Month: February 2020

How To Enable the Mac Startup Chime on your 2016+ MacBook Pro!

MrMacintosh.com - With one command the Mac Startup Chime is Back!!!

A new way to bring back the Mac Startup Chime has been found!

I looking through Twitter on a normal Friday night only to see this…

The Mac Startup Chime is back baby!!!!

WHAT??? Ok….. I had to immediately test this out.

Run the command below in the terminal.app

sudo nvram StartupMute=%00

Reboot

I have literally rebooted 5 MacBook Pro’s multiple times just to hear that classic sound. I could not be more happy!!!!!!!

Don’t hear the sound? Check to make sure your sound is not muted. Once you bring up the volume a bit, you will then hear the chime.

If you would like to turn this off again, run the command below.

sudo nvram StartupMute=%01

Or you can reset the PRAM

This sounds familiar…

About a month after the introduction of the 2016 MacBook Pro, someone found out that you could enable the startup sound.

https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/reenable-macbook-pro-startup-chime/

This worked for some users but stopped working early in 2017. It’s possible that Apple disabled the old way with a firmware update.

The old command was

sudo nvram BootAudio=%01

The new command is

sudo nvram StartupMute=%00

BONG!!!!!!!!

I can’t believe it. You have to understand the emotions of a true Mac fan hearing a brand new 16″ MacBook Pro producing the startup chime. The startup chime is something that has been around since 1984. To say the chime is iconic, would be an understatement to any Mac Fan.

I tested this on at least 5 different MacBook Pro’s with different BridgeOS and T1 firmware versions.

I did find a difference, the T1 Macs have the same sound as the 2017 Macbook Air and 2016 Macbook. (The final Mac Laptops to have the sound enabled by default). The T2 sound is different, it sounds a little deeper.

I would love to find out this was a hidden easter egg for 4 years!

Was this nvram value recently added? Was it hidden in plain sight for almost 4 years? I would really like to find out. The first sighting of this seems to be a Reddit Thread from 2/20/20.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/f6z27o/2019_16_macbook_pro_with_boot_chime_reenabled_via/

If you can find someone figuring this out before this please comment below or let me know.

Apple Removed the Startup Chime on the Redesigned 2016 15″ MacBook Pro.

When Apple removed the startup chime in 2016 most Mac fans were pretty pissed. I mean why in the heck would Apple remove it? WHY??????

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768

Apple states in this article that

Mac models from early 2016 and earlier make a chime sound when they start up. Mac models from late 2016 and newer don’t have a startup chime, with the exception of MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017).

Apple.com HT202768

Jim Reekes

In the link below is an interview with James Reekes the original creator of the startup chime.

Now that there’s no startup sound, it’s like sitting down at a restaurant and there’s no one there to greet you. It just feels strange

Jim Reekes on removing the startup chime

https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/24/mac-startup-sound-creator-interview/

What’s next???

There’s only one thing left to do.

Send this command out to our entire Mac Fleet!!!

🙂

Long live the Mac Startup Chime.

How to Enable Mac Startup Sound

How to Enable Mac Startup Chime

10.15.3 Update Erases /var/log Files – System, Custom & Vendor Logs

MrMacintosh.com - The 10.15.3 Update Erases almost all of the log files in /var/log - System, Custom & Vendor Logs
The 10.15.3 Update Erases almost all of the log files in /var/log – System, Custom & Vendor Logs

The 10.15.3-10.15.6 Update Erases Almost all /var/log files

UPDATE: 09/01/20 – The problem is still in the latest build of 10.15.6.

Think about the last issue time that you had an issue and needed to troubleshoot. Right off the bat, you would start looking over the logs to pinpoint the exact point of failure. After installing the Catalina 10.15.3 Update, it’s going to be a little harder to do that. Almost all the /var/log files have been erased and start over the minute after the 10.15.3 update finished installing.

10.15.3 Update Problems

This is my 4th article on 10.15.3 Combo Update issues. If you have not seen them yet, you can view them below.

Howard Oakley over at eclecticlight.co has also been tracking multiple issues. He is focused on new 10.15.3 Time Machine Problems.

Let’s take a closer look.

What the heck is going on here? Why would Apple delete important logs? This issue is most likely a bug in the combo update installer.

The test setup is pretty straight forward.

  • Build out a fresh 10.15.2 system
  • Verify system log creation times
  • Create a custom .log file
  • Verify 3rd Party Vendor Log times
  • Update to 10.15.3
  • Find that almost all /var/log files are erased.

