Big Sur Beta 5 Constant Kernel Panics

Same here. Everything was working perfectly fine with beta 4. I’m able to login, but then I get a kernel panic shortly thereafter and macOS restarts. Installing a fresh copy now.

Similar here. I found that an NFS read request will immediately cause a kernel panic and reboot. I re-installed beta 5 and now in addition Safari crashes at launch. Safari Technology Preview and Chrome do however still work. Additionally Xcode crashes when you display Devices and Simulators.

Additional: The release notes mention there were 2 Beta 5 downloads. A "big"one and a "smaller" one. Oh-crap. I erased my disk and re-installed. Still having the Safari crash at launch, nfs now works, and I'm downloading the beta 5 Xcode again.

I also have this same issue. I am able to boot into safe mood and run but the machine is running extremely slow.

I tried installing a fresh copy, as I'm experiencing the same as all of the above. A fresh install did not help.

I’m getting the same here. Kernel panic 30-60secs into boot up. Safe mode seems to be more stable but not a long term solution.

Same issue with my 2019 MacBook Pro 16. Beta 1-4 was solid! Safe mode stays up, but so slow! PRAM reset did not help. Neither did turning off all Spotlight check marks (tried that as it was the highest CPU process before the mac rebooted).

Same issue here. Has anyone found a work-around? Tried re-installing twice - nothing. No issues w/Beta 1-4. Safe mode works but really choppy.

I am having the same issue here. Tried re-installing the OS and does not solve the problem.

Same issue!
Do you have Norton installed?
I have noticed that Norton 360 does not even start. The uninstall process did not complete, so I can't verify if it is still running, but the installer does not run as well - it crashes.

So, after trying a bunch of things, I was able to recover by doing the following:

1. boot recovery (Command-R)and completely erase the drive

2. disconnect any time machine backups

3. restart and do internet recovery (Option-Command-R)

4. install the default OS for your hardware (I ended up with El Capitan, sheesh)

5. work through installing OS updates (for me, Catalina, and then Big Sur) until you are back to Big Sur Beta (it installed 4, luckily)

6. assuming you have a backup (which of course you do, right?), use migration assistant to restore your account(s)

7. Turn off auto update and DON'T update to Beta 5.

Same thing on the MacBook Pro 17 A1707. I have halted the upgrade on the other Macbook.
Do you guys have Norton running?
The installer does not even starts...

Same here. MacBook Pro 16 2019 would boot, then stop during software loading, freeze, fan power surge and cut off from endpoint security kernel panic. Tried reinstall, recovery mode install, and safe mode. No kernel panic in safe mode, but any reinstall would result in same situation. Had to go into recovery, erase my hd, and install Catalina. Never had any problems with Beta 1 - 4.

Same issue here with Big Sur beta 5.

1. Get to login screen and log in.

2. Progress bar get's part of the way and then the Mac book reboots.

3. When trying to log in with safe mode, the reboot happens even faster.

Is anybody at Apple even looking at this? This is pretty embarrassing and frustrating!

Same issue here. BigSur beta 5 is the worst update so far. I will think twice before installing betas on my main machine MBP Touchbar 2016 henceforth.
I have issues with Norton Wifi Privacy ever since i installed Big Sur on my machine, it doesn’t start and it freezes. Even Norton Internet Security is also giving trouble. I have uninstalled both but no luck. Looking for a solution/update so that i am able to restore my macbook without loosing data (without erasing the drive).

The same issue seems to there on public beta 2 also.

Same issue with MBP 13' 2020. Going from developers beta 4 to 5. Kernel Panic during reboot after installation. Safe mode seems to work. Downloaded Public Beta 2 via VM in windows machine. I could start the installation within safe mode. But at the same installation step of beta 5, the installation crashed. Seems PB2 = DB5. Hopefully we can install the new beta 6 via safe mode 😞

Same with iMac 21.5” 2017 4K Retina + external SSD. Could only start in safe mode. Otherwise the computer is dead.

Same problem here.

• ---MBP 16" 2019

What seems to solve it for me :

"Safe Mode"
Open terminal> run "brew doctor"
Your output should provide you with enough information.

for me the problems were:
1)broken symlinks with python library , solved by removing symlinks then run "brew link python"
2) run "brew cleanup"
3)Xcode 11.6 , removed and installed v12
4) run "softwareupdate --all --install --force"


After this my system seems stable somewhat on beta 5.
Still dealing with the issue that CLT is not supported in this version.

It would be really nice if they released an update since so many people are affected. I put in a ticket in the fb assistant but nothing.

I encountered the same problem, I finally found that it was caused by Symantec, and I solved it with the following method:

1. Reboot into "Recovery mode"

2. Open terminal, execute command "csrctl disable" to disable system integrity protection

3. Reboot into "Safe mode"

4. Open terminal, execute command "systemextensionsctl list", find the symantec extension, then execute command "systemextensionsctl uninstall <teamID> <extensionName>"

5. Reboot into "Normal mode". Everything is OK!

I encountered the same problem as @thorup:

Get to login screen and log in.
Progress bar get's part of the way and then the Mac book reboots.
When trying to log in with safe mode, the reboot happens even faster.

When booting, try holding Option/Alt key so you could choose your partition/disk to be booted. Try choosing your normal Mac disk.
My installation was not smooth (I guess it failed to install the DP 5). After failed installation, when booting, it was choosing the macOS Installer disk instead (as a default one). Therefore, I could not boot the computer up. My progress bar reached 50% every time, and computer restarted once again to enter the credentials (I have FireVault enabled).

Thanks Sqrabs!!
Yes, It is the Symantec which is culprit and has been causing system un-stability issue.

I followed the steps as below:

1. Reboot into Recovery mode
2. Open the Terminal, execute command, csrutil  disable
3. This will disable system integrity protection
4. Reboot into Safe Mode,
5. Open the Terminal, execute command, systemextensionsctl list
6. This command will produce the information regarding system extensions.
7. After this, In my case I executed command, systemextensionsctl uninstall 9PTGMPNXZ2 com.symantec.mes.systemextension
8. This will take a few seconds to uninstall
9. After this you would need to uninstall all the Norton Apps from your system
10. Finally Download RemoveSymantecMacFiles.zip
11. Unzip and run RemoveSymantecMacFiles.command file
12. Restart into Normal mode

After this I have noticed that the issue has been resolved completely. I am able to use my MBP without any difficulty. Please make sure that you do not install Symantec apps again because it may cause system instability issues again.

@RM9981 I followed your method, yet when I boot into normal mode endpointsecurityd is still mysteriously able to attempt to start despite there supposedly being no Symantec files anywhere on the system. I feel like this is going to have to be a fix on Apple's end, just forcibly removing the extension from everyone's system. Kind of like what they did with Zoom around a year ago.

I'm really regretting ever installing Norton now. It's been nothing but problems. I just love it when you uninstall a program extremely thoroughly and it still leaves remnants that cause problems.

(I'm on the public beta by the way, not developer beta)