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ProjectLola Author

Level 1

8 points

Finder Crash & iCloud Issue after Big Sur update

Any workarounds on this as every forum I’m tried has not had a firm answer as to how to resolve this. Can’t get any work done!

iMac Pro

Posted on Mar 18, 2021 5:30 AM

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QuickTimeKirk

Level 10

125,971 points

Posted on Mar 18, 2021 7:16 AM

Shut it down and restart while holding down the shift key. You can let go of the key when you see the Apple Logo.

Open Sys Prefs and click the icon with your name on it. Turn off iCloud Drive.

Restart the machine again without the shift key.

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Top-ranking reply

QuickTimeKirk

Level 10

125,971 points

Mar 18, 2021 7:16 AM in response to ProjectLola

Shut it down and restart while holding down the shift key. You can let go of the key when you see the Apple Logo.

Open Sys Prefs and click the icon with your name on it. Turn off iCloud Drive.

Restart the machine again without the shift key.

ProjectLola Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 18, 2021 7:10 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

thx for the quick reply.

2017 iMac 27” 24 GB RAM 1TB

when I try to access the desktop, say to open a folder, I get the spinning beach ball of death. Finder shows:

Desktop (not responsive)

force quit no effect

reinstalled Big Sur - no effect

get error message:

“iCloud Drive/Finder Couldn't communicate with a helper application“

log out of iCloud and back in: no effect

i feel it may be a memory issue as there is only about 135 Gb of HD space.

Not sure how I purge duplicate files to make room when the finder is in this state.

any thoughts?

ProjectLola Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 18, 2021 7:37 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Re: disconnect iCloud Drive,

can you explain the warning dialogue “If you turn off iCloud Drive, all documents stored in iCloud will be removed”

Any danger to these files if they’re working files that would be unfortunate to loose? i.e if I have them backed up on my MacBook, I will still be able to access them again once my iMac is sorted? Sry. Tired and paranoid...

Mar 18, 2021 5:45 AM in response to ProjectLola

Could you explain your issue?

ProjectLola Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 18, 2021 7:33 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Sry. Is there any indication that the computer is in Safe Mode, I restarted holding “shift” but the restart looks the same?

ProjectLola Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 18, 2021 10:48 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

thx for the support. What’s the solution to having iCloud on as a backup? Just use an external drive or drag and drop to iCloud all the time?

Mar 18, 2021 10:54 AM in response to ProjectLola

iCloud is not really a backup solution for desktop machines. It's for files but not huge ones.

Buy an external drive.

Finder Crash & iCloud Issue after Big Sur update