Which log files are erased and which ones are spared?

Erased Log Files in /var/log

  • System.log
  • WiFi.log
  • Jamf.log
  • Alf.log
  • fsck_apfs.log
  • fsck_apfs_error.log
  • Applefirewall.log
  • Cups, Bluetooth, Powermanagement & Display Policy logs

Spared Log files in /var/log

  • Install.log
  • .gz and .bz System and wifi zipped backup files

All log files have the exact “Created” date and time when the 10.15.3 combo update was installing.

MrMacintosh.com - Almost all /var/log files erased and have the same "Created time". The install.log was spared.
Almost all /var/log files erased and have the same “Created time”. The install.log was spared.

What can I do about this?

Let Apple know about this! Hopefully this can be fixed in 10.15.4!

Until then you probably want your log files. The best thing you can do for now is to run a Jamf policy that will backup your /var/log files. We install our updates with a Jamf policy.

Right before we kick off softareupdate -iaR we backup all /var/log files to a temporary directory. We put them back with a LaunchDaemon that kicks off after the combo update reboot.

I hope that these articles have helped you! If you have any questions, leave a comment below or Contact Me.

10.15.3 Combo & Security Updates are not Creating Backup Snapshots

MrMacintosh.com - 10.15.3 Combo & Security Updates no Longer Creating Restore Snapshots + 10.15.3 Update Deletes All Previous tmutil localsnapshots
10.15.3 Combo & Security Updates are no Longer Creating Restore Snapshots + 10.15.3 Update Deletes All Previous tmutil localsnapshots /

The 10.15.3 Combo & Security Update Automatic Backup Snapshots are no Longer Created.

UPDATE: 5/15/20 – A few questions came up on MacAdmins Slack about the current state of Automatic Snapshots today. To clarify, the following is now true.

  • Automatic Update Snapshots are no longer automatically created during the 10.15.3+ Combo but ARE for 10.14 & 10.13 Security Updates
  • The 10.15.3+ Combo Update REMOVES previous manual localsnapshots.
  • 10.14 & 10.13 Security Updates do NOT remove previous manual snapshots.
  • Automatic Snapshots were never taken during an OS Upgrade.

UPDATE: 4/24/20 – Apple has removed the “Restore from snapshot” feature description from apple.com/macos/catalina/features! This means that the feature is no longer available in Catalina. I really hope Apple can fix this.

The APFS Update Automatic Snapshot was a new option offered when Apple released APFS in macOS 10.13 High Sierra. If you were worried about something going wrong after installing a macOS Combo or Security update, you could always fall back to a backup taken right before the update. The process was automatic and was performed by the Combo Update and Security Update Installer. To restore, all you needed to do is, boot to the recovery partition and restore to a tmutil localsnapshot / right before the update.

NOTE: you only have 24 hours to restore or the snapshot is automatically deleted.

Apple explains how this works below.

MrMacintosh.com - Apple.com Restore from Snapshot.
apple.com/macos/catalina/features

Automatic Update Backup Snapshots are no Longer Working.

Something happened in the latest set of Apple updates released on January 28th. The Automatic Backup Snapshots are no longer working!!! At first, I thought it only happened on the 10.15.3 Combo update. I then checked the 2020-001 Security Update on High Sierra and it’s not working either!

I found this out while I was writing another article on Catalina Logs. I built a 10.15.2 device and updated it to 10.15.3. I booted to recovery to restore the from the automatic snapshot only to find that it was missing!

Manual tmutil localsnapshots are deleted during the 10.15.3 Update installation!

Ok, what would happen if I created a manual snapshot before the update? If the automatic snapshot is not working, I could get by with just creating one right before I install the 10.15.3 combo update.

MrMacintosh.com - Manual tmutil localsnapshot / created before the 10.15.3 combo update.
Manual tmutil localsnapshot / created before the 10.15.3 combo update.

After installing the 10.15.3 Combo Update, I booted back into Recovery only to find that the manual tmutil localsnapshot / that I created was gone!!!

What should happen after the update.

Below is what you should see if you booted to recovery after a combo or security update. The below example is a backup snapshot taken by the 10.14.2 Combo Update.

MrMacintosh.com - automatic update backup localsnapshot
This is what you should see if you booted to recovery after a combo or security update. (within 24 hours after the update install)

Let’s take a look at the logs

What do the logs say? Well first I would like to see what a successful snapshot says. Searching the install.log, I found exactly what I was looking for.

