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In 2026, Apple's official documentation on using an external drive as a macOS home folder location has effectively disappeared. Whether quietly retired or simply buried, the guidance is gone — and the underlying risk it once described is very much still present.
Using an external or removable drive as a home folder requires meticulous attention to keep it continuously powered and mounted. If it disconnects at the wrong moment — particularly during a macOS system update — macOS may fail to locate the designated mount point and silently replace it with a freshly initialised local directory, complete with default folders and placeholder documents. Your data isn't gone, but macOS will behave as though it is.
TL;DR – This is an obscure failure mode that can consume hours to diagnose, and it remains unacknowledged in Apple's current support documentation. A test even for the Genius Bar!
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Why this matters more now
External home folders were once a recognised and even encouraged configuration. Apple's own Mac mini Server and many build-to-order Mac Pro models shipped with multiple internal drives — one for the system, one for user data — precisely because separating the OS from home directories was considered good practice. That era is largely over. Apple Silicon Macs have no internal drive expansion, and the current Apple support page covering home folder locations makes no mention of external or alternative drives at all.
The omission is telling. It is reasonable to infer that Apple has quietly stepped back from endorsing the configuration, not because it is impossible, but because the failure mode described in this article — and the support burden it creates — makes it difficult to recommend without significant caveats.
The missing mount point
For users who do rely on external drives or network locations for home folder storage, the core risk is straightforward but easy to overlook: macOS does not gracefully handle a missing mount point at login. Instead of pausing, warning the user, or falling back safely, it may simply create a new local directory at the expected path and proceed as if nothing is wrong.
The result is a login session that appears normal. Default Desktop and Documents folders are present. No error is shown. The user's actual data — still intact on the disconnected drive — is invisible until the problem is diagnosed and the mount point is restored.
A ghost from Unix past
This behaviour will be immediately familiar to anyone who has administered NFS-mounted home directories on SunOS, Solaris, or early Linux environments. A missing network mount at login time could produce exactly the same symptom: a clean, empty home directory conjured up in place of the real one. The underlying Unix model hasn't changed, and neither has the hazard.
Without that background, a user encountering this for the first time has little to go on. There is no alert, no log entry surfaced in a user-facing way, and no recovery prompt. The situation looks, superficially, like catastrophic data loss.
Complicated to fix
The resolution requires logging in under a separate administrator account — which itself assumes one exists and is accessible. From there, the spurious /Volumes/Home directory and its auto-generated subdirectories must be deleted manually. The external drive is then detached, reattached, and the system rebooted.
On restart, /Volumes/Home remounts correctly from the external drive, and login proceeds normally. No data is lost, but the path to that conclusion is neither obvious nor documented in any current Apple support article.
/Volumes/Home showing a freshly created local folder rather than the expected external drive mount point.2026 update: what has changed
The practical landscape has shifted in a few important ways since this issue was first documented:
- Apple Silicon and sealed system volumes. Macs running Apple Silicon use a sealed, read-only system volume by default. This makes the system partition more resilient, but it does nothing to protect a home folder stored on a separately mounted external drive. The risk described here is entirely unaffected by the move to Apple Silicon.
- macOS update behaviour. Incremental system updates under macOS Sequoia and its successors still carry the same hazard. An update that requires a restart will unmount external drives as part of the reboot sequence. If the drive does not remount before the login process checks the home folder path, the failure mode can trigger.
- Disappearing documentation. Apple's support article at support.apple.com/en-gb/102547 covers home folders but no longer references external drives or alternative mount points. This represents a meaningful change from earlier versions of the documentation, which I am sure acknowledged the configuration explicitly but perhaps I imagined it.
- No built-in safeguard has been added. As of 2026, macOS still does not present a warning or recovery option when a home folder mount point is missing at login. Agood reason being that it is unsupported and therefore not a valid test or documentation candidate. The behaviour however remains silent and potentially misleading.
Practical recommendations
If you are running, or considering, a configuration where your home folder lives on an external drive, the following steps reduce — though do not eliminate — the risk:
- Always maintain a separate local administrator account that does not depend on the external drive. This is your recovery path if things go wrong.
- Ensure the external drive is powered and mounted before initiating any macOS update that requires a restart.
- Consider using a bus-powered drive only if the host port reliably supplies power during the reboot cycle — this varies by Mac model and should be tested rather than assumed.
- Periodically verify that
/Volumes/Home(or your configured mount point) is resolving to the external drive and not a local shadow directory. A quick check in Terminal withls -la /Volumes/takes seconds and can catch the problem early. - Maintain a current backup. Time Machine or a third-party equivalent remains essential — not because this failure mode destroys data, but because diagnosing it under pressure is far easier when you know the data is safe.
