No success with the new InstanceIdentifier and .contentVisibility settings

[perez987]

Maybe it's my mistake and I haven't quite understood the instructions of the Configuration.pdf file, if it's the case, sorry to post in the bug tracker. However, I think I have followed the instructions and I can't get this new feature to work.

I'm on a Z390 mobo with 6600 XT. I've plugged 3 disks, macOS13R (Ventura, SATA), macOS14 (Sonoma, SATA) and macOS13 (Ventura, USB).

macOS13R

• InstanceIdentifier=macOS13R
• .contentVisibility: macOS13,macOS14:Disabled (no whitespaces)
• Result: I see the 3 disks plus 1 EFI (I should see only macOS13R).

macOS14

• InstanceIdentifier=macOS14
• .contentVisibility: macOS13,macOS13R:Auxiliary (no whitespaces)
• Result: I see the 3 disks plus 2 EFI (I should see only macOS14 and the other 2 disks after pressing space bar).

macOS13

• InstanceIdentifier=macOS13
• .contentVisibility: macOS13R:Disabled (no whitespaces)
• Result: I see the 3 disks plus 1 EFI (I should see only macOS13 and macOS14).

In summary, I haven't success. Thanks.

[mikebeaton]

Hi,

The instance identifiers refer to instances of OpenCore, and the .contentVisibility instructions, for example placed next to boot.efi of a given macOS (or other relevant bootloader, for another OS), state which instances of OpenCore can boot it (more precisely, they state which instances of OpenCore should display it, the rest is up to the user).

It is probably worth clarifying that a correctly tuned config.plist should be able to successfully boot all versions of macOS, so using this feature is not required. (There are some cases, such as reverting to the original machine ID in Windows for BIOS updates, where you might need to boot outside OpenCore, but few - if any - cases where it is not possible to configure OpenCore to successfully boot multiple OSes.) However this is provided as a convenience, for the setup which some users have found easier to configure or maintain, of different instances of OpenCore for different OS.

[perez987]

@mikebeaton Good night. I know it's an invalid topic. Would you be so kind to show me your setup, e.g. 2 InstanceIdentifier and its corresponding .contentVisibility files? Because no matter how hard I try to test this feature by strictly (in my opinion) following the instructions, I can't get it to work. Thank you so much.

[mikebeaton]

Hi - that won't be much help to anybody else, will it?

If you still believe there's an issue, please provide: your own config.plist (or at least the InstanceIdentifier value from it) from one of more instances of OpenCore; the contents of one or more .contentVisibility files, and where you have placed them (i.e. file path to them); and a one or more debug logs, from the same instances of OpenCore for which you provided the config.plist (or at least InstanceIdentifier).

[perez987]

@mikebeaton Ok, I have got all data although I'm not sure yet if it's an OC issue or a mistake of mine. Anyway, thanks for your attention. Tried with 2 OpenCore on 2 different disks.

OpenCore 1

• macOS 14 Sonoma b2
• InstanceIdentifier=Sonoma
• .contentVisibility next to BOOTx64.efi or next to OpenCore.efi or in both sides (tried 3 ways)
• .contentVisibility content -> Ventura:Auxiliary
• To have OpenCore 2 (InstanceIdentifier=Ventura) as Auxiliary
• But both Opencore are shown, plus an EFI
• Pressing space bar no more EFIs are shown
• Log -> opencore-Sonoma.txt.

OpenCore 2

• macOS 13 Ventura 13.4.1
• InstanceIdentifier=Ventura
• .contentVisibility next to BOOTx64.efi or next to OpenCore.efi or in both sides (tried 3 ways)
• .contentVisibility content -> Sonoma:Disabled
• To have OpenCore 1 (InstanceIdentifier=Sonoma) as Disabled
• But both Opencore are shown plus an EFI
• Pressing space bar one more EFI is shown
• Log - > opencore-Ventura.txt.

opencore-Sonoma.txt opencore-Ventura.txt

[mikebeaton]

.contentVisibility needs to be next to the item which will be booted. This is confusing because .contentVisibility was previously only normally placed next to OpenCore.efi and BOOTx64.efi - precisely to stop these being displayed as boot items by other instances of OpenCore. To prevent macOS itself showing as a boot item to an instance of OpenCore, you have to place your instance specific .contentVisibility file next to /System/Volumes/Preboot/{UUID}/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi (SIP must be temporarily disabled, in order to create this file).