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User profile for user: Haffback
Haffback Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Clear Favorite Servers

In Finder -> Go -> Connect to Server... dialogue box, I have 8 Favorite Servers listed. They are all from my job which I retired from 7 years ago. I purchased a new computer since then which I set up using the Migration Assistant in 2018. The favorite server list remained populated with those 8 old servers which I want to delete. The "Clear Recent Servers..." dropdown in the Connect to Server dialogue is grayed out. I have removed these server using the minus sign, but they reappear in the list. I have deleted the associated preference file and the old servers still repopulate the list. I have no access to these old computers any longer. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the cause of these servers "haunting" my Mac running Big Sur's latest update? Some kind of lock file or OS protection mechanism?


Thanks for any ideas,

Larry

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 12, 2021 5:04 PM

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User profile for user: Haffback
Haffback Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Posted on May 13, 2021 12:00 PM

This was absolutely part of the problem. I had not looked at the ~/Library/Favorite folder and the old favorites were listed there. I deleted them and restarted, but they still remained in the Connect to Server... dialogue box. I took the additional step of deleting the ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist folder and restarted again. The list of old servers is gone. The list in ~/Library/Favorites folder was the missing piece of the solution.


Thank you.

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User profile for user: Haffback
Haffback Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

May 13, 2021 12:00 PM in response to Haffback

This was absolutely part of the problem. I had not looked at the ~/Library/Favorite folder and the old favorites were listed there. I deleted them and restarted, but they still remained in the Connect to Server... dialogue box. I took the additional step of deleting the ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist folder and restarted again. The list of old servers is gone. The list in ~/Library/Favorites folder was the missing piece of the solution.


Thank you.

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User profile for user: chris_g1
chris_g1
User level: Community Specialist

May 13, 2021 11:39 AM in response to Haffback

Hi there, Haffback! Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. 


After reviewing your post, it sounds like you are looking for some help removing a handful of Favorite Servers that aren’t going away as expected when you delete them. We definitely understand that having to scroll through too many unwanted servers to find what you want can be a concern and we'd love to help. 


Try these steps to see if it helps:


  1. Open Finder, then click Go.
  2. Hold down the Option key so you can see an entry called Library and click that.
  3. Look for a folder called Favorites and open that.
  4. Delete the server names from there.
  5. Close the Library window and restart your Mac.


Please let us know if you have follow-up questions about this issue, or if the issue remains unresolved. Have a great day!

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Clear Favorite Servers

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