NTFS for MAC error

Paragon customer service responded with this (they were incredibly fast too):

After the latest macOS 10.15.7 Catalina Security Update 2022-003 (19H1824), issues have been reported with mounting NTFS volumes using the NTFS for Mac and similar drivers.

A service build has been created to address the problem. It can be downloaded below:

https://kb.paragon-software.com/article/8468

Please note:

• Automount is not functional in the service build;
• Apple recently released a beta version of the next update, where the issue has been fixed. You can install it if you a member of the Apple Developer Program. Thus, we expect the official version of the macOS update to be available in the near future, and the current NTFS for Mac versions to be functional again.

You only stated that your NTFS didn't work, not whether it was specifically read or write capability that was lost. Boot your Mac in Safe Boot mode and see if the NTFS (read) mounting works from the Finder, rather than the Terminal. Review that you have the Finder Preferences set to show External disks. After a normal reboot, recheck if NTFS drives are mounting as expected.

What other third-party software do you have installed?

what Rafael suggested and Sam confirmed worked for me:

1. Re-install Catalina per Rafael´s link
2. Re-install Paragon
3. hold-off with 2022-003 patch

patch 2022-004 seems to be around soon as per other communities, it would be great once someone has confirmed functipnality to post it here.

Happy Easter everyone

svtimmy_ wrote:

I do experience the same issue and I'm not using Pragon but Tuxera. Multiple other users on reddit and tidbits are reporting this too.

Contact the developer…

https://ntfsformac.tuxera.com/support/

What has been said about contacting the developer. Third-party software compatibility with any new macOS update/upgrade is the responsibility of the developer, and you to obtain the most recent version available from that developer, heeding any developer information about compatibility, or lack of compatibility with the current operating system version.

It is not Apple's responsibility, nor ability to control third-party software compatibility. The developers have the current Apple SDK and operating system version available to them long before Apple releases it.

@VikingOSX I disagree. Out of the box OSX allows to mount NTFS drives in read only mode, it doesn't require any 3rd party apps to do that. What this update broke is that OS no longer mount NTFS drives. It is possible to mount them manualy using terminal and then read-only mode works fine. I tested it on a system without paragon/Tuxera apps.

@VikingOSX I reviewd the finder settings and everything is fine there. Safe boot didn't fix the issue. This particular thread is not mine. it's SzegPisti75 who hasn't given much details. There's other people (here, reddit, tidbits) with the same exact issue, so it's not a single user incident.

I usually have Tuxera installed to handle write on NTFS drives but as I said, I uninstalled it and tried how system behaves without it. Safe Boot doesn't help with Tuxera being installed or not. Manual mounting drive works fine for both cases - read only without the app, and read/write with it.

I don't have much 3rd party apps installed, just very basic ones: spotify, office, firefox, vlc, ps5 remote play nothing fancy. This setup has always worked fine and only stopped after latest update.

I'm content with manual adding drives for now, but if Apple or Tuxera won't adress this issue I guess I'll have to just update to Big Sur.

VikingOSX wrote:

You only stated that your NTFS didn't work, not whether it was specifically read or write capability that was lost.

As near as I can tell, the last Catalina security update broke NTFS access. I can't mount an NTFS drive in the Finder.

It did. Two different applications (Paragon, Tuxera), same breaking down.

When I boot from the backup disk I made before installing 2022-003 Catalina, NTFS USB disks still mount fine.

So I'm sure it's the 2022-003 security update that broke it.

I can mount NTFS drives in read-only mode though (with Paragon), but for that I don't need Paragon in the first place ;-)

Trying to mount with Disk Utility gives:

Could not mount “the disk”. (com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error 49221.)

Yes well, I didn't have Paragon installed on the only iMac I have running Catalina. So I downloaded the trial, tried formatting a flash drive as NTFS. It formatted the drive but once it was done it couldn't mount it, not even as read only. That's when I formatted the same drive on a Windows laptop. It wouldn't mount even as read only either.

Mounted fine in Monterey.

@erratix

I don't have paragon. There are users here who say that their pendrives used to mount into read-only mode but after formatting them again on windows machine, they have stopped working alltogether - just as in my case.

Anyway, we have to wait for fix from apple because something must have gotten broken.

erratix wrote:

You sure it doesn't mount in read-only?

I already deleted Paragon since i was only using it to test this issue. However, since uninstalling Paragon and rebooting, I can at least mount NTFS drive as read only.

Tuxera has acknowledged the problem and working on a solution.

https://macsupport.tuxera.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4696818610706-Help-I-can-t-mount-NTFS-volumes-on-macOS-Catalina-after-the-latest-update-

Haven't had a response from Paragon yet.

Now Paragon has replied too (support email). Looks like they will not provide an update, and will instead wait for Apple to fix it in a next macOS update....

After the latest macOS 10.15.7 Catalina Security Update 2022-003 (19H1824),

issues have been reported with mounting NTFS volumes using the NTFS for

Mac driver. The Development team were able to reproduce and confirm the

issue. We expect it to be fixed in the next macOS updates.

For now, the following workaround can be tried:

1) Make sure you're using Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software build 15.9.314

It can be downloaded from the ParagonBox user portal if you have a license registered there or directly from the site:

https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

Be sure to uninstall any previous versions as described below:

https://kb.paragon-software.com/article/4500

2) Connect the drive containing the NTFS partition, and make sure the partition is not mounted.

3) Open the Terminal utility  (Application -> Utilities -> Terminal) and perform the following command to create a mountpoint:

sudo mkdir /Volumes/ntfs

4) Run the following command:

diskutil list

and note the NTFS partition (disk0s3, for instance)

5) Run the following command to mount it:

sudo /Library/Filesystems/ufsd_NTFS.fs/Contents/Resources/mount_ufsd_NTFS 
/dev/diskXsY /Volumes/ntfs

where diskXsY - the NTFS partition from the previous step

(for instance)

sudo /Library/Filesystems/ufsd_NTFS.fs/Contents/Resources/mount_ufsd_NTFS 
/dev/disk0s3 /Volumes/ntfs

It’s really annoying to discover afterwards that a security patch affect essential functions of our computers. The 2022-03 for Catalina broke the read/write functions on my NTFS Bootcamp volume. To solve this issue you can test Mounty. Works for me…https://mounty.app/