Problems upgrading to macOS Mojave on MacBook Pro 2018

Ann,

If you read my post to dmauch, I went back and checked every version of the Mac OS from High Sierra to Snow Leopard in VMware Fusion. NO version of macOS creates it on an Apple stock install. So that's why, it's either created by the person specifically, or a piece of third party software. At least that's what it looks like currently.

If I can come up with a specific solid answer that will give people specific info to help prevent this in the future, or even resolve issues people haven't resolved yet, I will post here.

With that said, the sysctl Utility is installed, but it has to be configured manually, hence no conf file by default.

One file that should be present by default is syslog.conf, also in /etc

Again, with that said, syslog.conf is the only file containing "sys" in it's name by default in /etc

I am not a UNIX person, and I usually just do whatever the installer does on 3rd party applications. It takes a lot of courage for me to open Terminal and copy and paste these posted remedies into it.

Something probably came into my Macs with Migration Assistant. I have been using Migration Assistant to set up new computers for a long time. I will check for the sysctl file on my new MBP 2018, which came with High Sierra but which has only had a fraction of my old stuff moved to it so far. I started to run Migration Assistant and stopped it when I saw it was bringing over entire Documents and Applications folders instead of letting me pick out what I wanted to bring over.

Just checked - “No file found or directory,” and I renamed the file rather than deleting it. I‘m with Ann Laux. I would not normally fool around with “Terminal” either, nor would I knowingly create files. But it would be interesting to know how it was created in the first placeo or from what 3rd party software.

Sounds like a reasonable explanation. Interestingly, I just recently installed a new WD My Passport for Mac as my TM destination via Super Duper. In fact, I sent an inquiry to WD asking what they would recommend for reformatting now that I have Mojave— stay with HD+ or change to APFS. BTW, my HD gets backed-up routinely using Smart Update daily.

iFrog is right: Time Machine volumes still need to be formatted with HFS+, but a clone is different: APFS is now a lot more mature than at the beginning, and I believe you can safely clone to an APFS-formatted volume. I do, and there have been no problems. Just keep in mind that if your Mac has a T2 chip, the cloned volume will only be readable by the Mac that created it. (I haven't tested this yet, but it's what the developers of Carbon Copy Cloner wrote.) Due to the T2's encryption-at-rest, you must definitely have a second backup solution, in case your T2 Mac is fried beyond repair. Otherwise you won't have access to your data anymore. For most people that second solution would be Time Machine. I currently only use BackBlaze, but I'm going to reactivate Time Machine backups as soon as I have my Synology NAS.

PS: you can also enable additional FileVault encryption on the clone, but it must be done while being booted into the clone volume.

😁 thank goodness High Sierra is solid on my MBP2018 and that there aren't any super compelling reasons to update to Mojave at this point in time - the thought of reverting back to Windows makes me shudder.

I do wish Apple would hurry up and fix this Mojave issue though.

Same here, i.e. High Sierra is solid on 2018 MBP, though I am getting three warnings when running Disk Utilities' First Aid on the boot volume (T2 and FileVault encrypted):

Checking the fsroot tree.

warning: crypto_val: object (oid 0x4): invalid state.major_version (0)

warning: crypto_val: object (oid 0x4): invalid state.key_os_version (0x0)

warning: crypto_val: object (oid 0x4): invalid state.key_revision (0)

Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

I have a 1:1 clone, also T2 and FileVault encrypted, and when I run Disk Utility First Aid on the cloned drive, those errors don't occur.

It's a bit weird, but I tend to believe the people online saying that this is allegedly not something to worry about.

I did have some issues with bridgeOS panics at wake, but I managed to solve those problems myself with tweaked power management settings.

I don't this exact problem but I can't even choose Mohave to update to. I swapped out my original 2009 iMac HD for an SSD about two years ago and its lovely but now, I am wondering if that is why I can't update t Mohave. App store just tells me: "This version of Mac OS can not be installed on this computer." I am on El Capitan and never did High Sierra. Should I go get High Sierra first? It is not an option but I had heard problematic stuff with HS and Adobe CC 2017. Opinions?

Normally, I would just keep the OS I have if updating causes problems but some of my Adobe stuff won't install on El Cap.

There is nothing problematic with Adobe CC on High Sierra not Mojave. CC 2019 has just been released by the way. 2017 is history. You can upgrade through the menu bar icon. Just make sure to remove old versions of PS, Premiere, etc since Adobe has made several changes to CC 2019.

Also with CC 2019 Adobe has crushed piracy for the first time in a very long time. It is currently impossible to crack and pirates will have to make do with older versions. It’s about time Adobe finally did something since Adobe’s software is the most pirated around the world and they lose tens of millions of dollars a year to it.

Your iMac is too old for Mojave support.

See here: https://www.tekrevue.com/macos-mojave-system-requirements/

You can probably go to Sierra, or even High Sierra on that iMac.

If you have a late 2009 iMac, then you can run High Sierra as the newest OS:

macOS High Sierra - Technical Specifications

If not, then you would either have to go to Sierra, or stay with El Capitan. I will warn you though, Apple only actively supports the current +2 current releases at any time. So when Mojave was released, support for El Capitan was dropped. So with this said, Sierra, or High Sierra are my recommendations for you.

Here is a link to get older versions of the macOS direct from the App Store: mac appstore - How to download macOS High Sierra from the Mojave App Store? - Ask Different

There are direct links to the install application on the Mac App Store.

Pick High Sierra, or Sierra, whichever you like, or try both to see which runs best.

Sorry for the delay, took me a while to find the link again.

It wouldn't let me edit the first post, so here is the whole post over again with the needed information.

As I've mentioned before, "Sysctl.conf" is something the user has to manually create, or use a software tool that happens to create one to install custom network settings and other things. If neither one is the case, then the file shouldn't exist on ANY version of OS X / macOS. Now there have been cases here the file existed, and the user isn't know it. However, this isn't the normal set of circumstances.

That's all I was saying, the circumstances here, aren't the norm. At least based on the testing I did, and sources of information, be it people, or articles online.

Even in this thread, I think the percentage of people with the file was still smaller, then those who didn't have it. Maybe it was half and half, I would have to go back and read the thread to be sure.

Darn. I should have taken a screen shot of the file that got produced on my Terminal that I renamed since it did have a date on it. That said, my TM originated from a mid-2007 iMac although I cannot recall what version OS it came with although I always kept it upgraded.

Has your 27" iMac been working OK as of the upgrade? I was actually going to post here to see how everyone was doing. Since I hadn't heard anything until today, was hoping no news was good news. Especially since a majority of the main posters here had fixed their issues and were not updated.

I suspect that this thread has gone quiet since most of those who were unable to get any of the methods / workarounds to work haven't bothered to try again (I haven't and simply don't have the time to futz around - HS is working fine for the time being).

I'll be waiting for an update to Mojave before trying again.