Problem with installation onto USB SSD on Raspberry Pi 3B+ 64-bit

Installation Home Assistant OS
1
  1. I downloaded the HAOS 7.6 image for Raspberry Pi3B 64-bit.
  2. used balenaEtcher on my Windows PC to image it onto a SATA-II 64GB SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure
  3. I connected the USB enclosure to the Pi 3B+, and powered it up
  4. after a while, HaOS came up, and I was able to connect to http://homeassistant.local and create a new account
  5. I then went to Settings / Hardware / Reboot host
  6. at this point, the Pi no longer booted from the USB SSD . It tried to do a network boot.
    This is what I saw when hooking up a monitor :
    20220516_042821
    20220516_0428211920×1440 230 KB

I think there might be wrong with the process that sets up the disk initially. It may have to do with expanding the partition. The process works fine on a microSD card, but it apparently does not work correctly on a USB SSD. The SSD boots only the first time around, and then never again.

Is this a known issue ? Is there a workaround ?