Problem: NVMExpress Macs that have Refind do not see the APFS container and I cannot boot into my mac.
Also, apologies to those who were aware of this solution, but I faced this issue along with several other technicians on the problem and we could not solve this until now.
I will be answering my own question below but this post applies to users who are doing the following with their mac:
- Have disabled SIPS on their device
- Trying to use refind with Mac OS Mojave
- Upgrading from High Sierra HFS to Mojave APFS
- Using refind version 10.4 or 11.4
This post will not apply for macs that do not have:
- A NVMExpress controller. Examples of Macs that do have it are the Mac Models 18,2, and 18,3.
If you install refind using the unix installer onto an NVMExpress machine, it does not automatically install the appropriate driver folder that will allow you to support APFS, leaving you to assume that refind is buggy. Refind ends up not being able to see the APFS container Preboot or Macintosh HD volumes on the refind menu to boot into your Mac OS Mojave System.
If you tried this on a non NVMExpress machine and had High Sierra APFS, you would only see the Macintosh HD volume, which validates that refind works. This is also true if you had Mojave on a non NVMexpress machine, as refind version 11 would easily pick up on both the Preboot and the Macintosh HD Volumes.