Big Sur password problem

I have installed Big Sur on an external disk, the internal disk is in Catalina.
My profile is admin.
When I open a session my password works fine, but when I want to modify something in the system preferences it does not accept my password.
Just to ascertain that I did not mix up something I erased the disk, and reinstalled Big Sur. No avail.

Any help would be most appreciated.

MacBook Air 2020
16 GO
i7
I have the exact same situation. I have Big Sur installed on an external drive, Catalina on internal drive. Big Sur boots fine and my password at login works fin, but I can't unlock padlock in System Preferences.
I had the same problem with a Big Sur installation on an external disk. Resetting the SMC resolved the issue for me:

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201295
FWIW I got it to work without incident after I re-created a new VMware instance with 10.15 and then upgraded to 11.0. I had the same problem described here, where it wouldn't let me login, when I had previously tried updating from a well-used Mac VM.
Thanks @mattprowse that worked! 👌🏻
Having same experience on my Mac mini. Wiped system and it still happened. Going to try SMC reset and will update everyone.
I had the same problem too - and also couldn't register TouchID fingerprints. Resetting the SMC fixed it - thank-you @mattprowse.
Same problem with Big Sur Beta 5 - my user account lost access to admin privileges, with no apparent way to get them back.

Resetting SMC didn't work, though, as my Mac doesn't have TouchID (MacBook 2016).

Puzzled what to do next.
I use a password vault. It is STICKY PASSWORDs.

Since I upgrade my OS to BIG SUR, it will not let it ope/be visible.

How do I fix this?
Big Sur password problem
 
 
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