SMB File Sharing not working in Ventura

Running with the firewall off not a good idea either.

This is not better than turning off sharing when shutting down - then on when restarting.

The best thing we can do is open a support case and compel Apple to fix this properly.

Running with the firewall off not a good idea either.

Only if you don't know its actual purpose. Hint, it's not to prevent hackers getting into your Mac.

Also, the Application Firewall in macOS only prevents the user from accessing their data, not nefarious intruders.

Your NAT router should be doing that, unless you let them into your local network.

If that is the type of protection you need, then you should learn to configure the packet filter (pf).

A firewall is a network management tool used to isolate devices and users from parts of the network. Only accounting has access to the accounting servers; only HR has access to personnel data, etc.

The application firewall in macOS just lets you allow or block app access to the internet. It will do nothing to protect you if someone is already inside your network and hijacks one of the apps you have allowed access.

If you’ve poked a hole in your router, or you must have sharing services enabled while on a public network, you should be running something more powerful and less glitchy than the app firewall.

This is a great summary, and yes I agree if you're looking for something to prevent users from accessing your network, download something like Little Snitch or Lulu. But I have even disabled my Lulu firewall for now just in case that's what's causing the SMB issue.

I'm not sure why people on this thread are so hesitant of using BatchMod. It's more commonly used than people on this thread are making it out to be. So far the temporary workaround I've posted above has been working. It's been roughly 10 hours of use, and the server hasn't timed out even once.

However the steps I've posted on this thread don't work for alias folders that are connected to a cloud service like OneDrive. For some reason I can't find a way to reset permissions on my OneDrive folder and therefore I can't access it through SMB. So in all honesty this isn't a long term solution. Apple needs to fix this asap. And I can completely understand why people are hesitant.

I've also noticed major issues with WindowServer. Ever since the 13.2 update, the SMB connection causes WindowServer to crash relentlessly. You can verify this by opening up Activity Monitor. People on other forums have mentioned that this too might be one of the root causes. But when I spoke to the Sr. Rep at Apple this morning, she stated that the engineers are saying it's surely the Network Firewall that's causing the hang up.

If anyone else gets news, please update this thread. I've escalated this to the highest point at Apple, and I'm expecting someone from the OS engineering team to call me within 3-4 business days.

Ventura 13.2 is an epic fail. 434mb file transfer from my M1 MBP to my Windows desktop taking over 30 minutes. Upload to Onedrive less than a minute as workaround to download on my Windows Desktop. I'm going to install Win 11 on my MBP and just use this moving forward. Not even an automated email response from apple after logging a bug report to say they are at least investigating the myriad of issues. A colossal fail in my mind!

Same problem here. M1Ultra Studio and all the different iMacs/iMacPros/Studios in the office can't access a 48 TB archive we work with that is DAS to my Studio via TB anymore. Way to go. Turning off Filesharing, rebooting and turning it back on works for a couple of hours and then we're back to computers crashing as soon as they try to access folders in the Archive. SMB and directly going to folders via network do not work. No custom icons that I know of (maybe the green/red etc flags also are metadata...? But we actively use them for the status of files and have quite a lot of these flags...), no firewall. Backblaze installed (newest version), but their support does not seem to be aware of any problem. Same problem with two M1 MacBooks, even in SafeMode. Definitely seems to be a massive SNAFU in 13.2. Really getting Windows-Vista-vibes here, where you were afraid to update (and thus changed a whole system to Apple in the end). Let's hope for a superquick patch, as this is not an annoyance, this is really keeping us from doing our work.

More information and more anguish.

A few pages back I reported that despite macOS clients not having a connection for more than a few seconds, that my Apple TV the Infuse app, which plays content using a standard SMB connection with a host mac, was playing without issue for more than a week since no mac could connect.

I thought the bug could be in the client, and that for some reason the Apple TV as a client was fine.

Well today when I was looking at Sharing permissions, I noticed that the volume that the Apple TV connects to has some how unchecked "Shared" and didnt even appear in the shared items list. Yet it maintained a connection and was streaming to the shared volume all week.

Stupidly I check the 'Shared' checkbox on, it appeared in the shared list as it should....

But now the Apple TV will not maintain a file sharing connection to the mac server and I cannot play any of my movie or music files. It is broken now as well.

But why did it connect and play perfectly as it did before the upgrade, until I checked the shared checkbox on??? Its almost like it kept working settings from before I upgraded the macOS and used those for the last week flawlessly, but now that I have made a change, the stored settings have been updated/corrupted to the new broken configuration that the macs have suffered from all week.

I felt a sense of deja vu, as I remembered that the serving and client Macs I updated a week ago did actually work fine for a couple of hours before I went to bed, then the next day stopped working. But I haven't been able to connect for more than a few seconds since. Were the Macs actually working off remembered settings from before the upgrade, like the Apple TV? until something forced them to retrieve new corrupt settings installed by the OS update?

And for the record, no custom items anywhere and no Firewall ever as I used a router and don't directly connect to the internet.

Doubly upset.

Just updating this thread:

I've been using the Network Firewall/Batchmod work around now for three days and the server has been very steady. I haven't had any cutouts, and in some ways it even feels faster than before.

Has anyone who has experience with Batchmod had a chance to reproduce? Apple still hasn't gotten back to me regarding the SMB issues.

Is this workaround reversible post a fix from apple? I am concerned about messing with permissions etc as sometimes permissions can be a real pain (talking from my experience with Windows).

I have turned off my M1 Mini until this has been resolved as I can't access my NAS or USB drives properly

My case was supposedly escalated, and I was told the senior advisor owning the case is required to check for updates three times a day but I haven't heard anything since 1FEB.

Until Apple fixes whatever is going on with network file sharing in Ventura I set up my own NAS on an old pc and it's worked flawlessly so far, in case anyone is looking for a solution the mean time there are many NAS solutions out there you can run on a variety of hardware. Do a little searching for home has software or open source nas and you will find many options.

Or buy a Synology, or QNAP NAS box if you need something ready to use without building it yourself, but this will be more expensive as the boxes run several hundred dollars and you may need to buy hard disks to populate a Synology or QNAP appliance.

Meanwhile Macos 13.2!

Have the same 2 problems since 13.2 upgrade (access problem plus weird temp extension folder).

It seams that Apple support has no idea about the access problem. For the second problem (temp files/folders) I wrote a delete script, triggered every hour by the crontab. Not elegant, but it works.

Apple asked me for a third round of data diagnostic from my computer. I gave up on escalating, doesn't seem like they're getting anywhere. My work around with Batchmod has been working for me, but I'm running an extremely vulnerable configuration right now. Maybe @danielmcross has had better luck

So my local support / friend wants me to “replace” smb by using this:

https://www.tweaking4all.com/software/macosx-software/connectmenow-v4/

But my setup is very precarious so I’ve been avoiding changes and basically lurking for a solution until now! I think next week I’ll have no choice but to try it.

This solution of turning off File Sharing, Rebooting, then Re-enabling File Sharing does not work for me. I've tried it over and over and it does not work. It doesn't even ask me to login anymore. It simply says loading for a second and then it hangs.

I set up a small NAS as a test case and access to it has been entirely stable.

As I have had no updates or contact from Apple on my escalation I am waiting on Apple.

Putting more time and effort into building a higher capacity NAS because I don't see anything so far from Apple to indicate they are going to fix whatever this issue is any time soon.

I am quite irritated to have spent the money on a M1 Mini to use as a file server only to find Apple somehow broke something as simple and universal as network file sharing.