In Disk Utility suddenly are 7 Disk Images with strange names. They start with Creedence or Revival and all end with _Cryptex.

[gilby101]

I bought a new iMac and copied everything over from Time Machine. No weird disks. Disk Utility was as expected. Erased the new iMac and did another restore from Time Machine. No issues here either.

I will do a clean install on my iMac soon and hope they don't come back. I already did this on my new Mini when 15.3 still was in beta and did not use the Migration Assistant.

Erasing and doing a clean install does seem to be the only suggestion that works. Makes me suspect that this is issue (I have a variable number in Disk Utility with two mounted on boot) is due to some interaction with past (before 15.0) updates. My Mac with this has not had a clean install since late 2019. I will be doing a clean install when I have the time.

 

[JUMA55]

Erasing and doing a clean install does seem to be the only suggestion that works. Makes me suspect that this is issue (I have a variable number in Disk Utility with two mounted on boot) is due to some interaction with past (before 15.0) updates. My Mac with this has not had a clean install since late 2019. I will be doing a clean install when I have the time.

At Sequoia's release I did a clean install. Took me forever. And it was downhill ever since until I bought a new Mac. I'm retired, so I have time to jack with this stuff. I don't know how you working people do it.

 

[Adora]

At Sequoia's release I did a clean install. Took me forever. And it was downhill ever since until I bought a new Mac. I'm retired, so I have time to jack with this stuff. I don't know how you working people do it.

I am retired too, because of health issues very, very early. I can only concentrate for a few minutes in a row on anything.

This was a long text about all my Mac confusion at the moment, because I can never really finish anything and made some wrong buying decisions. That's why two Macs are just lying around, M2 Pro MBP and M3 iMac.

I saved the text...

 

[fototronick]

The Creedence Cryptex problem is caused by a process called: mobileassetd

Once that process is terminated (force quit) in Activity Monitor, all images can be deleted from Disk Utility.

The problem is that it runs again and again remounts Creedence Cryptex.

Can I feel safe in believing that this is another weird thing from Apple?
What do you think?


/
/usr/libexec/mobileassetd
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreImage.framework/Versions/A/CoreImage
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IO80211.framework/Versions/A/IO80211
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreWiFi.framework/Versions/A/CoreWiFi
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/WiFiPeerToPeer.framework/Versions/A/WiFiPeerToPeer
/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.bundle/English.lproj/SystemVersion.strings
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreWLAN.framework/Versions/A/CoreWLAN
/System/Library/Frameworks/Metal.framework/Versions/A/Metal
/Library/Preferences/Logging/.plist-cache.u4PrPWCO
/private/var/db/analyticsd/events.allowlist
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreWiFi.framework/Versions/A/CoreWiFiOld.dylib
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IO80211.framework/Versions/A/IO80211Old.dylib
/System/Library/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/Versions/A/Resources/DafsaData.bin
/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Resources/FoundationErrors.loctable
/System/Library/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Localizable.loctable
/private/var/db/mds/messages/se_SecurityMessages
/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SecErrorMessages.loctable
/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SecDebugErrorMessages.strings
/System/Library/Frameworks/Metal.framework/Versions/A/MetalOld.dylib
/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/lib/libmobileassetd.dylib
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreImage.framework/Versions/A/CoreImageOld.dylib
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/WiFiPeerToPeer.framework/Versions/A/WiFiPeerToPeerOld.dylib
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreWLAN.framework/Versions/A/CoreWLANOld.dylib
/usr/share/icu/icudt74l.dat
/dev/null
/dev/null
/dev/null

 

[JUMA55]

I am retired too, because of health issues very, very early. I can only concentrate for a few minutes in a row on anything.

This was a long text about all my Mac confusion at the moment, because I can never really finish anything and made some wrong buying decisions. That's why two Macs are just lying around, M2 Pro MBP and M3 iMac.

I saved the text...

Sorry to hear about your health. Mine's pretty good at moment. But good or bad, I've made tons of wrong buying decisions.

I may have already said this. My new iMac 24 running 15.3.1 does not have the Cryptex disk issue, and I am running FileVault. I've also erased the internal and reinstalled Sequoia.

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

Personally, I choose to live with that « bug »…

 

[gilby101]

I may have already said this. My new iMac 24 running 15.3.1 does not have the Cryptex disk issue, and I am running FileVault. I've also erased the internal and reinstalled Sequoia.

I don't see it on my M3 MBP, nor my wife's M4 iMac. Both 15.3.1. But...

My 2019 iMac was showing up to six in Disk Utility with one or two mounted after reboot. I decided for this and other reasons to do a clean install (boot from USB installer, erase disk, install 15.3.1, no migration assistant). On first boot there was just one cryptex in Disk Utility and it is mounted. Has remained like this as I reinstall apps and so on. So a reinstall does not fix the issue, though it has reduced the number that I see in Disk Utility.

