Ventura iCloud Desktop sync issue

If it helps anyone. Apple does not support this for unknown reasons, but if you're hanging and iCloud updating, without signing in and out of iCloud or rebooting, open a terminal and run killall bird . This resets the iCloud service. If still hanging force quit finder then killall bird. Took me a few time to get mine to up dated fully. I was told that iCloud does not support over 100GB of data in iCloud. Thats BS.

Should have said this at first but also go into Activity Monitor and make sure there are no services in red. If so force quit them and start the process above.

Apple Lvl 2 support said nothing should ever be ran from the terminal. Thats no how macOS operates. It's a Joke.

Try going to terminal and enter : killall bird, give it a minute if its not syncing then force quit finder then killall bird again. Been working for me. In Finder under iCloud, iCloud Drive shows the status of your sync to verify if killall birds works.

If you have large files it will take some time but little progress can be seen. I had this is with an OVA I download that was 23 GB. Moved it else were since it didn't need to be backed up or on the desktop.

Hey there tedtucker,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. So we understand the issue correctly, files deleted from the Desktop and Documents folder are not being removed from other devices, is that correct?

If so, based on the steps you've gone through, we'd recommend testing the issue in safe mode. This can help to determine if the issue may be caused by some software that has loaded when starting your MacBook.

For steps on how to boot into safe mode, and what to do if the issue does or doesn't occur in safe mode, check out this link here: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

Keep us updated on the results.

Have a great day!

Ventura 13.4 stopped syncing with iCloud… spoke with a mac support tech at Apple :

• turn off Advanced Data Protection (use another device if necessary)
• Sign Out of iCloud on the affected mac
• Restart
• sign into iCloud
• iCloud Drive should eventually start to sync - click its pie graph in a Finder window sidebar for info on progress

MBP14, M1 Pro, MacOS Ventura 13.4.1(c)

Over the weekend, the following worked for me, though after executed in Terminal and rebooted, syncing did not work immediately. I decided to Shut Down, got distracted and put aside for an hour or so, powered up, logged in and Voilà!.. iCloud Desktop syncing worked.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254375000

In Terminal app,

diskutil resetUserPermissions / `id -u`

So was this the fix? .. unsure.. since it could have been a coincidence where iCloud hiccuped and began to work again. But the Apple System Status page showed no problems throughout my 24 hour ordeal.

Folks - Please let rest of us know whether the above worked for you or not.

2018 MBP 15" i9, MacOS Ventura 13.4.1(c)

I've been struggling for over a month trying various things to get iCloud and various apps using it syncing again. After running the diskutil resetUserPermissions / `id -u` command and rebooting, iCloud suddenly started syncing. Photos is still "thinking about syncing" but at least my files are syncing again.

Also try force stop finder. Never had to remove cloud docs. I usually kill finder then bird then finder again. Never member the order.

Multiple Tier-2 "Top Level" support personnel told me that re-imaging will correct the problem and would not work with me until doing so. They were also total against using anything from the command line like "killall bird" and was unsupported by them. After re-imaging and I was told not to use any data from Time Machine, because I was told, it was corrupted from the original install and re-imaged again. I still am having problems. I even pulled down all my information from iCloud and stored it on a NAS after Tier-2 informed me that iCloud should not be used as a file storage / sharing resource. That took quite some time since there is no easy way to just download or backup iCloud with it not working on the MBP. This must be done using iCloud.com. You can not download full files of data, individual files.

I still have a case that's been open for months but can not get an update bc the original owner of the case only has access and have to reach out to them. But they are not responding to emails and support can not forward me to them. So every time my system crashes I added it to the details sent to Apple.

Now after backing up an reorganizing the documents and images, I have reloaded them back to iCloud. Difference being that I removed a lot from my Documents folder. So items I do not use regularly have a special file in iCloud. Desktop has icons / symbolic links but after doing a screen recording which saved automatically to the desktop will cause a hang. ( On a side note, Tier-2 informed me that every file that symbolic link has inside it is being sent to the iCloud, this is incorrect and proved it for them to tell me they have been trained heavily on iCloud ) Hard Eye Roll. I do not get the iCloud error as much but if I am scripting, saved in Documents, I will get a hanged / red process in Application monitor which I force quit, think its bird but not sure. I have it somewhere in notes, but you can see clearly see its red. Then killall bird from CLI, then Force Quit Finder and killall bird again bc I cant remember which way actually corrects it. But you're good. Currently Documents is just under 800MB.