The configuration is not inherently broken, but it requires the kind of deliberate system administration awareness that Apple's current documentation no longer prompts users to apply. In the absence of that guidance, the burden falls entirely on the user — and the failure, when it occurs, is silent enough to be genuinely alarming.
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What is a warrant canary?
"As of 26 May 2026, we have not received any court orders subject to being kept secret."
A warrant canary is a proactive statement released by a service provider indicating that, as of a specified date, they have not received any secret court orders. If this statement is removed, users can infer that the provider has likely received such an order, thereby compromising their transparency. This method aims to inform users of potential government surveillance without violating legal gag orders. The effectiveness of warrant canaries is a topic of ongoing debate, particularly regarding their legal protections and implications.
In the face of increasing government surveillance concerns, warrant canaries have become a vital aspect of discussions on transparency. However, their legal status remains ambiguous, with some courts yet to clarify whether failing to update a warrant canary constitutes a breach of a gag order.
In the UK, surveillance is governed by the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which superseded earlier legislation. This act includes stringent penalties for unauthorized disclosures regarding secret notices. In the US, the landscape is shaped by the USA PATRIOT Act and the more recent EARN IT Act, both enforcing severe penalties for disclosing the existence of such orders.
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Tipping-off - Investigatory Powers Act 2016, Section 54
(4) A person who makes a disclosure to any other person of anything that they are required by a section 49 notice to keep secret shall be guilty of an offence and liable—
(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine, or to both;
(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both.
Recent developments
In 2026, many tech companies have shifted their approach to warrant canaries. For instance, Proton AG, the organization behind ProtonMail, has made headlines by consistently updating its website as part of its transparency reports whenever there is a notable legal request and notes that a warrant canary is not meaningful under Swiss law.
Warrant canaries in practice
In 2013, Apple made headlines by including a statement in their transparency report that could serve as a warrant canary: “Apple has never received an order under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act.” However, as of 2026, Apple no longer includes such statements, possibly acknowledging that removing a canary could be interpreted as confirmation of a gag order being in effect. Instead, Apple has shifted towards providing detailed statistics on the number and types of governmental requests received, which is a welcome development in terms of user transparency.
Transparency - Government requests - Apple Inc.
The usefulness of warrant canaries in 2026
While warrant canaries represented an innovative approach to transparency a few years ago, their practical utility has diminished. The legal ambiguity surrounding them has led to a decline in industry support. Many companies are now prioritising clearer communication about their data handling practices and government interactions, which may render the concept of warrant canaries less important in the current landscape. Nevertheless, they remain a fascinating relic of the ongoing conversation about privacy, surveillance, and user rights.
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Amazon Fire TV Cube - The ultimate hands-free streaming media player of 2026, featuring enhanced Alexa integration, Wi-Fi 6E, and stunning 4K Ultra HD streaming capabilities.
Fire TV Cube features and functionality
Twice as powerful as Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
- Significantly faster and more powerful than previous models, with advanced processing capabilities.
- Seamless hands-free voice control: just say the command to manage your TV, smart home devices, and more without needing a remote.
- Full compatibility with various satellite set-top boxes and other devices using Alexa's voice commands.
- Multiple connectivity options including HDMI, USB-C for storage expansion, and a dedicated Ethernet port for stable wired connections.
- Now includes the upgraded Alexa Voice Remote Pro, which boasts enhanced TV controls and customizable buttons.
TL:DR – The Fire TV Cube has transformed my streaming experience. Commands like "Alexa, turn on the TV" have become second nature. The device operates flawlessly, although it defaults to the Fire TV input, requiring a manual switch for other devices like cable boxes or Blu-ray players.
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First ever Warzone victory.
I play far too much Call of Duty® Modern_Warfare® and dont play much 'Warzone' but Im a completionist and want to get the ribbons for my officer progression. I'm not great at Warzone and often get wiped out very early on. But this time. Well this time was special. I missed the guy in the window, and my airstrike was off target but it definitely spooked them! And we won. Phew.
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macOS Big Sur and VMware Fusion
It is easy to install macOS Big Sur as a virtual machine in VMware Fusion on a Intel based Mac provided you create a bootable installer from which to install the Mac operating system. Using macOS Big Sur in a virtual machine in VMware Fusion is expressly permitted by the macOS licence agreement provided you are running on Apple hardware and you obtain macOS Big Sur legally from Apple.
It runs beautifully and is perfect for testing and development workloads.
TL:DR — Get VMware Fusion, Install VMware Fusion, download macOS Big Sur from Apple, create a bootable USB of macOS Big Sur and it can be installed in VMware Fusion just perfectly.
