Overview
- Apple's macOS 27 developer beta drops the Apple Filing Protocol client and requires SMBv2 or SMBv3 with at least TLS 1.2, a change that prevents stock AirPort Time Capsule units from working with Time Machine.
- A community GitHub project called TimeCapsuleSMB, created by Microsoft engineer James Chang, installs a Samba 4.24.3 server on Time Capsules so they can present an authenticated SMB3 share that macOS can use for backups.
- TimeCapsuleSMB works over Bonjour and accepts SMB3 connections but has limits: only the fifth‑generation tower auto‑restarts Samba after power loss and older models need a manual activate command to resume backups.
- Switching a Mac to the patched SMB target starts a fresh Time Machine backup chain and there is no published long‑term restore testing for the patch, so users are advised to keep a second backup destination.
- macOS 27 is in developer beta with a public beta expected next month and a September release, and its Apple silicon‑only rollout leaves Intel Macs on macOS 26 as a temporary way to keep using Time Capsule units unchanged.