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User profile for user: aaronfromconifer
aaronfromconifer Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Default browser selection completely broken after Monterey 12.5 upgrade

After upgrading to macOS Monterey 12.5, default browser registration and selection is completely broken.


Symptoms:


  • System Preferences > General only lists Safari, Brave Browser, and Wavebox.
  • Registering a new default browser from within Firefox or Chrome brings up the correct "Use Chrome" or "Use Firefox" system dialog box, and Firefox even reports it is my default browser. But neither browser gets listed in System Preferences > General.
  • Even if I do select Brave Browser as my default browser, opening a URL from any app (like Slack or Discord) opens the URL in Safari, not Brave.


In other words, my system is now locked to Safari as a default browser and I cannot find any way to change it.


Is there any way to force a browser to register with the OS via the command line? Or is my best bet to just wipe and reinstall Monterey clean?


I'm on a Core i9 16-inch MacBook Pro, 2019.


MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 2, 2022 11:47 AM

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User profile for user: aaronfromconifer
aaronfromconifer Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Posted on Aug 2, 2022 2:31 PM

Rebuilding Launch Services did the trick. In case anyone else comes across this, it's these Terminal commands:


/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user


(that one takes a while, then)


killall Finder
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User profile for user: aaronfromconifer
aaronfromconifer Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Aug 2, 2022 2:31 PM in response to dialabrain

Rebuilding Launch Services did the trick. In case anyone else comes across this, it's these Terminal commands:


/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user


(that one takes a while, then)


killall Finder
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User profile for user: dialabrain
dialabrain
User level: Level 10
122,651 points

Aug 2, 2022 12:05 PM in response to aaronfromconifer

Before you go to the trouble of reinstalling Monterey, a couple things you can try is…

Boot into Safe Mode then restart normally: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

You can also try rebuilding Launch Services. I don't have the method handy but I'm sure you can do a search for it.


In any case, your problem is local to your machine.


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Default browser selection completely broken after Monterey 12.5 upgrade

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