OpenZFS on OS X

I am currently trying to install zfs-macOS-2.2.3rc5 on a Mac Mini M1 running Sonoma 14.6.1. I have selected the "Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers" option under "Reduced Security" in recoveryOS and rebooted. However, when trying to run ZFS-related commands (e.g., "zpool import") in Terminal, I get the following message:

The ZFS modules are not loaded.
Try running '/sbin/kextload zfs.kext' as root to load them.

When I do this, I get the following message:

Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil load -p /Users/username/zfs.kext
Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, and would appreciate any guidance anyone would be willing to provide...

You need to approve the kext in Privacy & Security settings.

where exactly? after installation, the Privacy & Security settings open up automatically, but there is nothing to approve...

it should appear under the Security heading on that screen, as seen here for a different kext. this says it only shows for 30 minutes though. you might want to uninstall and reinstall to try to get re-prompted

thank you for the input! where do i find the directions on how to uninstall? i found the wiki entry, but it's from 2015... surely there has to be something more recent than that, right?

maybe just try reinstalling first and see if you can get the prompt. otherwise, there's also a manual way to approve it in recovery mode that you can see at the bottom here. you'll need to work out what the team ID is though…

I don't know where one would get the Team ID. There is another method for getting the prompt to approve third party kexts: you boot into Recovery, fire up Terminal, and then issue this command:

Code: Select all

# kmutil trigger-panic-medic --volume-root /Volumes/YourVolumeName


As in "/Volumes/MacintoshHD" or similar. Then reboot into normal MacOS (not recovery). This procedure disables and presents for approval all third party kexts, so it won't just be the ZFS kext if you have installed others for Adobe or whatever.

thank you both so much for your input... unfortunately, neither of these suggestions worked. what makes things worse is that i installed zfs-macOS-2.2.2 on my Intel-based MacBook Pro running Sonoma 14.6.1 and everything proceeded smoothly. at this point, i think i just need to uninstall zfs-macOS-2.2.3rc5 and start again. does anyone have a recent set of instructions to uninstall?

so, as a result of some tinkering and experimentation, the plot thickens... i began by trying the uninstall scripts available in the 2.2.2 DMG file. it appeared to have worked. then i tried reinstalling. that didn't... same problems as before (specifically, ability to approve extension in Security & Privacy settings still didn't show up). I decided to repeat this with the internal Mac Mini SSD (to clarify, i typically boot from an external Thunderbolt SSD). again, uninstall appeared to work, but reinstall didn't. i noticed a "Joergen Lundman" login item and decided to try turning it off before trying again with the internal SSD. this, weirdly enough, worked... i currently have 2.2.2 installed and working on the internal SSD! however, I cannot get the system to recognize the attached zpool ("sudo zpool import" reports "no pools available to import). i then tried repeating this procedure with the external SSD, but could not repeat my "success" from the internal SSD...

if you've previously approved the kext then you shouldn't have to do it again for a new version (as long as it's signed the same, etc), so it won't appear in Security & Privacy again. i'm just booting from the internal drive though, so perhaps there's something hardcoded that isn't working well when you're booting from the external drive. i have the "Joergen Lundman" login items enabled.