macOS: persistent home lives at /Volumes/vmix-home/<user> (no mount over /Users)

macOS refuses to mount a volume over /Users (firmlink), and a failing fstab
entry also suppresses the automount. Point NFSHomeDirectory at the automounted
volume instead. Profile: Dock entries need tile-type/file URL; wait for the
wallpaper store before shutting down.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01XsESshRCoBoUVWV9qKURUF

lib/images/macos/README.md

@@ -154,11 +154,13 @@ net, sound, balloon, vsock — QEMU's modern virtio-pci devices work as-is:
   for every `shares.<name>` beyond the first. `vmix run --macos --share DIR`.
   (9p does not automount on macOS; the Linux `-virtfs` path is not used.)
 * **ephemeral OS disk + persistent home**: `generalize { persistHome = true; }`
-  adds `LABEL=vmix-home /Users apfs rw 0 2` to the image's fstab. The host
+  gives the account its home directory on an APFS volume labelled `vmix-home`
-  provides a virtio-blk disk (`macos.homeDisk` in the module, `--home FILE` in
+  (`NFSHomeDirectory = /Volumes/vmix-home/<user>`; macOS refuses mounts over
-  the CLI: qcow2/raw file or zvol) that `formatVolume` formats as APFS
+  `/Users`, which is a firmlink). The host provides a virtio-blk disk
-  `vmix-home` by booting the PE for ~35 s on first use. macOS mounts it at
+  (`macos.homeDisk` in the module, `--home FILE` in the CLI: qcow2/raw file or
-  `/Users` before login, home directories are created there; the OS disk can run
+  zvol) that `formatVolume` formats as APFS `vmix-home` by booting the PE for
+  ~35 s on first use; diskarbitrationd mounts it before login and loginwindow
+  creates the home directory there on first login. The OS disk can then run
   with `snapshot=on` (`disks.os.persist = false`).
 * **SPICE**: `-vga vmware` (or `std`) is kept as the display device — macOS has
   no QXL/virtio-gpu driver; USB redirection channels work as for other guests

lib/images/macos/templates/generalize.nix

@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@
   uuid ? null,
   mac ? null,
   seed ? "${hostname}-${username}",
-  # mount an APFS volume labelled vmix-home (a virtio-blk/AHCI disk the host
+  # keep the user's home on an APFS volume labelled vmix-home (a virtio-blk disk
-  # provides, formatted by the PE on first start) at /Users: ephemeral OS disk,
+  # the host provides, formatted by the PE on first start). macOS refuses mounts
-  # persistent home directories
+  # over /Users (firmlink), so the volume automounts at /Volumes/<label> and the
+  # account's home directory lives there: ephemeral OS disk, persistent home.
   persistHome ? false,
   homeVolumeLabel ? "vmix-home",
   # no desktop widgets for the created user (Sonoma+)
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ in
     ${lib.optionalString (!delayOobeRun) ''
     # --- user account (admin), created directly in the local directory node
     U="${username}"; HOME_DIR="$DATA/Users/$U"
+    ${lib.optionalString persistHome ''HOME_PATH="/Volumes/${homeVolumeLabel}/$U"''}
     if ! D -read "/Local/Default/Users/$U" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
       UID_NEW=$(D -list /Local/Default/Users UniqueID | awk '$2 >= 501 && $2 < 1000 && $2 > m {m = $2} END {print (m ? m + 1 : 501)}')
       D -create "/Local/Default/Users/$U" || pe_fail "dscl create user"
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ in
       D -create "/Local/Default/Users/$U" RealName ${lib.escapeShellArg fullName}
       D -create "/Local/Default/Users/$U" UniqueID "$UID_NEW"
       D -create "/Local/Default/Users/$U" PrimaryGroupID 20
-      D -create "/Local/Default/Users/$U" NFSHomeDirectory "/Users/$U"
+      D -create "/Local/Default/Users/$U" NFSHomeDirectory "${if persistHome then "/Volumes/${homeVolumeLabel}/$U" else "/Users/$U"}"
       if ! D -passwd "/Local/Default/Users/$U" ${lib.escapeShellArg password}; then
         echo "vmix: WARNING: could not set the requested password, using '${tempPassword}'"
         D -passwd "/Local/Default/Users/$U" "${tempPassword}" || pe_fail "dscl passwd"
@@ -132,11 +134,9 @@ in
     pe_plist_set "$KT" keyboardtype.1-1575-0 integer 40
 
