I am unable to turn on File Sharing on my iMac running macOS Catalina.

Check out the previous post by editor1979 regarding using terminal app to manually start the services via the command line. Worked like a freaking charm for me.

** one thing I've not seen posted and turned out to be important: Do NOT use the same single drive for Time Machine backups on the host computer and for "sharing". i.e. use two drive, one for Time Machine backups of the host computer, and a second drive on the host computer to share with other machines for them to use as Time Machine backups. Trying to get both to use the same Time Machine formatted drive apparently causes massive problems....though I've not seen it posted anywhere nor does the software warn.

this works with any of the control panel sharing items. For example, I couldn't get SSH to work either, so I modified the command to reset ssh as well: sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist

Very helpful, thanks @editor1979!

Exactly the same problem here. I turned File Sharing off to remove my shared external USB drive, but when I put the drive back on that computer and tried to activate File Sharing the check box will not activate. It's not grey it simply won't "check". I can turn on SMB and apple file share from the command line but the authentications fail.

Hi Faith

I had the same problem, the Untickable File Sharing Box. I tried checking by setting up a test user account. the file sharing box was untickable in the test user as well. I too used up a lot of Apple's tech support line's time without any resolution to the problem.

After about six hours work and help from my son, we worked out that because my system includes an iMac with a remote SSD boot hard drive, which had not been upgraded to the latest version of Catalina, we could do a work around. By booting from the SSD, I am now able to have one Mac that is capable of file sharing.

It would be useful to know if Apple plan to fix the file sharing issue.

Thanks for your help.

Mark

Yeah I also spent a LOT of time with Apple support. They told me to wipe the drive and re-install from scratch, and NOT to use time machine recovery (set up as new machine) then manually move the files over. Another post stated that this did not work. I believe they mentioned that wiping and re-install worked until the latest security patch was included. Then file sharing broke again?

Add me to the list. Running the latest Catalina on a 2012 File server. Yes, this is my home file server and i cannot turn file sharing on. I turned it off and now when I check the box to turn it back on, nada. I did not make any configuration changes. I rebooted a million times, disconnected all external drives, etc etc etc. No matter what I try, it just won't turn on.

I just tried the command line options, manually enabled the file sharing related LaunchD items and it did seem to work. It makes zero sense that this stopped working through the GUI though. If there's no underlying unix problem, I wonder if it's just a sharing prefs file glitch that could have been solved by removing just the right preferences file.

Greetings Bob Hawkins,

For help setting up and using file sharing on your Mac, follow the guidance found here:

Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support

Take care.

Bug confirmed here:

Cannot check-select-turn on Mac File Sharing on macOS 10.15 Catalina

Cannot check-select-turn on Mac File Shar… - Apple Community

Update: the issue remains in macOS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H2026). This is really FRUSTRATING. Please, contact Apple to fix it:

https://feedbackassistant.apple.com

That sucks - that's exactly what I did - deleted hard drive and started from scratch...

Which Mac are you using? Intel x86- or Apple silicon ARM-based?

FYI, I was able to turn on File Sharing on desktop Mac running Monterey but not MacBook Air running Catalina. It is a Catalina bug.

You are amazing! That is great detective work and thank you for the confirmation. I spent all yesterday on tech support moving up the food chain. Stumped everyone. Has nothing to do with login items, permissions, full disk access, ...the file sharing service just does not check box "on". I can use the command line and launchctl to manually start the smb or apple file service, but authentication fails. I was about to wipe and re-install but it looks like doing so would be a waste of time. Greatly appreciate the work you've done. Thank you!

Thank you thank you! This worked perfectly for me. I was able to get both services up and running and authentication properly resumed. I now have an external drive connected and doing time machine backups of all my family's laptops. Previously I'd just tried the smbd and authentication didn't turn on. Looks like turning on both got me moving. I have not tried clicking off the check mark "File Share".....3rd rule Ain't broke don't fix it.