Can I run Roon on macOS Sequoia and OpenCore Legacy Patcher

[Adrian_Berry]

Hi, has anyone tried running Roon on older mac hardware using the OpenCore Legacy Patcher to support macOS Sequoia or similar?

I have used OpenCore Legacy Patcher to install mcOS 15 Sequoia on several vintage mac minis. Sequoia runs Ok, with varying speed depending on the exact processor. Roon Server seems to be running OK and that mac provides audio outputs. Roon runs on all my other macs and iPhones etc and can see and control the music output on the server mac mini.

The problem is none of them can see the Audio Outputs on any of the devices that are not the server.

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

This is most likely a known issue on Sequoia that quite many people experienced and not related to OCLP. Try this:

Roon 2.0 build 1480 not detecting audio devices on Mac mini (ref#LKGPIF)

macOS 15 messed up security settings for quite many people, leading to device discovery issues. Lots of threads about this on the forum. Try this, it usually helps: Navigate to macOS System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network , and make sure Roon is allowed. If it is already enabled, toggle it off and on again. Then reboot your Mac, and see if the same issue persists.

[Adrian_Berry]

Thanks for this but unfortunately it has not worked for me. I went through the steps for each machine, leaving them all turned off. Then restarted all the machines. Still cannot see any outputs on anything other than the Server mac mini

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

Moving to Support then, for proper visibility to Roon staff.

[Adrian_Berry]

@Suedkiez

Moving to Support then, for proper visibility to Roon staff.

Thanks for doing this

[Adrian_Berry]

A further thought. Does anyone know if mcOS 15.1 Sequoia is causing the Privacy & Security problems at the Server or Output end of the links? Is it;

1. the server that cannot see onto the network
2. the Outputs that will not let the server see what they have?

If 1) then reverting the server to an earlier macOS could solve the problem. Or if 2) then reverting the Outputs will work.

Knowing my luck it will be both 1) AND 2)!

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

Most cases I have seen on the forum was the server on macOS not seeing hardware streamers, so there was no macOS on the client. Though I guess it could be all of them if macOS is running on both ends.

[connor]

Hi @Adrian_Berry,

Thank you for your post. Diagnostics indicate that RoonServer has visibility to other Mac-hosted RAATServer instances on this network, but the handshake fails each time.

More broadly, we see RAATServer crashing on the main Mac server machine, and at least one managed crash involving RoonServer itself.

Are you experiencing any symptoms outside of local output visibility in Roon on controller Macs?

Sequoia’s more draconian network security features interfere with RAATServer and RoonServer’s device discovery and pairing.

@Adrian_Berry

Still cannot see any outputs on anything other than the Server mac mini

Which controller are you referring to here? Please share a screenshot of your Settings → Audio tab from both:
a) the RoonServer Mac Mini and
b) Roon on a Mac controller

Thanks!

[Adrian_Berry]

@connor

Which controller are you referring to here? Please share a screenshot of your Settings → Audio tab from both:

Hi, I’m sorry I can’t provide a photo as I have just rebuilt my Roon Server mac mini I was having the problem on, with macOS Sonoma and I failed to take any screenshots beforehand

But I can tell you that the Settings > Audio page, on both the Roon Server mac mini and all of the Output devices (mac minis, mac pro 2013 and iMac 2019), just showed the section with the outputs directly attached to the server. No other machines were shown. The display was identical on all of them.

I tried the process of going System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network and unchecking then re-checking Roon & Roon Server for network access and then rebooting. But it didn’t make any difference even after several attempts on all machines.

All the messages I read tell me that Sequoia is a problem so I decided to start again with Sonoma and wait until the privacy problems have been sorted out. Normally I would be up for lots of experiments but as it takes hours to rebuild the machines, I’m timed out. And at the moment I’m busy with other stuff. I will try and keep experimenting in the background and will report back when I get some useful data.

As I have several spare vintage iMacs (just can’t bear the thought of ‘recycling’ them), I also tried setting up a Roon Server on a 2009 iMac running Sequoia under OpenCore and forming a network with a mac mini running Sonoma, again using OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
After the initial setup it was all Ok, both the Roon Server iMac and the Output mac mini could see all the available outputs on both the Sequoia Server iMac and the Sonoma Output mac mini. But while I was standing just looking at the display on the mac mini, it changed. Then only the Server iMac outputs were visible. I checked the iMac and it too only showed its own Outputs. The ones on the mac mini had completely disappeared. I rebooted and the condition remained the same. This says to me that it is the Sequoia running on the Roon Server that is causing the problems.

I went through the process on the Roon Server iMac running Sequoia, of going into System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network and unchecking then re-checking Roon & Roon Server for neywork access. Rebooted and the Output mac mini outputs were again visible. And they stayed visible for several hours. Unfortunately I then I had to go to the pub