iCloud Drive folder is not syncing on my new M1 MacBook Air.

Some progress...

I have noticed that the first time I enable iCloud, iCloud Drive doesn't have the "Options..." button

But if I log out and in again or restart it shows up:

By default "Desktop & Documents Folders" isn't checked:

That is enabled on my other MacBooks. I never bothered to check it, because I figured it would only add to sync time and was of no use until iCloud Drive started working.

Now I actually tried enabling "Desktop & Document Folders". Then I disabled iCloud Drive and enabled it again. For whatever reason, files started to appear.

On the older Intel machines, booth on Catalina and Big Sur, I think "Desktop & Documents Folders" was enabled by default when creating new test accounts.

I had the same issue with iCloud Drive feature on my new MacBook Air laptop (M1, 2020), macOS Big Sur, Version 11.2.3. iCloud Drive on the laptop didn’t sync files with iCloud Drive on the iCloud.com (web). I’ve got into this situation after my old MacBook Air laptop (2013) was damaged by the water spill and cannot be accessed any more. When the new laptop (M1, 2020) has arrived it was activated with the same credentials (Admin UID/PWD and AppleID/AppleID PWD) as the user on the 2013 laptop. iCloud Drive feature on (M1, 2020) laptop worked fine for Contacts, e-mails, Notes, Photos, iMessages, etc., but it didn’t work for the  iCloud Drive files. The complete new MacOS re-installation on (M1, 2020) didn’t help. The consecutive upgrades from Version 11.2.1 to 11.2.2 to 11.2.3 didn’t help either. I created a new Admin User and new AppleID account on the (M1,2020) laptop and iCloud Drive feature started to working as designed. However, the prospect of moving the files, Contacts, Photos, etc. from the original account to the new one was not encouraging. In addition, I would have to re-assign my iPhone and iPad registered with the original account to the new account and it would require re-installation of all none-default apps on those devices. So, I tried another scenario to fix iCloud Drive synchronization feature. I have changed the Admin PWD and AppleID PWD for the original user on (M1,2020) laptop. As a result the iCloud Drive feature immediately started to working as designed.

My recommendation for the Apple Customer Support (I worked with two Senior Apple Support Advisers) would be to try to changing Admin PWD and AppleID PWD for all scenarios when iCloud Drive sync feature is not working. For the Apple Software Engineering I would recommend to take a look at the new laptop activation scenarios when the user is entering the same credentials for the new laptop as they were established for the old laptop on the same account. The Migration Assistant (Finder->Application->Utilities->Migration Assistant) functionality might be also affected. Thanks for the hunch to DiZoE user from this discussion board https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252081633. 

[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]

I'm going to add my voice to this issue because mine won't sync either. Same Apple ID, and just like you guys it still works on my intel iMac and 15" MBP. However, because I have trusted iCloud with my production files I backed all the iCloud data up in 3 places prior to this journey. I remember the days of cryptic messages like "Do you really want to turn off iCloud, if so, do you want to download them to this Mac? Since to this day I have never known whether that means the files in the cloud would be deleted, I have always backed up, closed my eyes and pushed the button.

I'm not so trustworthy with M1. My Apple ID account sees the new computer, but iCloud doesn't have it in the settings where it shows devices using iCloud. This is a serious issue. And it's the reason I knew this M1 was $2K test machine and might actually never become a serious production machine. I'm playing with it in hopes that when the 16" flamethrowers come out, the will have worked out all the bugs. This is a seriously big bug. I am constantly defending iCloud. Probably not going to do that anymore, especially since multiple help sessions don't seem to be solving the problem. I worry about unchecking that iCloud box for the reasons I stated above.

I'll continue to monitor and report back and let's hope we find an answer.

Boy has 2020 really bit the big one. COVID vaccine aside, I feel like Apple is experimenting on me. I've had other bumps in this M1 road. My performance hasn't been as good as I had hoped.

Love to know more about what's happening with you, and I'll go into my issues, which include PS Beta and crash crash crash with the photos app. Ugh.

Creating a new user WORKS!

I had a number of issues, main ones around iCloud syncing, sluggish file handling in Finder (in fact pretty much impossible to use). All in all the first hours with M1 were more of a Microsoft experience than an Apple one, browsing for all the problems I encountered instead of enjoying a €1.600 premium product. Don't mess about switching iCloud on/off and certainly don't risk reinstalling OS before you've tried this. Everything synced as expected with the new user (deleted the old one) whereas before I did not get iCloud to sync for Contacts, Notes and Safari. And Finder works like a charm now.

