Sequoia image built on Sequoia host errors when run on Sonoma host

[andrewhamon]

I have built a Sequoia image from scratch on a Sequoia host. When i try to clone it on a Sonoma host, it fails with:

Error: dataCorrupted(Swift.DecodingError.Context(codingPath: [CodingKeys(stringValue: "hardwareModel", intValue: nil)], debugDescription: "", underlyingError: nil))

I've read #883 (comment) and related issues, but I can't seem to find a straight answer: is there a way to run a Sequoia image, built on Sequoia, on a Sonoma host?

It might be worth making a sticky issue explaining what exactly the current limitations are when mixing and matching OS versions.

Sequoia version: 15.1.1
Sonoma version: 14.6.1

[fkorotkov]

Hi @andrewhamon, unfortunately that's the case. We have to use the same hardwareModel for booting which was used for creating of a particular virtual machine. It's unfortunate it's not backward compatible (improving error message in #962).

Sequoia on Sequoia introduced Apple ID login support. For security reasons, Apple made this support to use hardware encryption to work only on a particular host/guest pair. If you move a guest VM to another host, Apple ID will stop working. Our guess this broke running such images on Sonoma.