Ventura operating system loads twice on my imac

It is possible macOS was installing some sort of update.....could even be a third party app which is trying to install a driver/extension.

Another possibility is the Hard Drive portion of the Fusion Drive setup is starting to fail and causing the system to reboot.

Is Filevault enabled? If so, then the double login during boot can be due to the Filevault password no longer being synced with the macOS user password/login. This tends to happen when the user account password is changed and would usually require two different passwords.....the old one to unlock Filevault, then the new one to log into the user account.

It may be worthwhile to run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for possible clues.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

I have seen some recent Macs reboot for some unknown reason when powering on the computer, although I suspect it only occurs on the USB-C Macs.

You may want to try a PRAM Reset (hold it for at least three chimes if possible....for a 2019-2020 model it may only allow you to hold it for one chime).

alliesnana wrote:

Thank you for your input and idea...as it turned out, disabling the filevault fixed my problem...I appreciate your time!

If you re-enable Filevault I believe it will behave normally as well. Sounds like the Filevault password association with your macOS user account did become "separated" as I mentioned in my other post.

alliesnana wrote:

i really appreciate your time in explaining this to me but if i use time machine can i just backup my data and not backup the system since i am getting a new imac and don’t want the new imac to do the same thing?

Technically

Time Machine Backup is already installed and is part of the Operating System

To find TM Backup, in Finder >> Go >> Utilities >> Time Machine Backups

As for what is backed up via TM Backup

It will only backups your User Account ( Home folder ) and all that is currently in that folder

Time Machine Backup Does Not backup the Operating System at all , so no worries about migrating the Older Operating System to the New computer

How many User Accounts are on this computer

Go to User and Groups

It is possible to have 2 separate user accounts on a computer

Log into user account # 1 would require the password

Logging out of user account # 1 and then logging into user account # 2 also would require the password

alliesnana wrote:

Hello, thank you for trying to help me...[...]

You're welcome.

I am attaching a video...please be sure to note the "size" of the photo above the signing box..starts small then when I log in again later you will see that it is much larger...also the color changes and the screen goes black momentarily.... also please note how long it takes to load after I enter my password.

Yeah, videos cannot be directly included in these posts. Screenshots and photos can be, as you have obviously discovered.

In the video I let it load from overnight shutdown then I log out, then I log back in and THAT screen (larger photo) is where I think the original log in should be....another reason I think something is wrong is because I get a “Required Managed Update” box notification and I leave the computer on all night, plugged in, the box will not go away….even though my system is up to date.  So I thought maybe the notice was going to the 2nd load and not the first…I guess I could leave the  computer on all the time using what I think is the original load and see if the notice comes on if there is another “Required Managed Update” at a later time.

About the "Required Managed Update" issue... please have a look at this older thread on the subject:

"Required managed update notification" - Apple Community

As for the macOS loading twice on your computer, that is not happening. And what is shown in your pics of Disk Utility appears to be a normal installation of macOS on an Intel Mac with a Fusion Drive.

What you describe as having to login twice still is unclear. Maybe you can provide photos of what you see at each step of the process. Also, for the sake of ease of viewing, feel free to use the Preview app to rotate your pics before you insert them in your posts.

The Macintosh HD Snapshot, that you have highlighted is normal. With the newer versions of macOS, the system drive is formatted in APFS and the macOS system files are in a protected volume. When your Mac boots up a snapshot of this volume is created and that is what is used.

The "Macintosh HD snapshot" refers to a read-only, point-in-time copy of your system volume — essentially a snapshot of macOS itself, not your data. Starting with macOS Catalina (10.15), Apple introduced a system volume and data volume split: "Macintosh HD" holds the system files, and "Macintosh HD - Data" holds user data. The system volume is now cryptographically signed and mounted as read-only, and snapshots are used to preserve its state — especially during system updates and Time Machine backups.

Sorry, if what I provided was confusing. Let me see if I can explain this a bit better.

As I'm sure you are already aware with APFS, the macOS "operating system" is installed in two volume, volume group. Again, these two volumes are: Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD - Data.

When Time Machine runs, one of the first things it does, is created a local snapshot of that volume group that is stored locally on the same source drive. You normally cannot see this snapshot in either the Finder or in the Disk Utility. Only by using a command in the Terminal app are they apparent.

These snapshots stay on the source drive until an external "backup destination" drive is connected AND a Time Machine backup is successful to that drive. Once verified, macOS performs periodic "maintenance" by removing unneeded snapshots from the source drive.

Ok, so going back to performing a complete erase and macOS re-installation, it still works the way you understand it. That is, it still takes three steps: 1) Erase the drive, 2) Reinstall macOS, & 3) Restore your data from a Time Machine backup. This last step DOES NOT restore the old macOS copy.

Sorry, my friend, I don't understand what the problem is here.

You say the OS loads when you start the computer, then you log in and start to work with Safari. Then you log out. So far so good.

Then you are asked again for your password to log in again. That sounds normal, given that you just said you've logged out.

The OS doesn't load multiple times when the Mac boots up. There is no information from #1 or #2 loaded things to backup.

Is there something about the normal operation of the Mac that has you confused? Are you new to Macs?

Sorry, but no. Time Machine will back up both the Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD - Data volumes. However, if you use either the Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant, you will only be restoring the latter (your data) volume. Neither of these restores your old operating system to your new Mac.

Thank you 👍

I knew I could count on you for the above

Unfortunately there are those who still work under the notion that TM works the way it did in Pre-Catalina days and / or should continue to work that way today