MacOS Monterey and Google Drive

Reinstalling Google Drive for Desktop from here seems to have fixed it (for now) : https://support.google.com/drive/answer/7329379#zippy=%2Cdownload-install-google-drive-for-desktop%2Ckeep-files-and-folders-offline%2Copen-google-drive-for-desktop

This is now clearly a Google Drive issue. Something is amiss in the network connection interface. Seems there is a problem with smb connections to localhost. Google Drive works by creating a SMB server on your machine and then it creates a connection back to it on localhost to create the desktop icons. However, if you are running two accounts, you may only be able to get one connected due to dynamic port mapping. I tried this: Under Finder, select "Connect to Server" - enter this: smb://localhost:51000 - You'll now see it on your desktop. But, if you have multiple accounts, you'll only be able to get the last account this way. You can dismount this volume on the desktop, but you'll see the volume still listed in Finder - Go - Go to folder - /Volumes. Don't dismount these as it will shut down Google Drive. This clearly seems like shoddy work by Google to sort out the mounting of the volumes to the connected servers list for inclusion on the desktop.

Recently on M1 Chip MacBook Pro Monterey (V1+V2 updates - awaiting a debug hopefully in V3), the Google Drive app runs as a virtual drive format, so it appears it will continue to unmount (and run as an ejectable drive format) no matter what you try. Even mounting the drive CMD + K on Finder then your smb://localhost/Google Drive/ + location etc, it doesn't read the IP nor mount.

I have even got onto Google tech support to find a solution, debug and I even made bug logs for Google engineers to personally go through. They literally said word for word ...

"We've finished discussing this issue with engineering and they've confirmed that it's the device that's unmounting the drive and not Drive for Desktop. It seems that this issue is not unique with Drive for Desktop but happens with other apps that creates it's own drive as well. If the recent unmounting happened after the device was put to sleep, it would also be the same scenario and we have no way of fixing this"

Funny how they blame the iOS, yet I use DropBox & OneDrive cloud drive solutions alongside Google, yet no unmounting occurs and none of what they explain above happens.

Looks like whoever is running Google cloud storage drives, its best to SOD them off and go to another solution that works.

If anyone has found a fix for this, I'd love to know more about it (plus to send it over to the ever so useless team at Google).

Thanks,

I also miss having the Google Drive icon on my desktop. What I did was to find the Google Drive in Finder. Right click and hit "add to dock". Now it's easily accessible in my dock for any and all of my private or shared Google Drive folders.

You can add Google Drive to your task bar; if you click on the task bar icon, then a classic Google Drive will appear on your desktop. If the server connection goes, you just click on the task bar GD folder again

i uninstalled and re-installed and the same issue is present.

what I have discovered further. is once I activate my font manager if connected servers are selected both icons show.

if its unselected no icons show. I have sent a message to typeface to see if they have any insight.

Here is how I did it on Monterey OS

I took chinazurfluh advice in here to make a local connection "Under Finder, select "Connect to Server" - enter this: smb://localhost:51000"

Then thanks to "JONATHANS BLOG"

in my terminal I typed : mdutil /Volumes/Google\ Drive -i on, when I hit return ,this message popped"/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes/Google Drive:

Indexing enabled. "

and the indexing started. It might take several hours depending on the folder capacity.

Now I can search inside GD inside Finder window .

I tried that with the same result. Google Drive shows in finder but does not mount. If I double-click the app it will mount, but it unmounts when I log off. Also, while mounted it does not show in locations or on my desktop, for me a minor issue. I thought putting it in login items was the work-around and it does work -- once. Then it gets removed from login items. I'm running v54. It is supposed to be fixed in v55. We'll see.

This was the best solution that worked for me. I tried reinstalling also I tried this:

***Just go Finder Preferences / Marc the User Folder. Then go to Finder and open User Directory, there you can find all your Google Drive, just copy and paste on the Desktop.

Perhaps the two things together above is the best solution. Turning on "Show Connected Servers" on the desktop in the finder general preferences. and make sure to paste the google drive folder to your desktop. Instructions above***

The solutions above do not solve this problem. Preferences and General tab do not fix it. Only recently upgraded to Monterey, and consistent on two computers - Mac Pro and MacBook Pro. This seems a Google Drive or permission issue. You can find Google Drive only in /Volumes (in Finder: Go - Go to folder...). Can place it in the dock or on the sidebar, but nothing makes it appear on the Desktop. So, either a Finder glitch or a Google Drive authentication issue. Something more than standard preference dialogues is needed here to fix it.

After nearly two months fighting Google , them telling me my camera drive plugging in was to blame for unmounting and all the most ridiculous excuses under the sun…

Heres the real truth straight from the Google Tech ‘support’ Teams mouth:

”The Drive unmounting after a restart is not something that we can patch out since that's how the app currently works. I can only suggest to submit a product feedback through the app to let our engineering know that users would like to know this.

The next version of the app is aiming to fix the localhost error that you received”

So, everyone having this issue, don’t get excited on a fix and just move away from Google Drive as a cloud drive solution, I’ve tried and tried and they just don’t care nor will solve the unmounting.

No other virtual drive/cloud drive does this, yet they must insist on being the only most annoying one. No thanks, I’ll save my monthly payment to go elsewhere on something that doesn’t cause more frustration than it’s worth.

Ill leave you all to decide what’s Best for you. Good luck 🤞🏻

from Google “The Drive unmounting after a restart is not something that we can patch out since that's how the app currently works. I can only suggest to submit a product feedback through the app to let our engineering know that users would like to know this.

The next version of the app is aiming to fix the localhost error that you received”

Solution: Find a better cloud drive provider Google don’t care and I’ve had enough trying to explain why would any user want this unmount, makes no logical sense whatsoever.

I have a M1 MacBook Pro and a 2013 MacPro and neither one now has the Google drive mounted on the desktop. I can get to it through the finder but there is no mounted drive on either desktop after upgrading to Monterey. I like having the drive mounted on the desktop and miss it.

Same with me; I see it on Finder and not on the Desktop. It also doesn't work on Safari, I can load up the page & see everything on the screen but nothing works when I try to click on it. Restarting seems to help sometimes but is not a viable option going forward. Also tried it on Google Chrome and no issue.

AJ, I did that, but a very weird issue exists. I had Google drive on my older computer and when I got the New MacBook Pro M1 I now have that old Google Drive shown on my Hard Drive under Users but the Google Drive in Finder Sidebar is not that folder. The to Google folders do not seem to sync .... only the Google Drive that appeared in the Finder Sidebar syncs to the google drive online. I can not find anywhere on Finder a drive that matches that Finder Sidebar Google Drive. Are those Google Drive files actually on my hard drive?