SMB File Sharing not working in Ventura

I am having sharing issue to in osx Ventura. I try every possible thing, but only thing works is the turning off the firewall.

It seem like it blocking smbd, netbios, launchd, 445 port and many other services. I have turn off the firewall deleted "com.apple.alf.plist" at "/library/preferences/", restart the osx, turn on the firewall and restart the osx. It works after that but than restarting 3rd time it goes back to problem. So I turn it off completely as no solution found internet and waiting for next update. Hopefully apple will solve the issue.

I stupidly updated my Media Server to Ventura.

I have the same issues as everyone else. The fix works but only for a few seconds. Sometimes I can manage to copy a single file then it disconnects. So upset. Please Apple hurry with a fix - I cant watch movies or listen to my music server anymore - after buying a macMini specifically for the task - now a complete waste.

So dismayed.

It didn't work for me and I'm desperate. Everything was fine for me until I upgraded to Ventura 13.2 on all of my 3 Macs (2 iMac 24' M1 and a Macbook Pro M1). Now I can't share files at all. And every solution I find online is this one of turning file sharing off, rebooting, and then back on. But it doesn't work for me. I'm thinking of downgrading to Monterey. I can't believe Apple could release a new OS with such big issues...

It seem everything reloved around firewall at least for me. I just turn off the Sharing and confirm my firewall is turnoff. Then I update the the OSX 13.1 to OSX 13.2. After that I turn on the Sharing and confirm its working fine, but as soon as firewall turn on after 1 min, the problem comes back. So I waited for 6 min and try again with firewall on, but the problem still exist. So i turn off the firewall and restart the machine with Sharing on. It solve my problme.

Final result is = Firewall blocking stuff and problem exsist since launch of the OSX 13

Try turning off the firewall and restarting the computer. Also you can reset the firewall with below steps but you will loose the firewall settings. So if you try reseting the firewall, the save your firewall option setting by writing down the paper the path of software and setting button option.

Reseting firewall

-----------------

Delete "/library/preferences/com.apple.alf.plist" and reboot.

Hi tresinnoctem!

I upgraded directly from Monterey to Ventura 13.1.

With the firewall turned off, admin privileges, and the reboot trick, I got file sharing to work. Uptime is now 27 days.

You mentioned that the reboot trick only works for you for a short time. Is that new with 13.2 or did that trick never work for you?

Hello,

With the firewall off, did you try below steps. If so what was result.

COMMAND

---------

a. sudo -s

b. Put in the password

c. Navigate to below path

PATH = /etc/

d. nano pf.conf

e. copy and paste the below information

# My Custom Firewall Rule

pass in proto tcp from any to any port 445

pass in proto udp from any to any port 445

pass in proto tcp from any to any port 139

pass in proto udp from any to any port 139

pass in proto tcp from any to any port 138

pass in proto udp from any to any port 138

pass in proto tcp from any to any port 137

pass in proto udp from any to any port 137

e. Press control+O (^O WriteOut) O as Orange to save and control+X (^X Exit) to exit.

f. nano NSMB.CONF

g.copy and paste the below

[default]

protocol_vers_map=6

port445=both

or use below port

Port445=normal

h. Press control+O (^O WriteOut) O as Orange to save and control+X (^X Exit) to exit.

I. give full disk access smb

• Using Finder, go to /usr/sbin

• Locate "smbd"

• Launch Settings

• Go to "Security & Privacy"

• Click the tab "Privacy"

• Click on "Full Disk Access"

• Drag and drop "smbd

J. let reboot and check and let me know if solve the problem

This is a recap of how I seem to have resolved my file sharing issue. Maybe it will be useful to others.

1. Under: General > File Sharing and Media Sharing, I switched both OFF on both iMacs, shut down both machines, restarted both, and turned File Sharing and Media Sharing back on.

2. What follows happened exactly the same on both iMacs: 


Under: Media Sharing > under the (i) icon there is the option to turn Home Sharing on. It was on so I turned it off and turned it back on again. This required my Apple ID & Password which I entered. This gave me an endless spinning wheel by the ID. I had to Option-Command-Escape out of System Settings. I went back and tried again and this time it read that Home Sharing has been turned on and the appropriate Family Icon Drive appeared.

3. Under: General > Sharing > Media Sharing > Home Sharing & Share Media with Guests. 


Log on to both computers with the same Administrator ID and Password

4. Under: (Your Name) > Family Sharing, select Users who can have access.

Make sure all have Read & Write Permissions.

5. Under: Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access > SMBD is on.

6. Under: Desktop Menu > Go > Connect To Server, I've saved the functioning path to the other device. Example: smb://(other-mac-name)._smb._tcp.local

I have Energy Saver > Wake up for Network Access Off so, I think that's why the other computer has to be awake to access... but I haven't tested that.

Good luck.

Hi tresinnoctem,

I tried a few things in virtual machines to recreate the bug: It's impossible. When you install Ventura from scratch, file sharing works perfectly. Also when start with 12.1 or 13.0 and then upgrade to 13.2: In all cases file sharing continues to work. So in principle, it works. Therefore, it must be a configuration error why it's not working for us. I still assume the firewall to be turned off so that we can focus on the file sharing issue itself. My Mac mini was an 10.14 Mojave installation and made all updates until 13.1.

Please have a look at this file: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer.plist

(You can open and edit it with Xcode e.g.)

On my Mac mini it's full of parameters of all kind.

But on a clean Ventura 13.2 installation, its almost empty. Only one parameter is present (kerberosPrincipal).

Try to remove all the other parameters from that file and reboot.

Does it work?

Kind regards from Germany

Hey folks, I tried the various suggestions in this thread to no avail, but I did manage to get it working again.

After reading threads here and here, I saw a lot of noise from folks who had success fixing File Sharing after deleting their custom icons on their shared folders and/or drives. I also had custom icons on everything I was sharing, so I removed the custom icons, then followed the standard song-and-dance of disabling File Sharing, restarting, then re-enabling File Sharing, and that fixed it.

It's beyond strange to me that File Sharing could be completely broken by custom icons, but at least there's a work around until Apple fixes the regression. If you also couldn't get it working again from the steps in this thread, double-check to make sure any custom icons are removed as well.