Beta 4 failed to update to beta 5

[haralds]

Tried 3x on a Mac Studio with the beta 4 running on a Thunderbolt 3 SSD. It downloaded, attempted install, booted into phase 1 black screen, and aborted after a tiny bit of progress bar to restart.

I went to cold start on the third time and through the whole cycle. No joy.
Previous updates worked ok.

 

[haralds]

Oddly, the Security Policy on my main disk running Monterey reset, I reduce security to allow Developer Signed Kexts. Happens in all attempts.

 

[haralds]

Ok, tried opening security policy and also switching to the public beta 3 just released today. A persistent bug hopefully fixed in beta 6.

 

[haralds]

BTW, reported by others with similar configs in the Apple Dev forums. Don't waste your time if you get it. Just wait for the next release.

 

[haralds]

Latest dev beta update 5 still fails to update.

 

[DeltaMac]

I normally don't use the OTA updates, but download the full installer. Use that to make a bootable installer, then boot to that, and do a reinstall of the system.

 

[haralds]

For betas?

 

[DeltaMac]

I find it simple to download Ventura betas/full installer. I use the app MDS, which is a reliable app to use for downloading various versions of macOS, yes, even betas.
(The MDS app has many features that you may not ever use, but just click on "Download macOS" at the bottom of the list. You can also choose developer versions, and a couple of other choices to list other types of macOS downloads. These are NOT just updates, but full installs, which you can then use to make a bootable installer through whatever steps that you might use for making a bootable installer.)

 

[haralds]

I had missed a version because it did not work. The updater downloaded the fill installer, which also did not work.

 

[DeltaMac]

What do you mean by "did not work"?
Did you try installing after booting to the bootable installer that you made?
(or, did you just try running the installer app, without making a bootable installer?)

 

[haralds]

It's not worth it for me to go through that trouble. When I run a developer beta, I run it just like a user. Same as I do with our software.
My main driver is Monterey, which is finally getting into shape and firing on all cylinders.

 

[DeltaMac]

I get so used to making bootable USB installers (takes me about 30 seconds to set up in the terminal). I just make the beta bootable on the same drive where I have all my bootable system installers (every system from Leopard to Ventura (beta) on that one drive. Never considered that it would be much trouble, but then I make multiple USB on a weekly basis.

 

[haralds]

Sounds like you have Intel. My problem is installing it on a Mac Studio thunderbolt SSD.

 

[DeltaMac]

Does it matter what I have?
I simply follow through with making a bootable installer.
Use the steps for booting your Silicone Mac from an external bootable device.
Of course, a few of the steps for doing that are different between Intel and Apple Silicon -- the result (installing macOS) is the same.
But, it does sound like you are going to a lot of trouble, trying to install/update macOS on an external drive.
Yet, you appear to say it is too much trouble to try a bootable USB installer.
My suggestion is to make a bootable installer, and see if that allows you to install successfully

 

[haralds]

Yes. Your system configuration matters a lot for both installation and update processes.

Check this out:
Howard Oakley: An atlas of recovery and boot volumes: High Sierra to Monterey
You will see the dramatic differences in volume structure impacting the installation steps of both firmware and OS.

The update process is VERY different between Intel and M1 from both afirmware and intermediate & final volume provisioning perspective. In my case (and that of all the other people working with a similar configuration) on M1/M2 with an external boot drive, the update process is mixed up. It does not set the interim volume security policy on the external boot drive correctly and therefore fails to:

1. Populate the update volume with the updater payload
2. Set the permissions to allow the external System Volume to be updated
3. Restore volume security policy

Results:

1. The update and install aborts and returns to the unchanged Ventura booting from the external boot drive
2. Meanwhile, the Security Policy of the internal drive boot volume is reset to Apple defaults

The initial step for an update and fresh install over an existing system are very similar, since in both cases the installer has to set security profiles, interim staging volumes, and copies the complete System Partition. This is why both incremental updates (1.5GB or so) and complete updates (12.5GB) failed. Doing this from a USB would not make a difference.

I have an Intel system and as on your system, it all works just fine. The update also is likely to work on the default internal system volume.

 

[haralds]

The latest Dev Beta 5 on my fixed some Finder issues. So I really wanted to make that work and tried the USB boot approach. On commandline under Monterey I set beta dev mode:
% sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Seeding.framework/Versions/A/Resources/seedutil enroll DeveloperSeed
I then downloaded the latest full beta installer:
% sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 13.0
and unrenrolled:
% sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Seeding.framework/Versions/A/Resources/seedutil unenroll
Finally I created the boot USB
% sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Ventura\ beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled

Alas, I had the same issues after a bunch of trundling booting the USB from recovery. "An error occurred."
Again, I reset Security Policies on the main system, too.

 

[Green242]

The issue may be with the User Account? You may want to try creating a new "User Account".

I have the same issue when updating the 2nd Ventura Public Beta to the 3rd on an external drive connected to an M1 Mini. No issues with updating the intel version.

I tried many ways to update this and all failed including both safe and recovery boots as well running disk first aid. As you have pointed out it seems to be a security issue. I also erased the container with Ventura and tried reinstalling as well as deleting and creating a new container. All attempts failed.

I then noticed that my external drive with Monterey (same dick that had Ventura) could not update the latest security update, all attempts failed and seemed to be the same issue. I had used this drive with the Monterey Pubic Beta for many months, mabey a year and never had any issues updating. My User Admin seemed buggy and slow when selecting the startup disk.

I used a second external drive, installed Monterey and used Migration Assistant to copy everything over. I was able to update this in the recovery boot, but still had the same issues. So I wiped the drive, reinstalled Monterey and in the migration process created a new User account which allowed the security update.

I'm going to hold off on reinstalling Ventura beta for the M1 for now.

 

[haralds]

I always have a second Admin account on my systems and tried that. I'll just wait. When everything is working (especially all the Rogue Amoeba tools) I will update the main system. On Inte,l some of the Finder issues are fixed now, which was my main other barrier to adoption. Sept. 7 is not far off.

 

[Green242]

I should have mentioned that I had 2 admin accounts previously set up. Neither of those would work, both corrupted on the external drive. I know very little about recent security other than it has drastically changed since the days I first started using Mac OS 7. Some of the old tricks might still work. That is how I ended up with 2 admin accounts years ago.

Researching this issue lead me to something called "secure token" that needs to be fixed. The only way I could figure that is to use Configurator 2 and I don't want to go there yet.

Your comments above were helpful, hope this bug will be fixed.

 

[haralds]

Well, it looks like the attempted upgrade via USB installer clobbered the links between the System and Data volume ruining the installation. Time to wipe...

 

[Green242]

This is perplexing. I had another external boot drive that I had not used in the last few weeks. I installed in the same enclosure that had the Ventura beta update issues. When I tried to update the system to 12.5.1 Monterey I get the following error message. This drive never had prior issues. Perhaps the real issue is something changed in the enclosure or the Mac. I suspect the firmware? May have to use the configuator.

 

[haralds]

Deleted the Volume Group, created another Volume Monterey, and installed Monterey from the System disk running Monterey. Seems to work like a charm. Now migrating Apps and User folders. I am setting this up for a backup boot and will upgrade my main system when Ventura and key apps are ready over the next few weeks.

 

[haralds]

Completed install and migration to my external disk without trouble using Monterey. Looks like a Ventura issue.
For now I will monitor Ventura progress on my Intel MacBook Pro until close to release.