SoftRAID Error Application cannot initialise itself correctly

Lets see what version of the driver is in your system. Can you run this command next?

sudo kextstat -b com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID

@softraid-support 

It doesn't seem to give me any info on that:

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo kextstat -b com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID

Password:

Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded --bundle-identifier com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID

No variant specified, falling back to release

Index Refs Address            Size       Wired      Name (Version) UUID <Linked Against>

Go the the /Extensions folder and "get info" on the SoftRAID.kext That should tell you a version.

@softraid-support 

The SoftRAID.kext file in Library/Extensions is v7.0.1.

I upgraded to Ventura 13.3 today, but I get the same error when installing the SoftRAID helper tool:  "The SoftRAID application cannot initialize itself correctly. Please try booting from a different volume and try again."

Any other ideas for getting past this?  Is it an issue with the M2 Pro?

@dmcrobbie

This should have fixed itself with 13.3. The driver no longer loads from /Library/Extensions

You can try this in the terminal.app:

sudo softraidtool uninstall

restart and run the App again. Can it launch?

If not ,run this ini terminal:

softraidtool status

after a few seconds, it should return a system status. This tells us the SoftRAID tool is loading.

@softraid-support 

Still the same error message.  I also disabled Bitdefender and reinstalled the 7.0.1 app.

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % sudo softraidtool uninstall
Password:
sudo: softraidtool: command not found

Dave@Mac-mini ~ % softraidtool status
zsh: command not found: softraidtool

@dmcrobbie

Can you try the latest SoftRAID beta? It may ask to remove the obsolete driver.

www.SoftRAID.com/sr_beta

the SoftRAID tool and other components are not getting installed it looks like.

@softraid-support 

I uninstalled 7.0.1, then installed the 7.5 b26 beta.  But unfortunately I get the same error message.

@dmcrobbie 

B26 then did not give the pop up option to uninstall Obsolete drivers, as you had done that already by uninstalling 7.0.1, I presume.

Bit Defencer is still disabled?

What if you shut down, restart in recovery mode (hold power key and run the terminal.

type this in, and after you get a "done" message, restart.

kmutil trigger-panic-medic --volume-root “Volumes/Macintosh HD”

Note: This assumes the Startup volume is named Macintosh HD, replace with your own, if different, and the quotation marks are important if the name for your startup volume has a space in it. note also there is a space after medic and are two dashes before --volume-root

Can you run SoftRAID now?

@softraid-support 

I tried that and it successfully disabled system extensions:  "Panic Medic done. All third party kexts have been unapproved and uninstalled from Volumes/500GB Startup Disk"

But reinstalling either SoftRAID 7.0.1 or the B26 beta gave me the same initialization error.  (I disabled Bitdefender during both the app installation and the helper tool installation.)

@dmcrobbie 

thanks for the test, this is a frustrating issue. If you have time, can you do a "clean install" of a second system? this will tell us if there is a network component to this issue. Just do a second system clean install, install SoftRAID, and restart and see if it launches.

Run Disk Utility

Click + for new volume

Create the new volume, restart in recovery mode, "reinstall MacOS", then point it to the new volume.

This does NOT touch your existing volume in any way. And you can safely delete it any time. It is a "soft" partition, meaning it shares space with your existing volume (just like a folder), and only takes up about 20GB

@softraid-support 

Thanks, that worked fine.  I was able to install 7.0.1 without errors.

Is there any way I can avoid reinstalling MacOS on my primary volume?  Or, if I need to do this, is there a way to retain my apps & settings from a backup or clone?  I back up to the cloud — but I could create a Time Machine or clone backup.  

@dmcrobbie 

Question: do you have Clean My Mac installed? that may cause this.

Its something installed in your system, you just proved it. Now its a matter of figuring what.

@softraid-support 

I uninstalled Clean My Mac X, but SoftRAID 7.0.1 still won't fully launch without the initialization error.  I also uninstalled or disabled full disk access for Drive Genius and MacCleaner Pro (which does the same thing as Clean My Mac).

For each test I disabled Bitdefender and restarted the Mac, but didn't reinstall SoftRAID 7.0.1; I just relaunched it.

Could there be another app that's conflicting with SoftRAID?  Here are screenshots of my Login Items and apps with Full Disk Access.

@dmcrobbie 

Is the driver quarantined?

xattr /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

I think you checked before, but check again. I had a couple people tell me Clean My Mac has some kind of "optimization" that when you run it, you need to allow SoftRAID in it. I don't know the interface, so am paraphrasing. I don't think Drive Genius has anything to do with this, possible MacCleaner and cetainly Bit Defender has been involved with a few issues.