Hey Stefan! Do your other devices sync iCloud Drive normally?

Also did the same happen in the new user? If so, I may take some of these steps, and some steps either way/

If Apple thinks your iCloud Drive data is preventing the sync, if you go to iCloud.com/iCloud Drive/Recently Deleted, is there data there? And if so, are you able to delete it from there, restart and try again?

I’d also even check the Trash on your Mac, and make sure to empty it, in case iCloud is looking for something that’s not there anymore.

(You can also check your iPhone, or other Apple device).

If the same happened in the new user, I’d probably also try safe boot:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/start-up-your-mac-in-safe-mode-mh21245/mac

And see if it starts to download.

Another good and simple step may be to select:

Apple menu > Force Quit > Finder > Relaunch, See how that affects it.

All of the results of course depends on how much data is stored in iCloud and on your Mac and/or other devices, some can take some time between steps..

Most times I have happened to see this, other data would sync fine, it was more of a conflict with the content on your Mac attempting to connect to iCloud and vice versa, which is why I mention checking Recently Deleted on both.

I’ve also found that disabling iCloud Drive on your Mac, choosing the option to NOT keep a copy, waiting a few minutes or until that process has completed, then disabling ALL internet on your Mac, then re-enabling internet then iCloud Drive is a good step.

Otherwise, you can restart the process:

Open Activity Monitor in:

Finder > Applications > Utilities.

On the CPU tab, search “bird” the hit the “x” on the top left to force quit the process.

I believe you can also still use Terminal, (In the same Utilities folder). Just type:

“Killall bird”

Or you can be more specific, there are a few locations iCloud uses in the ~/Library for this process, mainly Application Support, and Mobile Documents. But you shouldn’t need to specify.

Of course, I always archive my iCloud data before doing anything like that:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204055

Of course you could troubleshoot the network, (Such as connecting to another, or restarting your router, or creating a new network location, and even checking your Firewall settings, or other software you may use), but typically that’s not the case, but can be.

If you’ve already archived your iCloud data, you should be free to take any of those steps, up to and including, after saving your data:

Disabling iCloud Drive, deleting all the contents from iCloud.com, moving the data back from:

Finder > Go > Home > iCloud Drive Archive (Desktop/Documents), back to their original locations, the re-enabling iCloud Drive.

Hope one step works out, hopefully one of the more simple workarounds, (Besides updating of course). Cheers.

Ok, sharing my experiences and solution (thanks @Peterdenb @IdeaManFL)

New Macbook Pro M1 -> did not sync iCloud drive from laptopm to cloud or other way round.

Symptoms:

• iCloud drive not syncing with M1 Laptop,
• can access via browser https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/ on ios devices and previous
• Macbook intel with Big Sur (now traded in)
• iCloud photos, contacts etc -> no problem

What I tried (did not work):

- turn off icloud drive sync off, restarted laptop, turned back on-> no luck

- checked info in terminal "brctl status" and "brctl diagnose"

What I tried with apple support:(did not work)

- same what I did myself

- safe boot 

- created new user with same icloud account

- changed wifi connection to tethered LTE

SOLUTION: What worked for me (again thanks @Peterdenb @IdeaManFL):

- create new user (linked same Apple ID) AND stay connected to power supply (before was not plugged in)

- iCloud Drive sync worked on new account

Hi. I don't think it took hours - potentially up to an hour but I didn't notice specifically. Did you create a new user? If not then you definitely need to do this - it didn't work on the user created by the setup process.

The other action I took was a complete rebuild of Big Sur, although I'm not sure if this was a required step. It might be worthwhile contacting Apple before you do this though to see if they have identified the issue yet. Also, when I rebuilt my laptop I ran into an issue that caused it to fail, so you might need this article - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211983

I had the same problem for almost a week, even Apple were unable to resolve it. However, I was able to resolve it myself by completing the following steps:

1. Create a new user account
2. Log into that user account and set up using iCloud
3. Allow iCloud Photos to sync photos
4. Allow Photos to complete its 'curation' activities (finding favourites, duplicates, etc).

The last step required the laptop to be plugged in, and not in sleep mode (so disable the energy saver). Once this process completed, my files started to appear in Finder - it took overnight for step 4 to complete though.

Hope this helps

Matt

THANK YOU for posting this solution. I've had this problem on my M1 MacBook Air since it arrived a month ago. Apple Support had a case open but were not giving me any feedback.

I'd had the "brctl status" reporting "BROKEN STRUCTURE" all this time.

