macOS 26 Beta 1 on MacPro7,1 – WindowServer crash when opening Finder

I’m running macOS 26 Beta 1 (build 25A5279m) on a 2019 Mac Pro (MacPro7,1) with a single 4K display connected via HDMI. Whenever I attempt to launch Finder, WindowServer immediately aborts and the machine reboots.

Crash details:

Process: WindowServer (PID 1441)

Exception: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT) triggered in thread 0 (ws_main_thread)

Termination Reason: Abort trap: 6

Backtrace highlights:

CA::OGL::MetalContext::draw(MTLPrimitiveType, …) hits an internal __assert_rtn in libsystem_c.dylib

Subsequent calls all stem from QuartzCore’s OpenGL/Metal bridge (CA::OGL::render_layers, LayerNode::apply, etc.)

Related threads:

Thread 2 (com.apple.coreanimation.render-server) idle in mach_msg_overwrite

Thread 1 shows AmbientDisplay and ColorSync callbacks running

Hardware/Software:

MacPro7,1 (2019)

macOS 26.0 Beta 1 (25A5279m)

4K monitor via HDMI

System Integrity Protection enabled

What I’ve tried so far:

  • Safe-boot (crash still occurs)

  • Switching display profiles in System Settings → Displays → Color (no effect)

Happy to provide any additional logs or verbose console output. Let me know if there’s any other data that would help diagnose the Metal/OpenGL integration issue in this beta.

macOS 26 Beta 1 on MacPro7,1 – WindowServer crash when opening Finder
 
 
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