Is anyone also having a problem with macOS randomly shutting down when in use of after closing the lid? I get the shutdown in appropriately error at least 2 times a week. Fan get loud WindowServer eating up all the processes and next morning it might be on or it shut itself down. When the fans kick on if I watch the processes I will eventually get something wrong with the bird Application becoming red. But if I just killall bird it will calm down before shutting off or rebooting.

I too am having this issue with my Mac mini running Ventura. I can see some folders and files but not all of them. I noticed that Desktop & Documents on iCloud drive under Sync this Mac was not on. I turned it on and now I have a Desktop - Mac mini that has some of my missing files & folders but not all of them. Something doesn’t seem right.

I went back to the iCloud and turned on the Desktop & Docs folder. That made a Desktop - Mac mini folder on my desktop. It contained some of my files but not all. I copied everything on the desktop into that folder and now I can access everything on my iPhone & iPad and it updates as I add to that folder. My desktop nice & tidy now too!!!!

update (several hours and another tech support call later) : 'known issue', software engineers working on it, no workaround as yet …and another call to make tomorrow - the UK number is 0800 107 6285

Ventura is reconnected to iCloud Drive, folders and file names are visible, and file modification dates appear correct… however Safari bookmarks have not synced, nor have Notes (in fact there are now no local Notes), and iCloud Drive sync progress indicator stalled again hours ago

The solution to this is to avoid iCloud Drive - apple are flogging off a substandard product to the massive inconvenience of its customers - my interaction with customer support suggests that their hands are tied.

Apple are not committed to iCloud drive, and the obvious solution is an old fashioned external drive, even google drive and dropbox are more reliable.

Pathetic conduct from Apple - I have relied on iCloud Drive for many years, and now have how had to abandon it since upgrading to Mac Studio and Ventura 13.4. What else are they cutting funding to?

2017 MacBook retina 12", MacOS 13.5 now

reset permissions worked for me once - sync resumed for about a week, then stalled again, only occasionally making glacial progress… and completely stopped again about a week ago

nothing helps now - not killall bird, not reset permissions, and especially not the 'senior advisor' who spends all their time training others and rings me maybe once a fortnight to give me more hoops to jump through (sent log files, diagnostic reports), nor the engineers

Hey guys, another me too but a few twists.

I've been having this problem for several weeks but in my case I'm on macOS 12.6.7 because I am on two 2015 MacBook pros.

I had one Mac on 12.2 when I noticed this issue (due to Dropbox and macOS file provider issues which I won't get into). And the other Mac was on 12.6.6. First I saw safari bookmarks were not syncing on both Macs and icloud drive files were not syncing.

If a file was created on iCloud.com they would sync to both my iPhones on iOS 16 and sometimes to the Macs. But any file created on either Mac would not sync upstream. Sometimes I could make it go with kill all bird and the other suggestions made here (sign out of iCloud, delete al files, etc) but they were short term fix only, so not really fixed.

So I went nuclear and reformatted both Macs and installed 12.6.6 with no 3rd party apps whatsoever. At first it seemed normal again but problems quickly came back.

Tried all the cloud sign out tricks again to no avail. Tried different dns, different ISP. Nothing works.

iCal, Photos, Contacts, Mail and notes seem okay, but iCloud Drive and Safari Bookmarks only work correctly on iClooud.com iOS but not on macOS 12.6x

So, it seems it's not Ventura - maybe it's iCloud for macOS in general. File provider issue maybe?

Hi I have new M1 Max MacBook Pro.

The MacBook came with Monterey nut i immediately upgraded to Ventura.

Now it seems that although iCloud and all its registrations are correct (photos, keychain etc. are being synched for example) the iCloud files are not being synched. not downloaded or accessible for the fist time both cloud folders as well as desktop & documents.

I heavily Lely on these being synched. Need Some support fix this.

PS on all my other devices iMAC, MacBook Air, and iPhone the file synch works as it should.

thanks