One command, bless, used to do it all, copying boot.efi to the right place and declaring the volume bootable in its header. Where are we with Big Sur and M1 Macs?
Secure Boot
Soon after Apple started delivering M1 Macs, users found that they couldn’t boot them from external disks. Six months later, this has largely been fixed. What went wrong?
macOS 11.4 has finally fixed all the problems with installing current and older macOS on external disks, and booting an M1 Mac from them.
What are a new kernel extension and a private framework doing in macOS 11.4? Here are some details, and suggestions for further research.
One command in Terminal which instantly disables any support, and why you can’t (yet) boot your M1 Mac in Linux.
My M1 Mac mini was stuck trying to start up. Its power light was on, but there was no video output, and to all intents it was dead.
Before Apple added T2 chips to Intel Macs, external boot disks were valuable for many users. How has that fared since?
Unlike Intel Macs, M1 models always start booting from internal SSD, and can only offer full Recovery from there too. This has benefits, and some drawbacks too.
Why do Macs with T2 chips show a black screen when starting up or updating their firmware, and why so long that it’s scary?
Three workthroughs considering options and issues in migrating to a new Mac, with info on late migration, macOS upgrading, and Thunderbolt adaptors.
The Eclectic Light Company 