SoftRAID Error Application cannot initialise itself correctly

@softraid-support

Are you getting the same initialization error message from other users running MacOS Ventura on silicon Macs?

Is there way I can manually load the helper tool, to avoid getting the error message?

@dmcrobbie

this is baffling. Any chance you can access the Apple 13.3 beta? It should solve this issue. I can get you a beta also to run on it.

Thanks, but I think I’ll wait until the public release of 13.3.  In today’s email, Mark Gurman announced that Apple now requires “an authorized, paid developer account logged into the device to install a developer beta.”

@dmcrobbie

I just heard from a user that "Clean My Mac X", fixing file authorizations, stopped their DART issues. Very strange if true, but may be worth testing.

@softraid-support 

I tried running everything in Clean My Mac X that could possibly fix this.  No success.  I still get the initialization error after SoftRAID asks to install the helper tool.  Is there another way to fix file authorizations?

@dmcrobbie 

That suggestion was for the kernel panics, which I am skeptical about. It would have nothing to do with the problem loading the app, which is most likely quarantine. I cannot easily go back in this forum, so did you test for quarantine and clear it?

To test for quarantine:
Paste the following command into the terminal.app:
sudo xattr /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

If the output is blank, that is not the issue.
if you see quarantine, then we need to clear this state. You can do that by pasting this into the terminal. You will need your admin password:
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

Now restart

Does this help?

@softraid-support 

Here's the result:

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo xattr /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext
Password:
com.apple.macl
Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext
Dave@Mac-mini ~ %

Unfortunately I get the same error after restart: "The SoftRAID application cannot initialize itself correctly. Please try booting from a different volume and try again."  I use Bitdefender Antivirus, but I turned off monitoring while launching the SoftRAID 7.0.1 app.

Earlier you recommended I wait until Ventura 13.3 is released.  Do you think that will fix it?

@dmcrobbie

I think Bit Defender may be responsible. It can block activities. You should try a complete uninstall of it. When this first started happening, our engineer pointed out Bit Defender was installed in all the early examples of this.
Yes, I think 13.3 will resolve this, but am not sure, as it depends on the cause. there will no more quarantine of the driver after 13.3 is released, so that cause would be gone. 13.3 also allows SoftRAID to be loaded from an external startup disk. So the changes are substantial. My guess is 3 weeks away.

@softraid-support 

I did a complete uninstall of Bitdefender, but I get the same initialization error message.  I'll install Ventura 13.3 as soon as it's released and see if that fixes it.  Is anyone else having this issue with SoftRAID on a silicon Mac?

@dmcrobbie 

there have been several issues with M1, including the RAID "DART" kernel panic, which appears will finally be fixed in 13.4.
fortunately, with 13.3, all the "security" issues will be fixed. So your issue should also go away, if not, it will be a much easier fix.

Its possible "Gatekeeper" placed SoftRAID under quarantine.

There is a terminal.app command called xattr, which can check for and fix quarantine issues.

To test for quarantine, follow the following instructions.
Paste the following command into the terminal.app:
sudo xattr /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

If the output is blank, excellent. let us know. Also do the last step of uninstalling via terminal, below.

if you see quarantine, then we need to clear this state. You can do that by pasting this into the terminal. You will need your admin password:
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext
restart

You can confirm quarantine is cleared by repeating the upper command.

Now I recommend uninstall the SoftRAID driver, then reinstall it. You can uninstall from the terminal.app:
sudo softraidtool uninstall
restart and run SoftRAID and install the driver.

This should get you working, let me know.

@softraid-support 

I tried all of those commands again, but it's the same issue I reported in previous posts.

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo xattr /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

Password:

com.apple.macl

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo softraidtool uninstall

sudo: softraidtool: command not found

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % 

@dmcrobbie 

com.apple.macl 

I have never seen this before.

I found this:
Starting in macOS Catalina, an extended attribute (XA) named com.apple.macl is being added to the files and folder you work with.

Lets try removing this. Since I am not familiar with this, I am not sure it will work or not.

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.macl /Library/Extensions

If this does work (no error), then try this:
sudo touch /Library/Extensions

restart and try running SoftRAID once more.

13.3 is in release candidate, which will fix these kinds of issues, I expect. I am not sure about the Application cannot initialize itself and Monitor quit errors, but it may solve most of those.

@softraid-support 

I couldn't remove the XA:

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo xattr -rd com.apple.macl /Library/Extensions

Password:

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeResources'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeDirectory'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeRequirements-1'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeSignature'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeRequirements'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/_CodeSignature'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/Info.plist'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents/version.plist'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext/Contents'

xattr: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext'

@dmcrobbie 

Lets try a direct delete:

sudo rm -r /Library/Extensions/com.apple.macl

If no file found, run this and paste it in your reply:

ls -als //Library/Extensions

@softraid-support 

Here's what I get.  No com.apple.macl file, but it shows "Dave" instead of "root" for SoftRAID.kext.

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo rm -r /Library/Extensions/com.apple.macl

Password:

rm: /Library/Extensions/com.apple.macl: No such file or directory

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % ls -als //Library/Extensions

total 0

0 drwxr-xr-x  11 root  wheel   352 Mar 21 10:51 .

0 drwxr-xr-x  76 root  wheel  2432 Mar 21 10:55 ..

0 drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel    96 Jan  7  2019 AppleMobileDevice.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Jul 12  2022 ArcMSRu.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Sep  2  2019 BJUSBLoad.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Aug 31  2016 CIJUSBLoad.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Feb  9 01:39 HighPointIOP.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Feb  9 01:39 HighPointRR.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 Dave  wheel    96 Jan 24 12:12 SoftRAID.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Nov 26  2017 fileprotector.kext

0 drwxr-xr-x   3 root  wheel    96 Dec 17  2020 ms_ntfs.kext