     ${lib.optionalString persistHome ''
-    # --- home directories on the host-provided persistent volume (fstab by label;
+    # --- persistent home: the seeded home directory on the Data volume is the
-    # diskarbitrationd mounts it at /Users when a volume named ${homeVolumeLabel} exists)
+    # template loginwindow copies to /Volumes/${homeVolumeLabel}/$U at first login
-    F="$DATA/private/etc/fstab"
+    # (the volume is automounted by diskarbitrationd before the login)
-    grep -q "LABEL=${homeVolumeLabel}" "$F" 2>/dev/null || echo "LABEL=${homeVolumeLabel} /Users apfs rw 0 2" >> "$F"
-    chmod 644 "$F"; chown 0:0 "$F"
     ''}
 
     # --- use the whole (possibly grown) disk

lib/images/macos/templates/profile/default.nix

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ rec {
       { source = desktoppr; name = "desktoppr.pkg"; }
     ];
     bootScript = ''
+      set -x
       [ -n "$CONSOLE_USER" ] || { echo "vmix: profile needs a logged-in user (generalize with autoLogon)"; exit 1; }
       H=$(dscl . -read "/Users/$CONSOLE_USER" NFSHomeDirectory | awk '{print $2}')
       D() { as_user defaults write "$@"; }
@@ -39,11 +40,14 @@ rec {
       mkdir -p "/Library/Desktop Pictures"; cp "$V/wallpaper".* "$W"; chmod 644 "$W"
       installer -pkg "$V/desktoppr.pkg" -target / >/dev/null || echo "vmix: WARNING: desktoppr install failed"
       as_user /usr/local/bin/desktoppr "$W" || echo "vmix: WARNING: could not set the wallpaper"
+      # the wallpaper store is written asynchronously; give it time before the shutdown
+      sleep 15
+      echo "vmix: wallpaper now: $(as_user /usr/local/bin/desktoppr 2>/dev/null)"
       ''}
       ${lib.optionalString (dockApps != null) ''
       D com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array
       ${lib.concatMapStringsSep "\n" (a: ''
-      D com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add "<dict><key>tile-data</key><dict><key>file-data</key><dict><key>_CFURLString</key><string>${a}</string><key>_CFURLStringType</key><integer>0</integer></dict></dict></dict>"
+      D com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add "<dict><key>tile-type</key><string>file-tile</string><key>tile-data</key><dict><key>file-data</key><dict><key>_CFURLString</key><string>file://${a}/</string><key>_CFURLStringType</key><integer>15</integer></dict></dict></dict>"
       '') dockApps}
       ''}
       ${lib.optionalString dockAutohide ''D com.apple.dock autohide -bool true''}
@@ -52,7 +56,7 @@ rec {
         then ''D -g AppleInterfaceStyle Dark''
         else ''as_user defaults delete -g AppleInterfaceStyle 2>/dev/null || true'')}
       as_user killall Dock Finder WindowManager 2>/dev/null || true
-      sleep 3
+      sleep 10
     '';
   };
 }

nixos/vms/submoduleOptions.nix

@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ with lib;
         enable = mkOption {
           type = types.bool;
           default = false;
-          description = "Persistent home volume: a host disk image attached as virtio-blk, formatted APFS with label `label` by the PE on first start. The image must be generalized with persistHome = true (fstab mounts it at /Users), which makes the OS disk safely ephemeral (disks.os.persist = false).";
+          description = "Persistent home volume: a host disk image attached as virtio-blk, formatted APFS with label `label` by the PE on first start. The image must be generalized with persistHome = true (the user's home is /Volumes/<label>/<user>), which makes the OS disk safely ephemeral (disks.os.persist = false).";
         };
         file = mkOption {
           type = types.str;