macOS Sierra (version 10.12) Issues

This webpage will show incompatibilities and issues that users at Iowa State may have with macOS Sierra (version 10.12). Please send incompatibilities and issues you have encountered that will affect the ISU Community to the macosx-admin@iastate.edu mailing list.

Please check back frequently. This page will be updated as incompatibilities and issues are found.

Compatible Macs

macOS Sierra will run on the following Macs:

• 2009 AND LATER

  iMac
  MacBook

• 2010 AND LATER

  MacBook Air
  MacBook Pro
  Mac mini
  Mac Pro

Casper

Casper Admin fails with an error:

The master distribution point (Primary (Software)) could not be mounted.

ITS will tentatively upgrade to Casper 9.93 in October for initial macOS Sierra support and Casper 9.96 (or later) over winter break. Please note with Casper 9.96 support for older OS versions will be going away. JAMF has dropped support for OS X 10.5 and 10.6 and deprecated support for OS X 10.7 and 10.8. JAMF recommends upgrading to OS X 10.9 or later for the best experience. See Deprecations and Removals for more information. Anybody running OS X 10.8 or older should upgrade their Mac to OS X 10.9 or later before ITS upgrades to Casper 9.96 over winter break.

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

Version 3.1.14018 has been verified to install but 3.x versions of the client are End-Of-Life, see End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client Version 3.x. Versions 4.2MR5 and 4.3MR2 are the only versions mentioned to be supported by Cisco for macOS Sierra, see Mac OS Sierra (10.12) Compatibility.

AnyConnect 4.x requires a different license that ISU does not currently have.

Even though Cisco has ended support of AnyConnect 3.x, it still works with macOS Sierra. AnyConnect 3.x is available from vpn.iastate.edu.

Lync for Mac 2011 and Office for Mac

You may see a security prompt when opening an Office app for Mac, see Security prompts for Lync for Mac 2011 and Office for Mac after you upgrade to macOS 10.12 Sierra for more information.

Symantec Endpoint Protection

If you do an in-place upgrade to macOS Sierra with a version of Symantec older than 12.1.6MP6 the OS will disable the kernel extension and display the following error:

The system extension “SymInternetSecurity.kext” is not compatible with this version of OS X and can’t be used.

To avoid this scenario, it is best to upgrade to Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1.6MP6 before doing an in-place upgrade to macOS Sierra, or immediately after upgrading.