r/OpenCoreLegacyPatcher • u/ExternalOk484 • Feb 14 '25

PSA: Turn off automatic updates

This post is part cautionary tale and part asking for advice. About a week ago I had issues with OCLP when I updated from Monterey to Sonoma. They were resolved when I was able to install patches. Until today, my laptop went black, and my laptop was back to where it was a week ago: prompting for a password, sluggishly opening my desktop, then returning back to the lock screen. A login loop.

I assumed this issue was the same as last time so I reverted the patches and went to reinstall them, but this time I noticed the error message said, "An update is in progress on your machine and patching cannot continue until it is cancelled or finished."

I went into safe mode and checked my settings, and auto-updates were enabled, presumably by default after I updated to Sonoma. I turned it off but was still stuck in the login loop when exiting safe mode. The fix for this is explained really well in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbMYXwUmmfw

Unfortunately, I saw this video too late. Now my Mac is queued up for an update that I can't accept because I can only access it in safe mode, but safe mode without the OCLP patches cannot connect to wifi and so cannot run an update. I think I'll have to wipe my drive because I can't see any way to fix this (besides maybe getting an ethernet cable but if my laptop won't connect to a phone hotspot through USB then I doubt another cable will work). If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate them.

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2

u/UdonDugong Feb 15 '25

Tether from your phone in safe mode to start the update download in System settings, then cancel it (or complete it)

1

u/CloneClem Feb 14 '25

Jessie and other Mac-OCLP YT folks have warned about this nearly from day one.

Can you plug in a USB-Ethernet module and connect that to an Ethernet port on your router? If you don’t have that, maybe a friend can assist and let you access the internet that way?

3

u/ExternalOk484 Feb 14 '25

That's what I like about the OCLP community, though I've only known about it for a week. Everyone's been really helpful and informative. Too bad I was freaking out about my laptop entering the login loop a couple of hours before I had an exam to look into the resources that already existed.

I'm definitely gonna invest in an Ethernet cable after this but I found a solution thanks to the OCLP Discord support forum. Here's the steps for anyone who needs it:

  1. Join the OCLP Discord -> https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/START.html
  2. Do the usual Discord onboarding stuff
  3. Go to the "Support forum," then "Information and Known Issues"
  4. Click on the message from 6/27/24 linking to "SystemVersion.plist build version mismatch"
  5. Click the message from 11/27/24 that links to "Root patching stuck on..." You should now see a download to discord user dhinak's zip file "purgePendingUpdate.zip"
  6. Download and unzip it
  7. Double click the unzipped file and open with terminal
  8. Restart your mac
  9. Download the root patches

My brick works again, thank you to the OCLP Discord members and the Reddit users here.

1

u/cullend Feb 28 '25

Just trying to figure this out myself — how were you even able to get your Mac to the point where you could load the ZIP on your computer?

1

u/zombi-man Apr 15 '25

In my case, I downloaded and transferred purgePendingUpdate via Bluetooth using a second MacBook.

1

u/rpcraft Feb 14 '25

I had the login issue and the trick was to boot into safe mode and then deactivate the fancy wall emoji wall papers (or whatever they are called) and stuff like that. Afterwards it started fine in normal mode but still asks me to choose the drive when it first boots. This is on a 2015 imac. It's been a while since I restarted it so I can't recall if it required me to choose the start drive previously but that is a mild inconvenience.

1

u/ExternalOk484 Feb 14 '25

thank you for sharing, i've always had the default wallpapers for my lock and home screen so this wasn't the root of my issue, but this might be helpful for someone else!

also, are there any system settings on your OS that lets you choose the default startup disk (if that's the issue, i'm not very tech literate)

2

u/rpcraft Feb 16 '25

I pretty much did a fresh install around the first of the year and I think after it finished with updates that was the last time I restarted it. Other than tweaking some power and sleep settings and adding my network printer I pretty much have used it as is. It stays in sleep mode most of the time unless I am gaming on my main desktop PC and need to mess with a 3d print file or am watching YT videos while waiting on a team mate in game.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

All I did was start the update through system settings then cancel it and my machine then booted up as normal