Here’s what happened on MacOS Monterey 12.6 when setting up an install flashdrive using balenaEtcher:
- On Step 3 of the flash sequence balenaEtcher asked for a password to access the flash drive.
- I entered my password.
- balenaEtcher went from step 3 to step 2 in the flash sequence. So, fail.
- I did this several times to make sure.
As it turned out balenaEtcher wanted me to use an admin account, not my user password or an admin password. Switching over to my admin account balenaEtcher successfully flashed the target .iso file to the drive.
Following good security hygiene I perform all my work in a user account, not an admin account.
Here’s the issue with all that. balenaEtcher didn’t explicitly tell me what it wanted. This is not what Mac users expect or what any user should expect. MacOS will always ask for a password or an admin password explicitly.
These kind of details must be presented to the user and the user should not be left to guess — most people will walk away and rightfully so because the app does not respect them. This is basic stuff.