarounds and then see which one spells out success for you. So with that in mind, let’s get started.

FIX 1: Toggle Theme

First off, you should consider switching between Dark and Light themes and then test out the results. If you are currently on the Light theme, then make a switch over to Dark, restart your Mac, then revert to Light theme and again restart your Mac. Then check if it fixes the white border that appears on the left side of the login screen on your Mac.

  1. To begin with, click on the Apple logo situated at the top left.
  2. Then select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
  3. After that, select General and choose Dark under Appearance.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  4. Now restart your Mac and then switch back to the Light theme.
  5. Again restart your Mac and now check if it fixes the issue or not.

FIX 2: Boot to Safe Mode

Your next course of action should be to boot your Mac to Safe Mode and then test out the results. If the underlying issue gets resolved, then the culprit is a third-party app that you need to uninstall from your Mac at the earliest.

  1. Restart your Mac. Then press and hold the Shift key.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  2. Once you see the login screen, release the Shift key.
  3. Then type in your credentials and the Mac should now be booted to Safe Mode.
  4. Now verify if the issue is present in this mode or not.
  5. If it is no longer there, then restart your Mac to boot to normal mode.
  6. After that, uninstall the recently installed apps, one a time, until you are no longer able to recreate the issue.
  7. Once that happens, the last uninstalled app would be the culprit, so you should keep a safe distance from it.

FIX 3: Reset NVRAM

Both M1/M2 and Intel-based Macs come with NVRAM [Non-Volatile Random Access Memory) which holds information about the configuration of your Mac. They store information related to your desktop settings, mouse, keyboard, time zone, and display resolution, among others. So if this stored data gets corrupted, then its associated hardware or software component might not be able to perform as expected. Therefore, you will have to reset the NVRAM, using the instructions given below:

  1. If you have an M1 or M2 Mac, then just a normal restart will reset the NVRAM.
  2. For an Intel-based Mac, you should first turn off your PC.
  3. Then before the gray screen appears, press the CMD, Option, P, and R keys together.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  4. Keep on pressing these keys until your Mac restarts and you hear the startup sound.
  5. Once that happens, you may release the keys and the NVRAM reset is now complete.
  6. Now check if it fixes the white border that appears on the left side of the login screen on your Mac.

FIX 4: Use First Aid via Recovery

The issue could also arise due to a bad sector on the disk or the presence of any corrupt data. So you should make use of Disk Utility’s First Aid to squash all the disk-related bugs and then check out the results. Hre’s how it could be done:

  1. To begin with, power off your Mac. Then power it on.
  2. While it is booting up, press and hold the Command (⌘) and R keys together until you see the start screen [Apple logo].
  3. Then release the pressed keys. Now select Disk Utility from the menu and hit Continue.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  4. After that, click on View > Show All Devices and select your drive from the left-hand side.
  5. Then select the last volume on that disk and click on First Aid.
  6. After that, click on Run /Repair Disk and wait for the process to complete.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  7. Likewise, run First Aid for each volume on the disk, then each container on the disk, then finally the disk itself.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  8. Once done, check if it fixes the white border that appears on the left side of the login screen on your Mac.

FIX 5: Reinstall macOS without Data Wipe

if none of the aforementioned methods spelled out success, then your last curse of action should be to reinstall macOS without resetting your Mac. Here’s how it could be done:

  1. To begin with, power off your Mac. Then power it on.
  2. While it is booting up, press and hold the Command (⌘) and R keys together until you see the start screen [Apple logo].
  3. Then release the pressed keys. Now select Reinstall macOS from the menu and hit Continue.White Border on left side of login screen in Mac
  4. Now proceed with the on-screen instructions to re-install the OS. Once done, it should rectify the underlying issue.

That’s it. These were the five different methods to fix the white border that appears on the left side of the login screen on your Mac. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.


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