macOS 27 'Golden Gate' Disrupts Asahi Linux: Bug Reported to Apple, Installer Blocked

The Asahi Linux project has issued a warning to users running Linux on Apple Silicon Macs: do not upgrade to macOS 27 'Golden Gate' beta. The first public beta of the operating system, presented at WWDC 2026, introduced a change in the way the boot picker and Startup Disk application detect valid boot volumes. As a result, Asahi Linux partitions become invisible to both tools and are not bootable, even though the data on the disk remains physically intact.

The team has documented the problem on the official channel and has already submitted a bug report to Apple with reference FB22994760. In parallel, the Asahi Linux installer has been patched to prevent new installations on systems running macOS 27, to avoid putting other users in the same situation.

What is Happening and Why

As mentioned, Apple has changed the criteria by which the boot picker and Startup Disk identify bootable volumes. Asahi Linux, which uses its own partitioning and boot mechanism to coexist with macOS on Apple Silicon, no longer falls under the updated criteria. The practical consequence is the disappearance of the Linux entry from the boot selector, which prevents the user from choosing the operating system at startup.

It’s important to clarify that no data is being erased: the partitions still exist on the disk and are accessible. The problem is one of visibility and bootability, not data integrity.

How to Recover Access to Asahi if You Have Already Updated

For those who have already installed the macOS 27 beta and have lost access to the Linux partition, the procedure indicated by the team is to revert to macOS 26 or an earlier version. Only by stepping back to an operating system that still uses the old detection criteria will the Asahi partitions become visible in the boot picker and bootable normally. There is currently no alternative Asahi procedure to work around the problem.

The team’s warning is thus both reactive, for those who are already in the situation of having macOS 27 beta installed, and preventive for everyone else: wait for the problem to be resolved, either by Apple on the boot picker front or by Asahi Linux on the compatibility front, before proceeding with any updates.