macOS Tahoe 26.1 panic timeout: no checkins from watchdogd

I can add—

VFS (Virtual File System): The VFS is a core part of the operating system that manages how your Mac interacts with different storage devices and file formats.

Something for you to chew on—

note for your Mac-Mini unplug all non-essential peripherals when testing

ref: Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac for hardware issues

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

lukmurarc283 wrote:

Is anyone else on MacOS Tahoe 26.1 seeing frequent crashes with this message? I have a mac mini 2024 with the M4 chip. The "Problem Report" window comes up when the machine restarts, and the first few lines are:

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xfffffe003fee25fc): watchdog timeout: no checkins from watchdogd in 184 seconds (631 totalcheckins since monitoring last enabled), shutdown in progress, vfs shutdown not yet started

Debugger message: panic

Memory ID: 0x6

OS release type: User

OS version: 25B78

Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 25.1.0: Mon Oct 20 19:32:56 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.41.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8132

This is just *not* supposed to happen, right? What are the chances this is a pure software issue, and what are the chances it might be related to hardware?

Not enough information—

re: < macOS 26.1 >

[ "vfs shutdown not yet started" indicates your Mac is stuck while trying to shut down or restart, usually because a process is not closing correctly ]

You do not need to post the entire report to the bitter end— but you need to post about 5 time more information

for some more clue and something tangable.

you can add it to the additional txt box— see my annotated reference here:

Seeing the same very very frequently. This is the 10th time I've seen this over the last 3 days since the time I upgraded to Tahoe