macOS System Service Using External Drive

[stevemac00]

TL;DR: Is it possible to run channels dvd as a system service (macOS) using an external drive for recording?

ChannelsDVR was running fine on Mini with external drive but I had auto-login enabled and running channels as a user Launch Agent. I want to avoid auto-login so I:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/autodiskmount AutomountDisksWithoutUserLogin -bool true

uninstalled and re-install with --system and rebooted.

However, channels cannot access the external disk until I login. Looking in channels log I see:
2025/05/17 10:58:42.256363 [ERR] Failed to start stream on channel 6197 via TVE-YouTubeTV: TVE: mkdir /Volumes/sdx/channels/Streaming/channels-cache-3810322037: operation not permitted

I imagine that's a permissions issue. Has anyone got channels to work as service on external drive? If so, how?

[chDVRuser]

I don't use a MAC, but could it be these permissions it needs for Removable Volumes?

Mac OS Privacy & Security setting

Why so many entries? looks like its added for every server update, which has to be manually turned on every time an update happens. any way to clear these? should the server clean this after each update? can one entry stay persistant after each update instead of adding a new entry that requires manual toggle? thanks [image]

[JP_aot]

@stevemac00

I imagine that's a permissions issue. Has anyone got channels to work as service on external drive? If so, how?

Yes, it is possible and I have it running. The complication is that you cannot have FileVault enabled on the system volume - see this topic —

https://community.getchannels.com/t/how-to-make-a-mac-mini-reboot-after-power-outage-and-have-channels-work-without-user-login/33528

[stevemac00]

Thanks, I did all of that. It’s only the external drive and I’m thinking it might be because it’s ExFAT. I plan to try a different file system.