CoreSimulatorService cannot obtain removable-volume TCC consent for external APFS simulator device set

• Mac mini with Apple M4
• macOS 26.7.2 (build 25G332)
• Xcode 26.6
• CoreSimulatorService 1051.55
• External USB SSD formatted as APFS, mounted read/write, with ownership enabled
• Source simulator: iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 26.5, shut down

I am attempting to preserve a shutdown simulator using the supported simctl clone operation, with the destination CoreSimulator device set located on an external APFS SSD.

Command form:

xcrun simctl clone <source-UDID> "<preserved-device-name>" "/Volumes/<external-volume>/<device-set-path>"

The destination directory is owned by the logged-in user and has ordinary writable POSIX permissions. The volume is mounted read/write with ownership enabled. No restrictive ACL entries or file flags were found on the destination directories.

simctl reports:

NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=22: Device was allocated but was stuck in creation state.

CoreSimulator records the preceding data-clone failure as:

• NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=513
• Underlying NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1
• Operation not permitted

The temporary destination simulator entered the Creating state and CoreSimulator automatically rolled it back.

At the same timestamp, unified logging attributes the rejected external-volume write to com.apple.CoreSimulator.CoreSimulatorService, rather than to simctl. The TCC and sandbox sequence shows:

1. A check for kTCCServiceSystemPolicyAllFiles.
2. A check for kTCCServiceSystemPolicyRemovableVolumes.
3. Removable-volume access requiring a TCC prompt.
4. Prompting being denied because the requesting CoreSimulatorService is an Apple platform binary.
5. Launch Services being unable to create an application record for the CoreSimulatorService XPC bundle.

No consent prompt was displayed. CoreSimulatorService's Info.plist contains an NSRemovableVolumesUsageDescription string specifically describing access when a simulator device set is configured on external storage.

This is a development-tool/service issue; no application project or third-party framework is involved.

CoreSimulatorService should either present or arrange the supported removable-volume consent workflow, or use a documented user-controlled Files & Folders permission that allows an external device set.

1. What is the supported procedure for granting SystemPolicyRemovableVolumes access to com.apple.CoreSimulator.CoreSimulatorService when the Apple platform XPC service cannot display the consent prompt?
2. Should CoreSimulatorService appear in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files & Folders with a Removable Volumes switch?
3. Is cloning into an external APFS CoreSimulator device set supported with Xcode 26.6 on macOS 26.7.2?
4. Is there a supported way to initiate the operation so consent is attributed to Xcode or another user-facing Apple process?
5. Is the Launch Services application-record failure expected, or is this a known CoreSimulator/TCC issue with an available fix?

I have not edited the TCC database, reset privacy decisions, granted broad Full Disk Access, disabled security controls, changed permissions, removed extended attributes, manually copied protected simulator records, or retried using an unsupported filesystem workaround. I can provide focused, redacted CoreSimulator, sandboxd, and tccd excerpts privately if an Apple engineer requests them.