Mac OS X Catalina File Sharing Issue

I'm still unable to connect to the laptop sitting on my desk. I have even created a new account, just to try and get to it. Every attempt just causes the dialog window to shake. Have tried the user ID on the MacBookPro, the Apple ID... have restarted, force quit the finder on both. Still unable to see the other drive.

Why is this all of a sudden so difficult?

With Catalina, they made some security changes... I had this problem since upgrading to Catalina... I finally figured it out. Simply uncheck "Share files and Folders using AFP" but leave the "Share files and folders using SMB" checked in the options under file sharing. Everything works now!

Did you try this? I did this on 2 Macs and it worked....

With Catalina, they made some security changes... I had this problem since upgrading to Catalina... This is what worked... Simply uncheck "Share files and Folders using AFP" but leave the "Share files and folders using SMB" checked in the options under file sharing. Everything works now!

Such a simple fix. i have looked all over Google for a week and couldn't get Desktop, Documents, or Downloads directories to show any files through either afp or smb. All other directories and ftp worked Ok. Thanks for this.

I followed himerus solution and it worked, in my case I was trying to access a USB drive plugged to another Mac on my network. I was able to access everything except that particular USB drive.

On the computer with the USB drive plugged I disabled and re enabled file sharing. Then on this other computer I relaunched Finder (option click on Finder)

I got this working by turning file sharing off and then on again. But, only SMB works. AFP still shows empty Desktop, Downloads, and Documents. SMB is very slow, too. I have 2 Macs. The one with the problem is running Catalina. The other one is too old and is still running High Sierra, 10.13.6. I can connect with AFP from Catalina to High Sierra. I can also connect from Catalina to Linux with SMB. I can connect from High Sierra to Linux with SMB and Linux to High Sierra with AFP. My problem is from Linux to Catalina with AFP and from High Sierra to Catalina with AFP. I get 3 empty directories. All other directories are OK. Obviously, this is a Catalina AFP issue. Anyone know if there is a fix in the future or have some other solution?

I like what you said and tried it... Spot on. Relaunching the Finder on my "file consumer" machine did the trick for me. The original problem I had was that I could not browse to a shared machine/device attached to it. I could get to volumes from a third machine, so that proved the Sharing was working (confirmed it made no difference anyway between the original set). It's always the last thing you try!

I had to switch off file sharing in the preferences pane and then switch it back on...the smbd finally got the correct permissions to allow sharing.

so on windows it works but on catalina not working still its plex's fault?

i have attached screen of network(show advanced) and dont see what you have mentioned.

This fixed it for me as well, although I needed a reboot afterward. Everything is working again. Thanks!

legend, this worked perfectly thanks guys

Followed one persons advice to switch off and on the file sharing permissions, but I also changed the name of computer logging into remotely to a different name. Seems to have done the trick.

Had same problem... Turned file sharing off, and then back on again. Still had issue. Relaunched Finder and I'm back in business! Didn't need to reboot :)

Monsieur, did you try Ctrl-clicking on the Documents file name and selecting Sharing?