Description

Following a recent change I had to add a step to my pipeline to install xcode. I added the following command:

xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS

The problem is this command fails around 40% of the time with the error "Unable to connect to simulator.".

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• Ubuntu Slim
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• macOS 26 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Current agent version: '4.264.2'

Is it regression?

No

Expected behavior

Download succeeds

Actual behavior

##[debug]system.culture=en-US
##[debug]failOnStderr=false
##[debug]workingDirectory=/Users/runner/work/1/s
##[debug]check path : /Users/runner/work/1/s
##[debug]targetType=inline
##[debug]bashEnvValue=undefined
##[debug]script=xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS
Generating script.
##[debug]which 'bash'
##[debug]found: '/bin/bash'
Script contents:
xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS
##[debug]Agent.Version=4.264.2
##[debug]agent.tempDirectory=/Users/runner/work/_temp
##[debug]check path : /Users/runner/work/_temp
========================== Starting Command Output ===========================
##[debug]which '/bin/bash'
##[debug]found: '/bin/bash'
##[debug]/bin/bash arg: /Users/runner/work/_temp/1ec6c739-e376-4c17-8f8b-b8d523db763a.sh
##[debug]exec tool: /bin/bash
##[debug]arguments:
##[debug] /Users/runner/work/_temp/1ec6c739-e376-4c17-8f8b-b8d523db763a.sh
/bin/bash /Users/runner/work/_temp/1ec6c739-e376-4c17-8f8b-b8d523db763a.sh
##[debug]Agent environment resources - Disk: / Available 82337.56 MB out of 332471.96 MB, Memory: Used 9548.00 MB out of 14329.00 MB, CPU: Usage 36.54%
Finding content...
##[debug]Agent environment resources - Disk: / Available 82272.01 MB out of 332471.96 MB, Memory: Used 8546.00 MB out of 14331.00 MB, CPU: Usage 55.22%
##[debug]Agent environment resources - Disk: / Available 82272.01 MB out of 332471.96 MB, Memory: Used 8770.00 MB out of 14330.00 MB, CPU: Usage 50.39%
##[debug]Agent environment resources - Disk: / Available 82272.01 MB out of 332471.96 MB, Memory: Used 8797.00 MB out of 14331.00 MB, CPU: Usage 63.20%
Unable to connect to simulator.

##[debug]Process exited with code 70 and signal null for tool '/bin/bash'
##[debug]STDIO streams have closed and received exit code 70 and signal null for tool '/bin/bash'
##[error]Bash exited with code '70'.
##[debug]Processed: ##vso[task.issue type=error;source=TaskInternal;correlationId=f0c08f71-85c7-42f6-9429-fd5fb1d3ef66;]Bash exited with code '70'.
##[debug]task result: Failed
##[debug]Processed: ##vso[task.complete result=Failed;done=true;]
Finishing: XCode Download (Not required when on macOS26)

Repro steps

- task: Bash@3
  displayName: 'XCode Download (Not required when on macOS26)'
  inputs:
    targetType: 'inline'
    script: |
      xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS