All files damaged after update to Monterey

Hi side_note_22,

Thanks for your post! We understand that you are seeing an alert that files are "Damaged" when you try to open them and we'd like to help.

If you have not already, restart your Mac and test to see if the issue is replicated:

Shut down or restart your Mac

Next, if the issue is persisting, attempt an NVRAM reset:

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac

If the issue continues to persist after these steps, create a test user and see if the issue continues:

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

Let us know what you find out!

Take care!

I was able to resolve this issue on my machine. I use Avast Premium Security and it was enabled on my previous OS. I believe access was disabled when I updated to Monterey. Once I enabled it to access my files and folders again, everything started working correctly.

In the end I was able to fix it only by doing a clean install of Monterey 12.3.1 (i.e. wiped the disk, re-installed OS) and by migrating all my data back from the last Time Machine backup that I took right before wiping.

Now all is working properly.

It looks like this is a problem with extended attributes. I was able to open the file after removing extended attributes with `xattr`. In terminal, run:

xattr -cr /the-path-to/the/file.pdf

Then try to open it. This will remove extended attributes, so use with care.

The problem has been resolved for me. It was a 2-fold issue. First, my external drive is old and I need to update it. Second, and the larger part to solving the issue was making sure all my apps had full disk access. Adobe helped solve that. Seeing as how I've never had this issue before I am going to assume that perhaps something in the update turned that off and I missed it.

I did it into 3 steps:

• Backup to Time Machine disk (a "last" concluded backup)
• Wiped the disk from recovery boot/disk utility
• Installation from scratch of MacOs, then full restore from Time Machine using "Migration Assistant"

Hope that this can help you :)

I'm having this problem as well since the 12.3.1 update. I can run xattr -cr on a file to get it to open, but any file I touch and most existing files (even ones on a network share) are not able to be opened. This is horrible, Apple!

I had this problem started for me when I upgraded to 12.2.1. It persisted through 12.3.

When I upgraded to 12.3.1, it went away for me but the more I read about this, the update will not always fix it.

Some people have had luck doing a re-install of 12.3.1 (so' I've read).

This appears to have been fixed in Monterey update 12.2.1

I am also experiencing this issue. I have recently updated to 12.2.1 and it does not appear to be fixed. Some cursory reading reveals that his seems to be related to the security setting for "Allow apps downloaded from:" and extended file attributes. I am experiencing it when I double click on a file (any file) to open it using an associated app. These are files that I've had for years and apps that were included in the operating system or are from a well trusted source.

Some of the suggested solutions include setting "Allow apps downloaded from:" to "Anywhere" which seems to conveniently be a setting no longer available in the current OS. The other suggestion is to use "xattr" from a terminal to remove the extended attributes from the file or app in question. On a million files and apps that you already have . . .one at a time . . . uh, no.

Apple needs to fix this. I, like all of you, get the need for security but this makes things border on un-useable. Sure you can still open that old file from the app. But who's going to be happy when they working and absentmindedly do the double click, hit OK to dismiss it then later on empty the trash (securely, of course) and eventually find that they have deleted their file or app that really had nothing wrong with it? Maybe the NSA can get it back for you.

I don't have a solution for you right now, but I have seen the same issue.

Running 12.2, I have copied PDF files from another Mac (also running Monterey, but 12.1). These files open with no issue on the other Mac, however, when I try to open them on the MacBook Pro 2021 with Monterey 12.2, I see errors like "“filename.pdf” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash." This has happened with some but not all the files that were copied in this and also other directories. Additionally, I cannot open the original files when mounting the shared drive via the MacBook Pro 2021 system. Then, I see "“filename.pdf” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should eject the disk".

I have also seen this at the same time with a docx file.

The files are not damaged and can be opened on the original system running Monterey 12.1 with no issue.

This is a critical issue and is not something that should happen with MacOS. There seems to be a cultural problem in the software development cycle at Apple. As they continue to prioritize release of "shiny new" features for every OS update, they are leaving the core system to rot.

Having the same issue. Unbelievably frustrating. The only work around I have found (allowing some continuation of work) is to use a second (unaffected) MacBook pro to download the file(s) I need and then send them through my Adobe Creative Cloud share folder. This somehow removes the unwanted attributes in the files. Not an ideal way to function as a business.

Hi all, 16 inch 2019 MacBook Pro, i'm on Monterey 12.3.1 but nothing works for me...every file is "damaged" and I cannot open it.

I tried to reset NVRAM, to test with a newly created user, nothing. Very frustrating :(

This thread seems to be the only significative resource about this "generalized" problem. How can it be? Could it be that is something related to other aspects of my machine?

With respect to this last point, when trying the "First aid" on MacOS drive I can see strange warnings (sorry, lazily translated from italian)

...
I run S.O.S. on "Macintosh HD" (disk3s1)
The file system is being checked and, if necessary and possible, repaired
The volume was successfully muted.
I run fsck_apfs -y -x / dev / rdisk3s1
I check the superblock of the container.
I check the checkpoint with transaction ID 19269047.
I check the EFI boot record.
I check the space manager.
I check the free queue trees of the space manager.
I check the object map.
I check the structures of the encryption key.
Check the volume / dev / rdisk3s1.
I check the superblock of the APFS volume.
The Macintosh HD volume was formatted by asr (1677.81.1) and the last modification was made by apfs_kext (1934.101.3).
I check the object map.
I check the snapshot metadata tree.
I check the metadata of the snapshot.
Verification snapshot1 of1 (com.apple.os.update-D296176C9F1447A402795DE19045A404D91C61D21590F8E018EB80C949FBD899)
I check the fsroot tree.
I check the file entity tree.
I check the entity reference tree.
I check the space of the object map of the volume.
warning: orphan omap mapping found for oid 1045
warning: volume omap (fs_oid 0x414): 1 orphan mappings found
The volume / dev / rdisk3s1 is damaged and needs to be repaired.
I check the allocated space.
I carry out postponed repairs.
The volume / dev / rdisk3s1 is OK.
The exit code for checking the file system is 0.
...

Do you have any thoughts/suggestions?

Unfortunately I had the very same problem on my work-issues MacBook Pro. Our IT folks replaced my device with one on Monterey 12.2.1 and have told me to defer the upgrade to 12.3.1, which is easier said than done. At this point the prompts to update are intrusive to an extreme, minimizing all other windows about every five minutes to put the update prompt in front of me. It’s a nightmare!

I am having the same trouble after installing the Monterey 12.3.1 update, vexing to say the least. An OS update shouldn't impact my livelihood or anyone else's. Apple, when will this be fixed? Users shouldn't have to NVRAM anything.