MrMacintosh.com - 10.14 Automatic Snapshot.
That is just what I’m looking for. The automatic snapshot was taken right before the installation.

Let’s take a closer look to see what’s happening during the 10.15.3 combo update install. Looking at the install.log again, I found this entry.

MrMacintosh.com - 10.15.3 purges localsnapshots
The 10.15.3 Combo Update purging snapshots.

There it is, the Installer is purging available snapshots on /Volumes/Macintosh HD. The 10.15.3 install.log does not contain any of the log items like the one from 10.14.

The good news is that the (2020-001) 10.14 and 10.13 Security Update installers do NOT purge your manual tmutil localsnapshots.

What’s going on, is this a bug?

I am not totally sure what’s going on here, if I had to guess this a bug. I wanted to let you know about this. The last thing you want to do is rely on that automatic backup snapshot only to find out it was never created.

Either way, please let Apple know about this!

If you have any questions or comments please Contact Me or leave a note below. Thanks!

Catalina 10.15.3 Update Reverts Custom pam.d & sshd_config Settings

MrMacintosh.com - If you set custom /etc/pam.d or sshd_config settings be sure to re apply the after the 10.15.3 update!
If you set custom /etc/pam.d or sshd_config settings be sure to re apply the after the 10.15.3 update!

If you use custom pam.d or sshd_config settings, you will need to apply them again after the 10.15.3 Update.

Apple allows us to set multiple custom settings using pam.d configuration files. We can use pam.d configuration files to set different options for, sudo, login, su, screensaver& Smart Card.

If you are looking for a good explanation on what pam.d files are, check out this link. https://www.linux.com/news/understanding-pam/

Custom /etc/pam.d Configuration Settings

The following is a few examples of what you would set in the pam.d configuration files.

  • /etc/pam.d/screensaver = Set the screensaver window to allow the local admin to get past the Mobile Account password lock.
  • /etc/pam.d/sudo = Enable smart card-only for the sudo command.
  • /etc/pam.d/sudo = Enable Touch ID for the SUDO command
  • /etc/pam.d/su = Enable smart card-only for the SU command
  • /etc/pam.d/login = Enable smart card-only for the LOGIN command

Custom /etc/ssh/sshd_config Settings

The same goes for the the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. This file can be used to set custom ssh settings.

  • Set SSH Banner File (so ssh users see a banner warning message)
  • SSH HostKey Settings
  • SSH Logging
  • SSH Authentication
  • Kerberos Options
  • PAM Authentication

In comes the Catalina 10.15.3 Update, only to revert everything!

I started noticing reports of pam.d and sshd_config settings getting reverted back about a day after the 10.15.3 update went live.

For those who’ve modified /etc/pam.d/sudo to enable Touch ID for sudo auth, looks like 10.15.3 reverted this to stock.

MacAdmins user markcohen – 01/30/20

Other MacAdmins started to check and confirm that the same thing. Some of the specific settings revolved around Smart Card controls. Apple explains the Smart Card settings in the document below.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208372

Allen Golbig then noted that the same thing happened to the /etc/ssh/sshd_configfile!

Is it normal for /etc/ssh/sshd_config to revert during point updates?

MacAdmins user golby – 01/31/20

The test and verification

When reporting issues like this, it’s important to verify the problem as much as possible. For this test, I built out a fresh copy of 10.15.2. I then edited the following files.

  • /etc/pam.d/su
  • /etc/pam.d/sudo
  • /etc/pam.d/login
  • /etc/pam.d/screensaver
  • /etc/ssh/sshd_config

I modified the files using pico and set some of the Apple recommended settings. I noted the modification date of all the files and tested to make sure the modifications worked.

I then used softwareudpate to install the 10.15.3 update.

Results

Sure enough, after the 10.15.3 update was finished, I checked the files and all 5 of them were reset back to the original modification date of

Nov 9 2019 at 4:xx AM

This problem may not be “New”

I noted in my previous article that some of the pam.d files were reverted back to stock on twitter. A few users noted that this issue is not new and has happened in previous updates. I can’t verify if this is true right now but would like to hear from you if noticed this.

I hope Apple will fix the update process so it will not revert our custom settings.

If you have noticed other custom settings that were reverted by the latest Catalina update, let me know below!

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