MP 1,1-5,1 Innie: A fix for PCI drives seen as external

[bookemdano]

Just tested it now on Mojave PB9 and it worked perfectly with my WD Black NVMe drive. The instructions you provided in post 9 were perfect. Now it shows up as Removable: No in System Profiler, shows the normal internal drive icon in Finder (with no Eject button), and has disappeared from the desktop.

Nice work, cdf, and thanks for sharing it with us. I know some people didn't care about it since it's not really a problem that it was showing as a removable drive, but I for one appreciate seeing an internal drive show up as internal. And since Apple's not gonna fix it I'm glad you figured out how to do it. Kudos!

 

[cdf]

Nice work, cdf, and thanks for sharing it with us. I know some people didn't care about it since it's not really a problem that it was showing as a removable drive, but I for one appreciate seeing an internal drive show up as internal. And since Apple's not gonna fix it I'm glad you figured out how to do it. Kudos!

My pleasure. And thank you for the encouragement. Make sure to keep an eye out for future (non-debug) versions here.

 

[Catzjes]

When I enable SIP then the NVME is showing up as external again

EDIT Maybe it is not SIP related, this happened after I "modded" Mojave, Mojave is now still showing the NVME as internal, HS as external. Can there be only one "modded startup drive"?

 

[cdf]

When I enable SIP then the NVME is showing up as external again

Could you check if Lilu and Innie are still loaded? Maybe something blocked the extension. Just go to the Apple () menu > About this Mac > System Report... >Extensions. (If you organize them by "Obtained from," they should appear at the top.)


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Can there be only one "modded startup drive"?

In High Sierra and Mojave you should have two separate installations of the kext. So in theory they should not interfere with each another...

 

[Raunien]

@cdf Not working on my 5,1 with a SAMSUNG MZHPV256HDGL-00000. Any logs or anything I can give ya to troubleshoot?

It is formatted APFS if that helps.

Edit: I guess Innie.kext is not loaded, but the Lilu.kext is.

 

[cdf]

@cdf Not working on my 5,1 with a SAMSUNG MZHPV256HDGL-00000. Any logs or anything I can give ya to troubleshoot?

It is formatted APFS if that helps.

First, could you confirm that Lilu and Innie are loaded (see post #29).

To obtain debug messages, you will need to add something to your boot-args. To get your boot-args, type the following in terminal:

sudo nvram boot-args

(If you have no boot-args, you may get an error). Then add "-liludbgall" to your boot-args. For example, if you have no boot-args simply enter the following:

sudo nvram boot-args="-liludbgall"

Then reboot and enter the following command:

log show --predicate 'process == "kernel" AND (eventMessage CONTAINS "innie")' --style syslog --source

Please report back with the output.

 

[Raunien]

@cdf Just updated my previous post. No the Innie extension is not loaded. What should I do to make sure it is loaded?

 

[Catzjes]

Could you check if Lilu and Innie are still loaded? Maybe something blocked the extension. Just go to the Apple () menu > About this Mac > System Report... >Extensions. (If you organize them by "Obtained form," they should appear at the top.)

In High Sierra and Mojave you should have two separate installations of the kext. So in theory they should not interfere with each another...

I did the following installation steps steps:
-Disabled SIP
-"Modded" HS, that worked
-"Modded" Mojave, that also worked
-Enabled SIP, computer restarted in HS with NVME showing as external
-booted Mojave, NVME still showing as internal



-booted HS, NVME showing as external



Apparently there is some interaction.

 

[cdf]

@cdf Just updated my previous post. No the Innie extension is not loaded. What should I do to make sure it is loaded?

Try repeating Step 6 in Post #9. I am not sure why the system would be blocking the extension.
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Apparently there is some interaction.

You're right. It seems like it's sticking in Mojave, though. Try disabling SIP again. Then, in High Sierra repeat Step 6 in Post #9. Reboot in High Sierra to make sure that your disk is seen as internal. Enable SIP and see if it sticks.

 

[Raunien]

Try repeating Step 6 in Post #9. I am not sure why the system would be blocking the extension.

Looks like that did the trick! Reran commands and then rebooted.

So SAMSUNG MZHPV256HDGL-00000 confirmed for me.

 

[cdf]

Looks like that did the trick! Reran commands and then rebooted.

So SAMSUNG MZHPV256HDGL-00000 confirmed for me.

Congrats! Keep those commands handy. After system updates, you may have to disable SIP and re-run them. Also, please report any issues with re-enabling SIP.

 

[Catzjes]

You're right. It seems like it's sticking in Mojave, though. Try disabling SIP again. Then, in High Sierra repeat Step 6 in Post #9. Reboot in High Sierra to make sure that your disk is seen as internal. Enable SIP and see if it sticks.

High Sierra shows NVME as internal after your above suggested steps.
When I reboot in Mojave NVME shows as external.
When I reboot in High Sierra NVME shows as internal again.
For now this is no big issue, as soon as Mojave is out of beta I will switch to Mojave and I will then "mod" Mojave to show NVME as internal

EDIT after restarting High Sierra NVME is showing as external again.

 

[cdf]

EDIT after restarting High Sierra NVME is showing as external again.

Unfortunately, SIP is a kind of a pain, and from your observations, it seems that it causes even more discord when juggling between two systems on the same disk. However, just to confirm that this is a SIP issue: If SIP is disabled, does switching between operating systems keep the kexts loaded as expected?

