June 11, 2026
Boot gate at the Golden Gate
macOS 27 Beta breaks the ability to boot Asahi Linux
Apple’s new beta made Linux vanish, and the comments instantly went feral
TLDR: Apple’s macOS 27 beta currently hides Asahi Linux from the startup menu, leaving users unable to boot into it even though their data is still there. Commenters are split between calling it another anti-user Apple moment and saying it’s probably just a beta bug, with “Golden Cage” jokes already flying.
Apple’s shiny new macOS 27 beta has landed, and for one very specific crowd, it landed like a brick through a window. The team behind Asahi Linux — a project that lets people run Linux on Apple’s own chips — is warning users to stay far away from the update for now. The Linux install itself isn’t erased, but Apple’s startup screen suddenly stops showing it, which means users can’t boot into it the normal way. Translation for non-nerds: your second operating system is still in the house, but Apple just hid the door.
And oh, the comments. One side instantly reached for the flamethrower. One user called Apple and Qualcomm’s chip worlds a “mine field for Linux,” while another went full policy mode and said the EU should regulate this kind of thing, arguing that if you bought the machine, you should be allowed to install whatever system you want on it. That sparked the biggest tension in the thread: is this Apple locking people out, or just a messy beta accident?
The other camp played defense. A few commenters said, essentially, calm down, noting that Apple has reportedly given small bits of help to the Asahi project before. One even tossed out the joke of the day: “macOS 27 Golden Cage” — a brutal little nickname for Apple’s “Golden Gate” update. So the vibe right now is equal parts outrage, suspicion, and crossed fingers while everyone waits to see whether Apple fixes the bug or turns this into a much bigger fight.
Key Points
- •Asahi Linux warned users not to install the macOS 27 "Golden Gate" beta on systems using Asahi Linux.
- •Under macOS 27 beta, the Asahi Linux partition is still present and data is intact, but the partition is no longer visible for booting.
- •The article attributes the problem to changes Apple made to the boot picker and Startup Disk handling in macOS 27.
- •Asahi Linux filed a bug report with Apple and is awaiting clarification on whether the behavior is a bug or an intentional change.
- •The article also says Linux 7.2 is expected to add boot support for Apple M3 devices, though that support is not yet ready for end users.