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4 disks called "Creedence Cryptex" appeared on my desktop

After upgrading to Sequoia, I noticed that there are 4 new volume disks on my desktop. They all have the exact same name: "Creedence11M6270.SECUREPKITRUSTSTOREASSETS_SECUREPKITRUSTSTORE_Cryptex", are all the same size/ have the same files, and are APFS format. Can I delete these files? or the duplicates and leave one? Screenshot attached.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Oct 2, 2024 8:27 AM

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Posted on Oct 8, 2024 8:38 AM

One of our customers has this issue too, currently in the process of troubleshooting it and so far managed to get rid of the dmg from mounting. Now in the process of figuring out what the source is.


I recommend using this process to figure out which app(s) is/are causing this


Go to your login items (launch daemons) and literally turn off everything that has a slider in the list and once you've done that reboot your Mac. You'll notice that it won't come up anymore.


After that try turning on a handfull of startup apps every time to narrow down which app(s) are causing this to come up.


This will help you find out the reason, since only 1 person is affected from our customer I have asked that person to perform these steps as he's a local admin on his Mac.



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 8, 2024 8:38 AM in response to laurswan1

One of our customers has this issue too, currently in the process of troubleshooting it and so far managed to get rid of the dmg from mounting. Now in the process of figuring out what the source is.


I recommend using this process to figure out which app(s) is/are causing this


Go to your login items (launch daemons) and literally turn off everything that has a slider in the list and once you've done that reboot your Mac. You'll notice that it won't come up anymore.


After that try turning on a handfull of startup apps every time to narrow down which app(s) are causing this to come up.


This will help you find out the reason, since only 1 person is affected from our customer I have asked that person to perform these steps as he's a local admin on his Mac.



Oct 2, 2024 10:34 AM in response to laurswan1

They are part of the operating system. You won't be able to delete them. You can try dragging the desktop disk imager to the Trash. Hopefully that will unmount it.


I don't know why they are showing up on your desktop. The most likely explanation is some kind of 3rd party system modification app. Such things are extremely popular and extremely problematic.

Nov 4, 2024 8:15 AM in response to laurswan1

I may have discovered the complete resolution: You will need two External drives ( one of the backup and the other that you ultimately want to boot from as your daily driver).


  1. Create a backup
  2. Then from the Mac you want to run Sequoia from an external TB or USB enclosure, Boot into Internet Recovery mode Command + R upon start up
  3. Open Disc Utility
  4. Select the the External drive that you want to boot from with Sequoia and format it
  5. Right Click on this newly formatted drive and Choose Restore
  6. You will have options to select from Discs, choose the External drive that you performed the backup to
  7. Once Restore has completed, select the Restored Volumes and provide a Unique name
  8. Quit out of Disc Utility
  9. Then Select Re-Install Sequoia
  10. After successful upgrade to Sequoia your External drive is now ready for one last step
  11. Open Settings and select Privacy & Security/Local Networks
  12. Turn off any previous Applications that are trying to find and communicate with devices on your local network.

Nov 1, 2024 10:03 AM in response to laurswan1

I have an Intel 2018 Mac Mini with Sequoia 15.1 installed as well as an 2020 M2 Macbook Air, the only difference in the directories is a .Assest directory on the M2 Macbook that does not mount this "Creedence Cryptex" disk image. Though on my Intel Mac mini it only show up in Disk Utility and not on the desktop or in the File menu as mounted when booted from an external thunderbolt 4 NVMe drive but the external drive on the Intel Mac mini does not have this behavior. This could be a result of booting from an External disk.


M2:



Intel Booted via external Thunderbolt 4 M.2 NVmE drive:



Intel Booted via internal disk:


Nov 1, 2024 5:28 PM in response to laurswan1

Having the APFS Volume Creedence11M6270.SEC something appearing too in diskutil list (terminal) since I installed a bigger NVMe (WD Black SN850x 2 TB) in my external Thunderbolt Acasis enclosure.


Fortunately, unlike you, it doesn't mount on the desktop. Looks related to the TB enclosure???


Sequoia 15.1 on a 2018 Intel MacMini BTW.


***Ah, obviously there too in Disk Utility (GUI) as an external APFS physical storage...

Nov 4, 2024 8:31 AM in response to ichibanmugen

Whoever is reading, I have already provided the steps to fix it above.


The issue is certain legacy apps are causing it. So each person's use case will be different, start by turning off ALL the launchdaemons and reboot. You'll notice there won't be any cryptex disks on the desktop after a reboot.


This is a method of troubleshooting and to find the culprit.


In our customers case the reason was an old version of bitdefender...

Nov 4, 2024 1:23 PM in response to ichibanmugen

Unfortunately, after sliding all of them off and rebooting, the cryptex volume still appears in Disk Utility...


Apart being annoying because it's there, it doesn't make any harm so, not sure I will follow the full procedure mentioned by @Todd G. Myers. Also, as I still have Ventura on my internal, I probably can't use Recovery to reinstall Sequoia on my external TB enclosure...

4 disks called "Creedence Cryptex" appeared on my desktop

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