Dual-boot macOS 10.15.4, hiding volumes & volume selection window

Running BootRunner 3.3 (30335).

I have a dual boot, macOS 10.15.4 on both partitions (yes, partitions, not volumes) of my 1TB APFS drive. The first partition is named “Macintosh HD” and has “Macintosh HD” (disk1s5) and “Macintosh - Data” (disk1s1). The second is named “Zoom” and has “Zoom” (disk2s5) and “Zoom - Data” (disk2s1). Neither of these disks are encrypted.

My Profile for this dual-boot has non-VM Volumes as follows:
“Name or Identifier = disk1s5” with “Volume label = Presentation”
“Name or Identifier = disk2s5” with “Volume label = Zoom”

My Profile for this dual-boot has “Hide volumes” as follows:
disk1s1, disk1s2, disk1s3, disk1s4, disk2s1, disk2s2, disk2s3, disk2s4

My Profile for this dual-boot has “Initially selected volume” as follows:
disk1s5

My Profile for this dual-boot has “Show unmounted volumes” as {empty}

Here’s where the fun begins as I cold-boot the computer

1. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the left of the volume choices, “Zoom – Data” (disk2s1) in the middle and “Zoom” (disk2s5) on the right. Clicking Presentation takes me into the Presentation volume (disk1s5) as you would expect, I log in, and all is well. I then log out.
2. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the left of the volume choices, “Zoom – Data” (disk2s1) in the middle and “Zoom” (disk2s5) on the right. Clicking Presentation takes me into the Presentation volume (disk1s5) as you would expect, I log in, and all is well. I then log out.
3. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the left of the volume choices, “Zoom – Data” (disk2s1) in the middle and “Zoom” (disk2s5) on the right. I now click the “Zoom” volume (disk2s5), the computer restarts, and I log into the Zoom volume and all is well. I do not have BootRunner installed on this volume, so to return to the BootRunner screen, I then restart.
4. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the left of the volume choices, “Zoom – Data” (disk2s1) in the middle and “Zoom” (disk2s5) on the right. I now click Presentation takes me into the Presentation volume (disk1s5) as you would expect, I log in, and all is well. I then log out.
   5. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the RIGHT of the volume choices and “Zoom” (disk1s5) on the LEFT. I now click Presentation and it takes me into the Zoom volume (disk2s5). I restart.
   6. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the RIGHT of the volume choices and “Zoom” (disk1s5) on the LEFT. I now click Presentation, the computer restarts, and I am now at the login for the Zoom volume. I restart.
5. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the left of the volume choices, “Zoom – Data” (disk2s1) in the middle and “Zoom” (disk2s5) on the right. Clicking Presentation takes me into the Presentation volume (disk1s5) as you would expect, I log in, and all is well. I then log out.

I’m not sure what happened between #4 and #7.

If I repeat steps #1-4, except at the end of #4 I shutdown (instead of log out) and perform a cold-boot I see the following:

5. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the RIGHT of the volume choices and “Zoom” (disk1s5) on the LEFT. I now click Zoom and it takes me into the Presentation volume (disk1s5). I restart.
6. The BootRunner screen appears with “Presentation” (disk1s5, initially selected volume) on the left of the volume choices, “Zoom – Data” (disk2s1) in the middle and “Zoom” (disk2s5) on the right. I now click Presentation takes me into the Presentation volume (disk1s5) as you would expect, I log in, and all is well. I then log out.

Question 1: Why does the volume “Zoom - data” (disk2s1) appear on the BootRunner login screen when told not to?
Question 2: Why do the icons flip-flop in my numbers 5-6 in my first test and only number 5 in my second test?

You are definitely uncovering unexpected behavior and it is something I should fix. Can you outline how you installed the macOS? Did you create a new APFS container or create another partition? Please send me the output for “diskutil list” in terminal. I can then replicate your setup and fix the issues. As for your questions:

It shouldn’t. Boot Runner should filter it out. It does work for non-booted volumes (otherwise both - Data volumes would show). I’ll need to dig into why this is the case.

It should present based on device identifier, but that appears to be a bug as well. I’ll need to look into that as well.

tim

I have 2 partitions, not container, and wonder if maybe a dual-container computer might solve the issue. I can do some testing with this.

(Attachment bootrunner_diskutil-AllenCreech.pdf is missing)

I have 2 partitions, not container, and wonder if maybe a dual-container computer might solve the issue. I can do some testing with this.

image001.png1306×850 122 KB

Good to know. I’ll do some testing and fix the issues in Boot Runner and post a beta.

tim

So far so good with the following: internal drive with 1 container and 2 volumes (rather than 2 partitions). This is a 10.15.4 iMac15,1 with a 500GB Apple SSD. I installed BootRunner on both volumes, Presentation and Zoom, for ease of switching back and forth and all is working. Maybe my original issue was a problem with multiple partitions?

Interesting. I ran Catalina / Mojave as 2 partitions and it didn’t have issues, but I don’t have specific memory of booting with Boot Runner (though I imagine I would of). I’ll do some testing and see if I can replicate the issue.

tim