Last night I:

• Connected the laptop to power
• Created a new user
• Signed in to iCloud as the new user
• Opened Photos
• Turned on iCloud Drive with the Documents and Desktop option on
• In a terminal, ran “caffeinate -s” to keep the system awake
• Left it for 24 hours
• Came back to find iCloud Drive full 😀
• Switched off the Documents and Desktop option
• Deleted the original user
• Renamed my new user to my preferred username

And finally "brctl status" has stopped reporting "BROKEN STRUCTURE". (Photos still thinks it's curating my pictures, but they all seem to be there ...)

I had the same problem after clean installing Big Sur on a Macbook pro 16" and after a week of troubleshooting (and 5 calls with Apple), I finally got iCloud to work thanks to this thread.

As others said here, for some reason Big Sur prioritizes downloading and curating (...) your whole Photo library, then starts downloading your Desktop and Documents iCloud folder. The trick is that your mac will not curate your Photo library unless you keep it plugged & awake.

My problem: I have a 100+ GB Photo library and 100+GB of iCloud Drive, so every time I tried a troubleshooting step with the Apple advisor (check-uncheck the box, create new user, format and reinstall the OS...) the process somehow stopped and it never went to a conclusion.

Solution: after the last resort of Apple support (a new clean install) I followed what people said here, namely

• plug the computer (with its original brick)
• check that documents and desktop are selected in iCloud Drive preferences
• [probably optional] uncheck-check iCloud Drive in preferences
• open Photo
• disable sleeping
• leave it plugged and connected for (in my case) c.a. 36 hours and sit watching Photo curating your library (finding duplicates, gathering favorites, etc)

=> today (day 3) I woke up and Photo said "curation completed" and my 120GB of iCloud Drive finally started downloading.

Jesus that was painful, I hope Apple fixes this bug at some point.

Just got my new MacBook Air 2020 with the M1 chip, running Big Sur, had this iCloud Drive issue and also iCloud Mail not updating in the Mail app. Since I use multiple devices, iPhone 12 + iPad Pro + iMac + MacBook I rely on iCloud to keep my Video and work files available. I had to get it to work and after a couple of hours I did.

1. I initially entered iCloud sign in and having the "Options" tab then show up, like another User above mentioned. iCloud Sign in was "hung" or unresponsive. Result: No luck with iCloud Drive or Mail
2. Signed out of iCloud and Restarted
3. 2nd Sign in to iCloud, activated "Find my Mac" and some folders showed up that were installed by Third Party apps like Artemis, Final Draft etc. But not my folders. Under iCloud preferences: Toggled OFF the "Optimise Mac Storage". Under iCloud Drive>Options>Apps that store data on iCloud>disabled "Documents and Data".
4. Signed out of iCloud. Brought all my devices together and Unlocked all of them.
5. Restart and 3rd Sign In - This time I was asked to enter the Password for my iMac - but it kept rejecting it. After the 3rd rejection, it asked for my iPhone passcode. This too was rejected 3 times. Same with my iPad passcode!
6. Signed out of iCloud and Restarted.
7. Restart and 4th Sign-in to iCloud. This time it asked for my iPhone Passcode and after a short pause accepted it on first try.
8. VOILA! iCloud Drive synced up and iCloud Mail now updated and showing in Mail app.

I'm not sure what changed but maybe try using your other IOS devices and their passcode(s) to sign in and keep Restarting until the MacBook recognises the passcode.

Hth

Hello @thye,

you can log in with either account into your laptop.

Depending on your permissions user2 can see documents of user1 but probably better (safer) to use the Shared user folder when you want to transfer documents etc.

In Finder look under Users, there you should have user1, user2 and shared user folder

It appeared to be shortly afterwards, although I was checking every couple of hours so it might not have been immediate. I seem to recall you had to check the Days tab, and make sure an image like this wasn't appearing (ie. it wasn't just syncing the photos that had to complete):

It might also be worth trying this again after updating to 11.1 if you've not already done so.

Hello,

I've been facing the same problem. Tried to turn iCloud off, restart, then turn it on back again but now it's stuck on the 'Setting up iCloud Drive'.

I hope Apple provides a solution for this soon. My laptop is kinda useless without my iCloud folders and I keep going back to my older laptops just to send files to the new one through Airdrop.

Solved!

I had the same problem with my new MBA M1, I kept trying to log out and back into my iCloud account, and also turning off iCloud Drive the back on again (as well as switching off Desktop & documents Folders) until all of a sudden it started downloading..