Refind can't boot into MacOS after BigSur update

[Jakbo Wolf]

Hello there,

i installed refind in order to dual boot linux ans macOS. My machine is a Mac mini 2018 (with t2 chip) updated to BigSur. Both the preboot and the "showtools firmware" option don't boot into macOS. I also tried to reset the nvram and to install refind again but with no results. Has anyone managed to boot into BigSur on a t2 mac with refind? Let me know!

[joevt]

Try RefindPlus to see if it has the same limitation?

Maybe we need a feature to use BootNext method instead of direct StartImage for each scanned EFI option.

[Jakbo Wolf]

Hi,

i was unaware of RefindPlus. I could try it out! Which configuration would i need to enable?

[dakanji]

RefindPlus is on Github: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus/releases

Installation: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus/tree/b24d1b8d468693cba0d7e5cfa05a5a9e55686a1b#installation

Activate the "sync_apfs" feature by adding it to your refind.conf file: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus/blob/b24d1b8d468693cba0d7e5cfa05a5a9e55686a1b/config.conf-sample#L170-L184

Also activate the "supply_apfs" feature: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus/blob/b24d1b8d468693cba0d7e5cfa05a5a9e55686a1b/config.conf-sample#L147-L159

Other RefindPlus Features: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus/tree/b24d1b8d468693cba0d7e5cfa05a5a9e55686a1b#additional-configurable-functionality

[joevt]

He has a Mac mini 2018. Does it require those apfs options?

[dakanji]

sync_apfs only acts if there is an APFS volume to sync as determined at runtime. (Big Sur qualifies)
supply_apfs only acts if there is a need for loading APFS drivers as determined at runtime.

Either way, they will only be used as needed at runtime, so easier to just set them.

Also others that might come across this thread later might have something different.
Setting the two tokens will work for such and for the OP.

[Jakbo Wolf]

Ok, thanks! i will try it.

[Jakbo Wolf]

I installed RefindPlus and enabeld "sync_afps" and supply_afps" and refind now boots BigSur successfully! Thanks for the help!

[joevt]

Can you boot BigSur without those two options?

[Jakbo Wolf]

Yes! Just disabled both asps options and it still boots successfully. Must be something else in RefindPlus that solves the problem for me.

[dakanji]

Just disabled both options and it still boots successfully.

Cool. Keep those two settings on regardless as they only kick in when needed which you might find useful in future.

"sync_apfs" should already be, as it gives one properly labelled option for APFS volumes

Must be something else in RefindPlus that solves the problem

A ton of bug fixes have gone into RefindPlus with a lot of them coming after an audit by joevt. Aim is to ultimately feed stuff upstream into rEFInd if possible.

[joevt]

Ok, I read the config.conf info for sync_apfs. Maybe a better name would be group_apfs or consolidate_apfs or filter_apfs because it removes some redundant apfs options or options that might not work. sync_apfs implies that apfs can be out of sync which doesn't make sence for what it does.

I don't think sync_apfs and supply_apfs would affect the OP's issue. He did say he tried the Preboot option which is the option that sync_apfs would expose to the user. But maybe some other change in RefindPlus might work.

[dakanji]

I don't think sync_apfs and supply_apfs would affect the OP's issue

Yeah. Explained earlier that setting those two were not purely for the OP's specific setup; with the point made that they kick in only as needed.

Actually, but for philosophical reasons of wanting RefindPlus items to be actively enabled and to be otherwise essentially equivalent to rEFInd in terms of features, those two would have been backend defaults that are not user configurable.

sync_apfs implies that APFS can be out of sync

Having two options for booting the same thing, with one that will always fail depending on Mac OS version, does mean something is out of sync. This is moot though, as it will become a backend default once the implementation is fed into rEFInd as hoped ... or perhaps once the APFS data volume can be reliably detected, regardless the assigned name.

[joevt]

I think we're talking symantics here. Being out of sync implies there's a way to make it in sync so that it will work. But it will always fail. It's not syncing that is required here. It's more like filtering (removing the option that won't work in the case of Big Sur and later, or is redundant in the case of Catalina and earlier). I agree it's a moot point (but maybe there's a case for not doing the filtering for redundant options that can work).

[dakanji]

It is semantics indeed.

In terms of the key issue, the point is that even with versions that will work, you still get two entries and have to filter the PreBoot volume out. With this on, you get just one which is far better IMO.

Additionally, even with older versions of Mac OS, you need to use the PreBoot volume if you have Filevault on.

All of those considerations are out with this set. You get one boot option that works in all instances.
You don't get two options to boot Catalina, one of which will fail if you have Filevault on, in the Apple Picker.

BTW, this mapping to Preboot is what OpenCore and Clover do as well ... it is not an optional in those. It is just the way it should be and the only reason it is optional in RefindPlus is purely philosophical as mentioned.

It might be best to take further discussion on RefindPlus internals to our other channel though.