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Read more: Install macOS Big Sur in VMware Fusion on a Intel based Mac
As of 2026, many users continue to leverage virtual machines (VMs) to run Windows 11, whether for legacy applications, testing, or development. However, Windows installations often come with preloaded applications—commonly referred to as 'bloatware'—that can clutter your system and consume valuable resources. This article provides a comprehensive guide to effectively removing unnecessary applications from your Windows VM, helping to optimize performance and create a more streamlined user experience.
While Windows 11 has made strides in user experience and performance, the presence of bloatware can still hinder the efficiency of your VM. Removing these unwanted applications is crucial, especially if you are running resource-intensive software. Thankfully, Windows 11 offers robust command-line tools, along with an improved graphical interface, to help you eliminate this bloatware effectively.
TL;DR — Open a command prompt with elevated permissions, run PowerShell, and utilize the dism (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) tool to identify and uninstall any unnecessary apps.
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Step-by-step instructions
- Open a command prompt with administrator permissions
- Run PowerShell
- Get a list of installed apps
- Remove the apps you don't want
- Reboot and enjoy a cleaner Windows environment
- More about DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management)
1. Open a command prompt with administrator permissions
- Click the 'Start' menu.
- Search for 'Command Prompt', right-click it, and select 'Run as administrator.'
2. Run PowerShell
- Click into the Command Prompt window.
- Type powershell and press 'Enter'.
3. Get a list of installed apps
Windows 11 features a command-line tool that simplifies application management. Use the following command to generate a list of provisioned apps:
dism /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | select-string Packagename
The output will display a list of installed packages, which may include a variety of applications that you might not need.
4. Remove the apps you don't want
Identify any applications that are unnecessary for your workflow. For example, if gaming features are not of interest, you may want to remove Xbox-related applications. To uninstall an app, use the command below, replacing Packagename with the actual name of the app:
dism /Online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /Packagename:
Upon completion, you should see a confirmation message indicating the successful removal:
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /Online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /Packagename:Microsoft.XboxApp_48.48.7001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 11.0.22621.1
Image Version: 11.0.22621.1
The operation completed successfully.
5. Reboot and enjoy a cleaner Windows environment
What's changed in 2026?
In 2026, Windows 11 has continued to evolve, focusing on enhancing user experience and performance. Microsoft has introduced a more intuitive app management interface within the Settings menu, allowing users to easily manage installed applications without needing command-line tools. This interface offers centralized access to application settings, making it more user-friendly.
Additionally, Microsoft has expanded its efforts to reduce bloatware on new installations, with more streamlined setups that include fewer unnecessary applications. For power users and those managing VMs, however, command-line tools like DISM still provide essential functionality for precise control over application management.
About DISM - Deployment Image Servicing and Management
The Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool remains a vital component of Windows, enabling users to manage Windows images before deployment. It allows for the installation, uninstallation, configuration, and updating of Windows features, packages, and drivers. While traditionally used for offline images, many DISM commands are also effective on a running operating system like Windows 11.
For more detailed information, refer to Microsoft's official documentation: DISM - Deployment Image Servicing and Management.
Note: While the command-line experience has remained consistent, it continues to be a powerful tool for those familiar with it, enabling effective management of Windows installations.
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Link your Android or iPhone to Windows 10?
As if they had never had any phone business aspirations themselves, Microsoft proclaim that you can link your Android or iPhone to Windows 10 using their 'Your phone' app. Lets try it out in what you might, if you know me, call a 'busman's holiday'*.
In summary, avoid until you can get to Windows 11. 'link' is doing a lot of work in the heading!
The stated functionality is completely different between the two mobile device operating systems.
- Android — manage and respond to recent notifications, see your most recent photos, make and take calls and reply to text messages.
- iOS — send a webpage from your iPhone to your PC.
That is quite a feature gap which is explained opaquely by the very first screen of the app which has a notice saying that to experience full functionality you must be running Android 7.0 or later.
Having now tried pretty hard with Windows 10 Pro x64 version 1909 build 18363.1256 and Android 8.1, 9, 10 and 11 and iOS 12, and iOS 14 I can confidently say this app does not work for me.
The iOS single feature is hardly worth having anyway and forces you to install the Microsoft Edge browser for iOS in what you might be tempted to think is a classic example of a 'bait and switch'. The Android app requires very very invasive permissions given what it needs to accomplish and it needs to be able to run in the background and wants to have you disable certain android system settings like battery management.
A hurdle is that 'Your Phone' on Windows 10 requires very specific WiFi interoperability on your private network. Unless theres an update that improves this I cannot see how end users will be able to adopt this app as it just doesn't function well enough for example in your office, to be relied on.
TL:DR — A basic and clunky app. Really an Edge Browser bait and switch app for iPhone. Could be much more. Handoff for Edge it is not.
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