Cannot set up Touch ID, unlock System Preferences, or reinstall Big Sur [2020 Intel MBA i3] Today I have upgraded my 2020 Intel MacBook Air to Big Sur (11.1). Since upgrading, I am unable to unlock the &quot;lock&quot; in the System Preferences panels that require it (the window &quot;jiggles&quot; even with the right password) and I am unable to set up Touch ID (after entering the password it doesn't prompt me to register a new fingerprint).
I saw in other answers that others used the resetpassword utility from Recovery mode, so I did this too. The problem persisted even after changing the password. The linked answer recommends creating a new admin user, but I cannot do that as I can't unlock the &quot;padlock&quot; in System Preferences to do so. I also reset NVRAM to no avail.
Ultimately, I chose to reinstall Big Sur from recovery, but entering the password to unlock the disk does not &quot;do&quot; anything, as in, the password entry window simply fades out but the installation does not move forward and I am still able to click on the &quot;unlock&quot; button again.
I was wondering if anyone knew how I can solve this issue. Since the computer is relatively new, I don't mind completely resetting it.
Thank you very much.
Answering my own question, but... resetting the SMC (as explained here https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201295) ended up doing the trick for me.