VZUSBPassthroughDevice Breaks macOS OTA Update Personalization

Question

Created 18h

Replies 2

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When trying to update from beta 2 to beta 3 and from beta 3 to the revised beta 3 build, softwareupdate failed at the personalization step.

This was because a USB-C accessory passed through to a VM via Virtualization.framework was holding the USB-C controller. This blocked I²C access to the AppleTypeCRetimer chip during the preflight personalization phase.

In the unified log, this appears as:

AppleTypeCRetimerIICDeviceHandle readRegister: Read result 0xe00002d5
AppleHPMLibRT13Interface: HPM is NOT in ADFU, modeData=0x20505041
[SPI] MSUParsedToleratedFailureForStep | step:update_usbcretimer → FAILURE
MSUPreflightUpdate | FAILURE → "failed to copy firmware identity"

0xe00002d5 = IOKit I²C device not responding
0x20505041 = "APP " — HPM stuck in application mode, can't enter ADFU (firmware update mode)
Without retimer firmware identity, the SFR installer can't complete personalization

I was able to work around this by physically unplugging the passed through device (which is suboptimal for a headless server in a rack).

Feedback ID: FB23772773
Hardware: Mac16,9 (Apple Silicon)
Update: macOS 27 Beta 3 (26A5378j → 26A5378n), full OTA via Software Update
Failure: SUMacControllerErrorPreflightPersonalizeFailed (7723) → MSU_ERR_PERSONALIZATION_FAILURE (2) → "failed to copy firmware identity" (1259)

Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

3h

Feedback ID: FB23772773

Thanks. That’s definitely the right path here. But I’d like to get a better understanding of the actual problem you’re hitting.

You’re dealing with VMs, which obviously involves both a host and a guest. Which one is failing to update?

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Answer 2

IngmarStein OP

1h

The host is failing to update at around the 10% mark with the MSU_ERR_PERSONALIZATION_FAILURE error. This persists even after stopping the VM or re-assigning the pased-through USB device back to the host. The personlization step only completes when I unplug the passed-through USB device. Maybe there are still some processes from Virtualization.framework hanging around, holding onto a IOKit lock.