Stuck at "last" nvram.sh

[binerf]

Hi,

First of all, thanks for this script !!
I've just downloaded the last version of the script and executed it.
Unfortunately, at the last nvram.sh execution (when 2 terminals are open), script stuck while the other command in the second terminal is successfully executed.

Don't know what to do next.

macOS_troubleshoot.txt

[myspaghetti]

Hi, thanks for the detailed bug report. I misread the report and marked it as "duplicate" and "wontfix", I thought the installer failed to execute and not the NVRAM script, but it's the other way around!

If the macOS installer (startosinstall) completed successfully, then the virtual machine will reboot itself. The NVRAM part is not necessary to run the macOS guest and the script just ignores it if it fails and waits five minutes to reboot into the last part of the macOS installation process.

If the startosinstall process didn't complete successfully and didn't reboot the virtual machine, then it's likely due to a CPU incompatibility (which is what I originally thought this report is about and why I marked it "duplicate" and "wontfix"). The incompatible CPU possibly misleads the macOS installer to use some CPU instruction that's not available on the host, resulting in startosinstall not working properly.

If that's the case, I would recommend assigning a CPU profile that's closer to the host's CPU and then resuming the script:

VBoxManage modifyvm "macOS" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i5-3570"
./macos-guest-virtualbox.sh populate_macos_target_disk

Or:

VBoxManage modifyvm "macOS" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-5600U"
./macos-guest-virtualbox.sh populate_macos_target_disk

Though I feel an i7 is less likely to be compatible with an i5 (but it's generationally closer so maybe it'll work).

If these don't work, you'll have to feed VirtualBox custom CPUID settings. No support is offered for CPUID configuration.

[binerf]

Many thanks for your feedback and time spent on my issue.

Ok, so I've tested with the 2 suggestions:

• Intel Core i5-3570: VM doesn't start at all
• Intel Core i7-5600U: VM starts but process stuck at the same point.

Feed VB with custom CPUID settings looks more difficult to me... I'll search for another option.

Thanks again !!

[myspaghetti]

Would you mind running VBoxManage modifyvm "macOS" --cpu-profile host and then resuming the script, and taking a screenshot when the process gets stuck?

[binerf]

No problem.

Here, the screenshot:

[myspaghetti]

Seems like startosinstall doesn't even get started. If you still want to troubleshoot this, after startosinstall.sh terminates, run bash -x /Volumes/target-sh/startosinstall.sh and screenshot the output. This should tell us exactly which command fails to execute. (If I had to guess, the previous stage, populate_bootable_installer_virtual_disk, silently failed, possibly due to CPU incompatibility, and the bootable installer is missing some files and startosinstall can't start)

[binerf]

Here the screenshot of execution

[myspaghetti]

Thanks. startosinstall isn't starting. While you could troubleshoot why that is, it should be simpler to run the script from a few stages back:

./macos-guest-virtualbox.sh populate_bootable_installer_virtual_disk and_all_subsequent_stages

I suspect something went amiss with populate_bootable_installer_virtual_disk which left out files required for startosinstall. If you can keep an eye on the stage populate_bootable_installer_virtual_disk we might be able to find the point of failure.

[binerf]

Sorry, didn't get it...
From VB host:

$ ./macos-guest-virtualbox.sh populate_bootable_installer_virtual_disk and_all_subsequent_stages

The command "VBoxManage list extpacks" either does not list the Oracle VM
VirtualBox Extension Pack, or lists one or more extensions as unusable.
The virtual machine will be configured without USB xHCI controllers.

Catalina selected to be downloaded and installed

stage: populate_bootable_installer_virtual_disk
Could not configure virtual machine storage controller. Exiting.

Strange:

$ VBoxManage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   VNC
Version:      6.1.16
Revision:     140961
Edition:      
Description:  VNC plugin module
VRDE Module:  VBoxVNC
Usable:       true 
Why unusable: 

Virtual machine macOS is still up...

[myspaghetti]

The error message means the VM was not powered off before the script was started. Make sure it's powered off so the script can configure it.

The extpacks error message is fine, macOS works with or without xHCI support.