vm stuck in rebooting loop after update to macOS 11.3b2 Big Sur

[issueman]

While attempting to upgrade to macOS 11.3b2 the vm is now stuck in a rebooting loop.

1.  update download and ran its pre-install routine
2. vm rebooted for installation
3. install progress bar completed
4. another reboot, showing boot bar and apple logo

That's it - it instantly restarts after filling a small portion of the boot bar. Shut down vm and restarted to run into the same problem. Any ideas how to get out of this loop?

[wila]

Hi,

Is the VM 11.3b2 or is that the host?

So lots of things unclear:

- VMware Fusion version
- host OS
- guest OS

FWIW, if it is the guest OS that is macOS 11.3b2 and it is in a loop after an update... than that is something that has happened before. The same thing can happen on physical hardware too. Especially if you don't have enough free diskspace available before running the update. IIRC that should be at least 35GB.

The fix is... either roll back to your snapshot or backup before the update, make sure enough free disk space is available OR install fresh.

PS: also make sure that you are using the latest VMware Fusion version (currently VMware Fusion 12.1.0)

--
Wil

[tw67550]

I have the same problem here. 

[tw67550]

In my case I‘am running  the VM with Fusion Player 12.1 on a Big Sur 11.2.1 host updating the VM from 11.3 beta1 to beta2 . Could be a space problem but I can‘t check. The vm is in Loop...

[wila]

Hi,

Probably not "the free disk space issue" as apparently that is fixed.
https://mrmacintosh.com/big-sur-upgrade-not-enough-hd-space-serious-issue-possible-data-loss/

So then we're back to the "it happened before" thing with Big Sur guests (I certainly have had to rebuilt BS guests due to similar experiences)

Hope you have a backup.

--
Wil

[dempson]

The "installer not checking you had 35 GB free then leaving your Mac unusable" issue only applied to upgrades from earlier major versions (e.g. Catalina) to Big Sur. It was fixed with the Big Sur 11.2.1 full installer, and probably the 11.3b2 full installer, since that was released a week after 11.2.1.

Updates to a later minor version of Big Sur (via Software Update) use a different mechanism and were not known to have this problem.

Minor Big Sur updates may still require a fair chunk of disk space, because they keep an APFS snapshot of the previous version during the update. I haven't seen guidelines on how much free space is required but I can imagine something in the order of 25 GB may be needed in the worst case, based on the size of the system volume of my real Macs running Big Sur.

I haven't created a Big Sur guest yet, but I have kept copies of the earlier installers so I can do some experiments when I have time.

[dempson]

---

@tw67550 wrote:

In my case I‘am running  the VM with Fusion Player 12.1 on a Big Sur 11.2.1 host updating the VM from 11.3 beta1 to beta2 . Could be a space problem but I can‘t check. The vm is in Loop...

---

If you have enough disk space on the host, you might be able to check the free space in the misbehaving VM by creating another macOS Big Sur VM then adding the misbehaving VM's virtual disk as a second disk on the new VM. (I haven't tried this technique yet but I've seen it mentioned before.)

Another option might be if you can boot into the recovery volume in the misbehaving VM, its Disk Utility (or corresponding Terminal commands) should be able to reveal the state of the disk.

[tw67550]

I did a new clean install with 11.3 beta 1, checked the free space after installation (about 50-60gb).

Then I started the update to beta 2, it took some time but at the end the VM did not start. The same issue as before

I now have TWO VMs stuck in rebooting loop :-(. So it is not space and not "old" errors.

What can I do??

[issueman]

VMware Fusion: 12.1.0 (17195230)
host OS: macOS 11.2.1
guest OS: macOS 11.3b2

I thought 11.3b2 already had the fix to check for lack of free space. Also that would be surprising as this vm has been used for a while and previous macOS 11 betas along 11.0.1 etc all updated fine.

As we have at least one other user running into this, it feels as if it is not an isolated local problem.

[billearl]

I had the same problem (with 67GB free space), and mentioned it on the AppleSeed forum. At least one other person there confirmed it.

So I reinstalled Big Sur 11.2.1 in the meantime until this is fixed. My host is macOS 10.15.7, with Fusion Player 12.1.

[tw67550]

Has at least someone successfully updated his VM to 11.3b2??

[billearl]

FWIW, attempting to update macOS 11.2.2 to 11.3 beta 2 fails the same way.

[billearl]

Attempting to update macOS 11.2.2 to 11.3 beta 3 fails the same way.

[tw67550]

I tried clean (VM Fusion 12.1) install from 11.3-D20E5186e full installer on my 11.2.2 mac mini.

During the start of the installation process the VM panicked and I am stuck in loop again.

So I can no longer test BigSur using VM with Fusion.

Any help/thoughts?

[trodemaster]

I just created a full installer iso of macOS 11.3 b3 and fusion kernel panics on boot. The upgrade process itself doesn't seem to be the issue. 

[wila]

Finally got to this myself today and can report the same issue with a macOS 11.3b3 guest.
Reboot loop confirmed. Can only use older Big Sur guests now.

--
Wil

[tw67550]

Does someone know who is doing what about this problem?

Is VMware doing something? Should we do something??

[issueman]

Would be very interested to hear some response from VMware. Certainly can create a new vm, but would be nice to continue using this with the latest macOS betas.

[trodemaster]

Hopefully, this issue is just resolved with the next beta. Here is a screenshot from a VM booting in single-user mode. 

ACPI Error: PSTA namespace lookup failure AE_NOT_FOUND 20160930/psaregs-463

[m0leX]

in which beta? i've tried to install MacOS 11.3 (20E5196f) and im stuck in a boot loop