Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
Vietwoojagig3
Posts: 5
Joined: 19. Dec 2019, 13:08

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Vietwoojagig3 »

VirtualBox 6.1.2 does not solve the problem.
pbe
Posts: 1
Joined: 16. Jan 2020, 19:02

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by pbe »

This looks to be an issue with VirtualBox's EFI and PreBoot. Transplanting a boot.efi file from version 10.15.1 allows the guest to boot.

I'm not posting a procedure, but with an hour of time, some research and a recovery disk, its easy enough to work out how to get 10.15.2 installed from a working 10.15.1 install

I add to the bug report yet, as I've not delved specifically into the cause, but, hopefully this can be a starting point for anyone who's got more time :)
zez3
Posts: 1
Joined: 18. Jan 2020, 01:16

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by zez3 »

pbe wrote:This looks to be an issue with VirtualBox's EFI and PreBoot. Transplanting a boot.efi file from version 10.15.1 allows the guest to boot.

I'm not posting a procedure, but with an hour of time, some research and a recovery disk, its easy enough to work out how to get 10.15.2 installed from a working 10.15.1 install

I add to the bug report yet, as I've not delved specifically into the cause, but, hopefully this can be a starting point for anyone who's got more time :)
Nice ! thanks for the tip
So we need to replace more or less everywhere the new 600kb boot.efi with the old one 592kb, twice. First before the update and second after cuz the update will replace it.
But I guess it's better to first disable SIP or have a recovery disk around like you said.
:wink:

Hold down Command-R to reboot into Recovery Mode.
Click Utilities.
Select Terminal.
Type csrutil disable.
Todd Almighty
Posts: 51
Joined: 13. Nov 2013, 13:44

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Todd Almighty »

I can confirm that the workaround of using the 10.15.1 boot.efi with VB 6.1.0 allows the 10.15.2 update to be installed and OS X to boot afterwards.

Procedure:
* Install the 10.15.2 update as you normally would. When the virtual machine restarts, and the install volume tries to boot, you get a black screen.
* Boot into recovery mode, and copy one of the 10.15.1 boot.efi files to a safe place, such as your home directory. All of the boot.efis - from the Recovery Volume, your CATALINA, etc., should be the same. At this point, the only different one is the boot.efi in the install volume. If sip is not already turned off, turn it off now, or you'll be hosed.
* Rename boot.efi in the install volume to _boot_efi (or something) and copy the 10.15.1 boot.efi you saved off into its place. (You save it off because we'll need it again.)
* Exit Recovery Mode and restart he VM. The 10.15.2 install volume should now boot and install the update.
* When it reboots after the install, you're hosed if you only have that one VM, because all volumes now have the new boot.efi. So I attached the Catalina disk as a slave to a different VM, one with High Sierra installed. After booting the High Sierra VM into Recovery Mode, I was able to copy the 10.15.1 boot.efi I saved off in my home directory into all 3 volumes of the Catalina disk - the Preboot, Catalina volume, and Recovery Mode volume. (I renamed the original files _boot_efi.)
* Now you should be able to boot your Catalina 10.15.2 machine. However, for me the "Mac OS boot" doesn't work, meaning it doesn't boot automatically with the new boot.efi in place. I have to "boot from file" every time. When I try to execute "Mac OS boot" from the BIOS, the screen flashes black for a second, but nothing happens. Is some other fix required besides copying the 10.15.1 boot.efi to those 3 places? Not sure.
* One important note. You should make a copy of your nvram file for your hacked machine while it's powered off in case you accidentally ever enable sip in Recovery Mode. If you enable sip, you won't be able to boot into Recovery Mode to turn it off, so your Recovery Mode will be inaccessible. You should still be able to boot into "normal mode" though. If you've saved off a copy of the good nvram, you can always copy it back if you make that mistake.
okiuss
Posts: 61
Joined: 7. Nov 2016, 14:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: OSX,LINUX,WINXXX
Location: Austria

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by okiuss »

Todd Almighty wrote: * Now you should be able to boot your Catalina 10.15.2 machine. However, for me the "Mac OS boot" doesn't work, meaning it doesn't boot automatically with the new boot.efi in place. I have to "boot from file" every time. When I try to execute "Mac OS boot" from the BIOS, the screen flashes black for a second, but nothing happens. Is some other fix required besides copying the 10.15.1 boot.efi to those 3 places? Not sure.
Did you try to select the startvolume once again within the running catalina guest ?
Todd Almighty
Posts: 51
Joined: 13. Nov 2013, 13:44

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Todd Almighty »

okiuss wrote: Did you try to select the startvolume once again within the running catalina guest ?
OK yes, that did it. Thanks. There was only one choice, but it wasn't selected. Unexpected.
rfmx
Posts: 1
Joined: 28. Jan 2020, 03:33

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by rfmx »

Todd Almighty wrote:I can confirm that the workaround of using the 10.15.1 boot.efi with VB 6.1.0 allows the 10.15.2 update to be installed and OS X to boot afterwards.