Personally, I choose to live with that « bug »…

That is what I will do.

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

I don't see it on my M3 MBP, nor my wife's M4 iMac. Both 15.3.1. But...

My 2019 iMac was showing up to six in Disk Utility with one or two mounted after reboot. I decided for this and other reasons to do a clean install (boot from USB installer, erase disk, install 15.3.1, no migration assistant). On first boot there was just one cryptex in Disk Utility and it is mounted. Has remained like this as I reinstall apps and so on. So a reinstall does not fix the issue, though it has reduced the number that I see in Disk Utility.


That is what I will do.

I guess that when you have many of them, it could be problematic. I’ve read also reports of several Cryptexes mounted automatically on desktop, not good. In my case, no harm.

 

[JUMA55]

I don't see it on my M3 MBP, nor my wife's M4 iMac. Both 15.3.1. But...

My 2019 iMac was showing up to six in Disk Utility with one or two mounted after reboot. I decided for this and other reasons to do a clean install (boot from USB installer, erase disk, install 15.3.1, no migration assistant). On first boot there was just one cryptex in Disk Utility and it is mounted. Has remained like this as I reinstall apps and so on. So a reinstall does not fix the issue, though it has reduced the number that I see in Disk Utility.


That is what I will do.

Yes, my 2019 would always show one Cryptex disk no matter what I did, which is one of the reasons I traded it back to Apple and bought a iMac M4. I miss the the larger screen of the 27 but not enough to put up with all the problems Sequoia created on the 2019.

 

[fototronick]

Hey Man, Creedence Clearwater Revival.cryptex is a legitimate Mac process, it is rooted.
The Cupertino's Boys know about OCLP, and they don't sit back and do nothing.

After killing mobileassetd in the Activity Monitor, you can format those mounted disks and then eject them... and byeeee...!!!
I prefer King Crimson to Creedence Clearwater Revival.
When restarting the Mac, warning boxes appear saying that they could not be mounted... I get 4 of them

I hope your health improves and you can continue enjoying this Retro Vintage Frankenstein Saga... it's very fun.

Very, very funny....!!!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[Vaultnaemsae]

I gave up and went for a fresh install. All the weird stuff is gone now.

 

[Hereugo]

For my part, I found a solution to manually remove the Creedence Cryptex disk visible in the disk utility. My Mac mini configuration with 250GB internal SSD plus a 1TB SSD in an external base, the Creedence Cryptex disk was visible only when I booted on the 1TB external SSD with Sequoia to remove the Creedence Cryptex disk:
1° I rebooted on the Sequoia 250GB SSD
2°) I mounted the second 1TB SSD using the disk utility.
3°) Manually deleted only the following folder: com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore
4°) Followed by emptying the recycle garbage can.
Here's its path: /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore

I've also read that it's possible to do this from the terminal.
For those who are comfortable with the terminal sudo rm -rf /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore

 

[lx#1]

For my part, I found a solution to manually remove the Creedence Cryptex disk visible in the disk utility. My Mac mini configuration with 250GB internal SSD plus a 1TB SSD in an external base, the Creedence Cryptex disk was visible only when I booted on the 1TB external SSD with Sequoia to remove the Creedence Cryptex disk:
1° I rebooted on the Sequoia 250GB SSD
2°) I mounted the second 1TB SSD using the disk utility.
3°) Manually deleted only the following folder: com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore
4°) Followed by emptying the recycle garbage can.
Here's its path: /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore

I've also read that it's possible to do this from the terminal.
For those who are comfortable with the terminal sudo rm -rf /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore

Thank you! This worked for me, too.
I archived the folder, then deleted it, rebooted (creedence gone), restored the folder, rebooted (creedence still gone).

 

[iqmac]

For my part, I found a solution to manually remove the Creedence Cryptex disk visible in the disk utility. My Mac mini configuration with 250GB internal SSD plus a 1TB SSD in an external base, the Creedence Cryptex disk was visible only when I booted on the 1TB external SSD with Sequoia to remove the Creedence Cryptex disk:
1° I rebooted on the Sequoia 250GB SSD
2°) I mounted the second 1TB SSD using the disk utility.
3°) Manually deleted only the following folder: com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore
4°) Followed by emptying the recycle garbage can.
Here's its path: /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore

I've also read that it's possible to do this from the terminal.
For those who are comfortable with the terminal sudo rm -rf /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_PKITrustStore

I am on a 2019 iMac and upgraded to Sequoia 15.5 a few weeks back, and found I had an instance of the Cryptex disk showing in disk utility and via the df and diskutil commands (but not on the desktop). I followed your method, and though at first the disk appeared to be gone, sometime later it must have come back as I have it again this morning. I guess for now I will just live with it as I only have 1 occurrence and it isn't showing up on my desktop.