 

[misanthrophy]

@cdf maybe update Post 1 with the instructions how to load the .kext into the system. That makes it easier if all the latest information are sticked to post 1, like confirmed SSD‘s etc. so we avoid a lot of duplicate requests when this thread gets bigger and bigger!

 

[Catzjes]

Unfortunately, SIP is a kind of a pain, and from your observations, it seems that it causes even more discord when juggling between two systems on the same disk. However, just to confirm that this is a SIP issue: If SIP is disabled, does switching between operating systems keep the kexts loaded as expected?

I did the following steps:

-Disabled SIP
-"mod" HS
-Restart
NVME shows internal

-restart HS
-shut down/power on
NVME shows internal

-switch to Mojave
NVME shows internal without "mod"!

-restart Mojave
-shut down/power on
NVME shows internal

-switch to HS
NVME shows internal

-restart HS
-shut down/power on
NVME shows internal

First conclusion: it is a SIP issue

I will enable SIP and will report back

EDIT

-Enabled SIP
-Restart HS
NVME shows internal

-switch to Mojave
NVME shows internal

Restart Mojave
NVME SHOWS EXTERNAL!

-switch to HS
NVME still shows external

By the way, in this whole process I describe in this post I lost the "Apple chime" when rebooting/restarting/powering up, the sound didn't return when I re-enabled SIP

EDIT zapped NVRAM, chime returned

 

[cdf]

@cdf maybe update Post 1 with the instructions how to load the .kext into the system.

Thanks for the advice. I've updated the first post with the device list and link to the kext.

 

[cdf]

First conclusion: it is a SIP issue

Thanks for taking the time to do all these tests. I installed Mojave on a separate partition to look into the issue first hand. I think it comes down to kext cache and SIP. From my tests, when SIP is disabled we can go back and forth between High Sierra and Mojave with expected results. However, when SIP is enabled, switching eventually blocks the kexts on at least one system.

Please note that the issue is not limited to Lilu and Innie. It occurs with other unsigned kexts, too.

 

[skizzo]

Thanks for taking the time to do all these tests. I installed Mojave on a separate partition to look into the issue first hand. I think it comes down to kext cache and SIP. From my tests, when SIP is disabled we can go back and forth between High Sierra and Mojave with expected results. However, when SIP is enabled, switching eventually blocks the kexts on at least one system.

Please note that the issue is not limited to Lilu and Innie. It occurs with other unsigned kexts, too.

hmmm, this just gave me an "eureka" moment. I have noticed I need to several times reinstall the HDMIAudio kext that has been shared here on MR. I didn't understand why it kept acting like it would get removed. I'm 99% sure that is an unsigned kext so I suppose makes since when you update OS and switch OS versions booting from different drives/partitions it is "blocked" as you described. Maybe I am off and misunderstood but I think this finally gives me an understanding of why it occurs.

Edit: I would have had sip "enabled" but without kext signing portion I think it's called? Maybe this wouldn't occur if I fully disable sip instead of the jus the kext portion.

Sorry for going off topic to the thread but I have not gotten any feedback on why after certain reboots I would lose the HDMIAudio kext. I couldn't figure out pattern to it other than perhaps updating OS versions had a role in it. I haven't bothered to look into it further because I haven't had a need for HDMI audio for a little while.

 

[cdf]

hmmm, this just gave me an "eureka" moment. I have noticed I need to several times reinstall the HDMIAudio kext that has been shared here on MR. I didn't understand why it kept acting like it would get removed. I'm 99% sure that is an unsigned kext so I suppose makes since when you update OS and switch OS versions booting from different drives/partitions it is "blocked" as you described. Maybe I am off and misunderstood but I think this finally gives me an understanding of why it occurs.

HDMIAudio is indeed an unsigned kext, and your understanding is correct.

 

[cdf]

Innie has been updated with experimental support for carrier boards, including SATA to PCI cards. See Post #9. The device list has also been updated.

 

[cdf]

Innie has been updated and should now work with any SATA (AHCI) or NVMe device directly behind a PCI bridge. See Post #9.

 

[misanthrophy]

I have a:

SAMSUNG MZVPV256HDGL-00000

NVMe blade!

Thank you for that project! If that will work, my system is complete. Haha.

Just tried it out now, as I saw the name in your first post appearing.

Aaaaaand: IT WORKS. My SSD is now reported as internal in system profiler and Finder as well. <3

thank you very much!

 

[cdf]

Just tried it out now, as I saw the name in your first post appearing.

Aaaaaand: IT WORKS. My SSD is now reported as internal in system profiler and Finder as well. <3

thank you very much!

Nice. Did you try the latest version (1.0.9) posted today? This version works regardless of the drive's name, and I would like to get confirmation of it working for NVMe. Also, if you are using this version, would you mind letting me know what you see under "Connection" in Disk Utility?

 

[misanthrophy]

Nice. Did you try the latest version (1.0.9) posted today? This version works regardless of the drive's name, and I would like to get confirmation of it working for NVMe. Also, if you are using this version, would you mind letting me know what you see under "Connection" in Disk Utility?

Yes I downloaded the version from today 1.0.9.
Yes I have a NVMe blade.
Under diskutility it says PCI-Express

 

[cdf]

Yes I downloaded the version from today 1.0.9.
Yes I have a NVMe blade.
Under diskutility it says PCI-Express

Perfect! Thanks.