Procedure:
* Install the 10.15.2 update as you normally would. When the virtual machine restarts, and the install volume tries to boot, you get a black screen.
* Boot into recovery mode, and copy one of the 10.15.1 boot.efi files to a safe place, such as your home directory. All of the boot.efis - from the Recovery Volume, your CATALINA, etc., should be the same. At this point, the only different one is the boot.efi in the install volume. If sip is not already turned off, turn it off now, or you'll be hosed.
* Rename boot.efi in the install volume to _boot_efi (or something) and copy the 10.15.1 boot.efi you saved off into its place. (You save it off because we'll need it again.)
* Exit Recovery Mode and restart he VM. The 10.15.2 install volume should now boot and install the update.
* When it reboots after the install, you're hosed if you only have that one VM, because all volumes now have the new boot.efi. So I attached the Catalina disk as a slave to a different VM, one with High Sierra installed. After booting the High Sierra VM into Recovery Mode, I was able to copy the 10.15.1 boot.efi I saved off in my home directory into all 3 volumes of the Catalina disk - the Preboot, Catalina volume, and Recovery Mode volume. (I renamed the original files _boot_efi.)
* Now you should be able to boot your Catalina 10.15.2 machine. However, for me the "Mac OS boot" doesn't work, meaning it doesn't boot automatically with the new boot.efi in place. I have to "boot from file" every time. When I try to execute "Mac OS boot" from the BIOS, the screen flashes black for a second, but nothing happens. Is some other fix required besides copying the 10.15.1 boot.efi to those 3 places? Not sure.
* One important note. You should make a copy of your nvram file for your hacked machine while it's powered off in case you accidentally ever enable sip in Recovery Mode. If you enable sip, you won't be able to boot into Recovery Mode to turn it off, so your Recovery Mode will be inaccessible. You should still be able to boot into "normal mode" though. If you've saved off a copy of the good nvram, you can always copy it back if you make that mistake.
Where can I get the boot.efi file? I have the same thing that happened, but I don't know most of what you said. I am new to virtual machines.
Vietwoojagig3
Posts: 5
Joined: 19. Dec 2019, 13:08

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Vietwoojagig3 »

Catalina 10.15.3 also does not start.
Todd Almighty
Posts: 51
Joined: 13. Nov 2013, 13:44

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Todd Almighty »

rfmx wrote:
Where can I get the boot.efi file? I have the same thing that happened, but I don't know most of what you said. I am new to virtual machines.
At the first point of failure, the new boot.efi is only in the new "install macos" volume. So your existing Catalina 10.15.1 and Recovery volumes have a working boot.efi. Boot into one of them and copy the boot.efi into a safe location as I described in the steps I posted.
Todd Almighty
Posts: 51
Joined: 13. Nov 2013, 13:44

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Todd Almighty »

Vietwoojagig3 wrote:Catalina 10.15.3 also does not start.
Well I'd be surprised if Apple made a fix for VirtualBox. I think we're going to have to wait on the original ticket

The good news is that the existing hack probably will work, at least I'd assume so via Occam's Razor. I'll let someone else be the guinea pig, though. :D
Vietwoojagig3
Posts: 5
Joined: 19. Dec 2019, 13:08

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by Vietwoojagig3 »

Was able to update to 10.15.3 with 6.1.4.
It seems they solved the problem.
kkshethin
Posts: 21
Joined: 8. Feb 2011, 07:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Fedora/Mac/Windows

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by kkshethin »

I have working mojave. I downloaded update (10.15.3) but instead of updating same vmdk, i added other vmdk and installed update therein by formatting to apfs or whatever disk utility suggested. After reboot, it continued installtion. Before another reboot, i detached original mojave vmdk.
Now only catalina vmdk left. it did not boot. So i went to boot from file option and booted from recovery> second folder which contained boot.efi.
Afterwards, it successfully boots.
gounthar
Posts: 3
Joined: 24. Feb 2014, 12:32

Re: Catalina 10.15.2 does not start

Post by gounthar »

Is there anything easy to do for a newbie?
I must say I am not osX litterate, so moving boot file (which I can't find) or any other fancy thing is really difficult for me.
If that's the only way to go, I would need something more detailed, please...
I am using VirtualBox 6.1.6 r137129 on a machine already running Catalina.
Thanks.
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