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What is the last macOS where you could boot from external AND allow 3rd party kexts?

T

toke lahti

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2007
3,293
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Helsinki, Finland
Mojave could do this.
Monterey can't do this.

How about Bib Sur?
Or Catalina?

Please help, if you already have tested this!
(Im' short of time and ssd adaptors...)
 
I thinking "Mojave".

I never used Catalina or Big Sur as "my main OS".
Only tried them to experiment.
 
Before installing it as my main OS, I’ve tested Big Sur on an external drive and Soundflower was working.
 
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What "3rd party kexts" are you asking about?
Catalina is probably OK for that, but starting with Big Sur, the system runs from a snapshot (essentially a virtual system), and makes various kinds of mods to the system much less likely, particularly if you are running on a Mac that has a T1 or T2 chip
 
bogdanw said:
Before installing it as my main OS, I’ve tested Big Sur on an external drive and Soundflower was working.
Click to expand...
So, you went to BigSur's Recovery and gave there the OS rights to accept 3rd party kexts?
This works, which does not work in Monterey:
067037DA-134E-4643-932A-6C19586DA0E5_1_105_c.jpeg
?
Was it a early or late version of BigSur?
Did you install the SF's kext after OS installation
or were they already on the previous system you upgraded
or did they came through Migration Assistant?
 
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Signed kexts can be installed in Big Sur, no need to disable anything.
I understand that the Workaround presented for here https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx/kb#external-drive-support-macos-11 “after the end of the system startup, physically disconnect (unplug) the external USB drive(s) and connect back”
does not work in your case, but you can load the kext from Terminal
sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
 
I should have added to the thread name:
"What is the last macOS where you could disable SIP when booting to external drive?"
Because this isn't possible with Monterey.

It won't boot from external if SIP is disabled in Recovery.
This of course can be because you can't adjust the Startup Security Utility's settings...
 
Is there a certain command or some other way to check if the OS is in a mode that accepts 3rd party kexts?

Woah!
Just noticed that my SIP is off, when booted to external Monterey, even that I enabled it in Recovery just before.
There's something so wrong... maybe they never bothered to make good firmware to mini2018... niche product and all...
 
bogdanw said:
Signed kexts can be installed in Big Sur, no need to disable anything.
I understand that the Workaround presented for here https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx/kb#external-drive-support-macos-11 “after the end of the system startup, physically disconnect (unplug) the external USB drive(s) and connect back”
does not work in your case, but you can load the kext from Terminal
sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
Click to expand...
I'm using Monterey and trying to figure out, if I need to downgrade.

Monterey's terminal says:

TokesMini2018:~ ext-toke$ sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
Password:
Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil load -p /Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
Error Domain=KMErrorDomain Code=27 "Extension with identifiers com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID,com.highpoint-tech.kext.HighPointIOP,com.coriolis-systems.driver.Snapshot,com.binaryfruit.driver.SATSMARTDriver,com.coriolis-systems.driver.OnlineHelper,com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64,com.dvdfab.kext.fabio,com.google.drivefs.filesystems.dfsfuse,com.highpoint-tech.kext.HighPointRR not approved to load. Please approve using System Preferences." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Extension with identifiers com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID,com.highpoint-tech.kext.HighPointIOP,com.coriolis-systems.driver.Snapshot,com.binaryfruit.driver.SATSMARTDriver,com.coriolis-systems.driver.OnlineHelper,com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64,com.dvdfab.kext.fabio,com.google.drivefs.filesystems.dfsfuse,com.highpoint-tech.kext.HighPointRR not approved to load. Please approve using System Preferences.}
 
@bogdanw, I think it was said in BinaryFruit's page or somewhere else, that you have to eject all external disks, when the satsmart kext is loaded.
And you obviously can't do that, if you boot external.

So this is not just about macOS, it's about satSmart too.
 
Is this "a normal" behavior of 3rd party kexts in Monterey:
1647284059949-png.1973421

All kexts are grayed out, so you can't choose what to use and what not?
All or nothing?
 
That list appears to be software that you already have installed, and that you have been using.
(probably not new software that you have just installed)
So, those would be related to kexts that you have already been actively using as part of the software that you have added to your Mac.
And, not really a mention of kexts, but that the security part of your system is informing you that the system needs to be restarted before the software from those various developers can be fully used.
Finally, your next step is to clear that message by restarting your Mac.
What other choice would you need at that time?
( I might keep a copy of those developers, in case the Monterey system goes "wonky" after a restart. Gives a little info about what might not be working -- although the fact that the system shows you a list of developers (and not error messages of some kind) might give you some reassurance that those various apps are probably OK with Monterey.
Restart, and find out... :cool:
 
DeltaMac said:
That list appears to be software that you already have installed, and that you have been using.
(probably not new software that you have just installed)
So, those would be related to kexts that you have already been actively using as part of the software that you have added to your Mac.
And, not really a mention of kexts, but that the security part of your system is informing you that the system needs to be restarted before the software from those various developers can be fully used.
Finally, your next step is to clear that message by restarting your Mac.
What other choice would you need at that time?
( I might keep a copy of those developers, in case the Monterey system goes "wonky" after a restart. Gives a little info about what might not be working -- although the fact that the system shows you a list of developers (and not error messages of some kind) might give you some reassurance that those various apps are probably OK with Monterey.
Restart, and find out... :cool:
Click to expand...
Nope, OS is asking me to enable them all or nothing.
The first one is for satsmart kext.
Others are baggage from Mojave, I guess.
I would have liked to choose, what to enable and what tu disable.
But all grayed out and already chosen.
Here comes the bootloop again!

I manually removed them all and got my problem away.

But this just show how broken the OS still is.

I'm looking for another solution to read SMART data than with a help of SATSMART, which does not work when booting from "external".
Another way might be Opencore and fake that the "external" is "internal"?
 
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