Ventura 13.2 File Sharing broken

Seems to me you need to turn on "remote session" ‒ I am not certain what the exact macOS term is in English. The session share opens SSH on port 22. If I understand correctly, SFTP is a derivative of SSH. Usually, one connects by invoking ssh://123.123.123.123 in Terminal. Terminal may also be launched by attempting an SSH connection in Finder. However, if you use "screen sharing", i.e. VNC protocol, the screen sharing option will be déactivated if the remote session option is checked.

For me, it broke on the 13.2.1 security update. I called apple a couple of days ago to report the problem. After doing exhaustive testing, the technical rep. said she'd report it to the developers. I agree we need to stop talking about custom icons. I have none. It also appears this is occurring on Mac Mini M1's? Mine was one of the very first off the line and had bluetooth problems out of the box that one of the early updates corrected. Oddly enough, on this mini, I have never been able to share its screen from another computer. I think there's something up with these M1 mini's. I get the failure to connect error when before, through the finder, the shared volumes would appear after about a second of loading.

Mac Mini M1 16GB/500GB

Seems like I had the same issue and (at least in my case) it was because of the firewall which seems to be very broken in Ventura. I think it is actually the new System Settings ui that just does not work properly. Even turning off the firewall in SS does not turn it off.

Try this in the terminal:

sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --unblockapp /usr/sbin/smbd

I have a solution that worked for me.

- login to host computer using screen sharing

- click "info icon" next to File Sharing on host computer

- click + icon. add desktop folder (or any folder in fact)

- click done

- click “connect as” from other mac and type login credentials (username and password of host)

- that should connect you to the desktop only of the host, now disconnect

- go back into screen sharing and remove desktop from list of folders shared (disconnect users with 0 time if you didn't do so already)

- click “connect as” again from other mac and this should bring up system wide sharing access.

Looks like doing this cycles the preferences blocking you from connecting in the first instance.

I am trying to follow your instructions but a bit confused about step #7, you say "- go back into screen sharing and remove desktop from list of folders shared (disconnect users with 0 time if you didn't do so already)"

Do you mean go back into file sharing? Assuming yes, after I deleted the desktop folder as a choice and log in from another Mac I just get screen sharing again.

What am I doing wrong?

I have the exact same issue. I spoke with apple senior advisors.

They had me do all of the usual crap, Reset the NVRAM, open in safe mode, activate and deactivate file sharing.

Nothing worked.

Their desperation attempt was to have me reinstall the latest OS so I have a "clean copy".

I have three systems, two Mac Pros and an iMac Pro.

I have reinstalled on my Mac Pro and that didn't work. Now I am going reinstall on my other two Macs and see if that fixes the communication issue.

I have a feeling it will not.

Oddly, I updated the other two Macs (Mac Pro and iMac Pro) on Tuesday on 2/28 and my Mac Pro was still on the last version of Ventura and communication was fine.

On 3/1 my Mac Pro updated overnight and once all three were on the same platform that is when the file sharing failed.

I can see the other computers but I can't connect. Sometimes the other computers can see mine and connect but cannot access any of the drives though it can see the files.

This update was not tested and screwed up any of my business productivity and Apple doesn't have an answer for it.

Don't take this wrong - but it seems like we are all just "preaching to the choir" at this point. There have been many suggestions on a fix in several threads in the Apple Support Community but none of them work.

We are in Apple's hands. Mercy Apple, have mercy on us!

Well, Being that I just did a clean reinstall of the OS on all three of my systems and it didn't fix anything...

I guess there's nothing left.

Apple has NO CLUE how to fix this and when I call senior advisors they pretend like it isn't an issue.

I miss Apple under Steve Jobs. We didn't have major glitches like this when updated were released under his leadership.

I just spent over 2 hours on the phone with finally a very helpful Apple Senior Advisor.

We tried various options. One of them included renaming my computers so they could be seen differently on the network. Sadly it did not fix the situation.

The iMac Pro can see specific folders on computers and one external SSD drive, but nothing internal.

The Mac Pros can't see anything.

Thank God he was far more hard working and helpful than my first two advisors.

The 2nd one I got (first one today) was confrontational with me when I dared mention that someone posted about this issue in Reddit. That didn't go over well with him.

But his default response before even considering any other option was...reinstall the OS so you get a clean install.

I knew it wasn't going to work but I did it on all three of my systems.

And I was right....it didn't work.

The guy I got tonight (the 2nd one today and 3rd advisor overall) was VERY helpful, dedicated and hard working.

And he said he is going to bring it to the attention of the engineers to try to alleviate the situation.

This is purely a software issue that came from the latest OS update to Venture 13.2. It also had the same adverse affect on my MacBook Pro.

Apple really hit us with a doozy on this one.

My company's productivity is now all shot to ****.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but I am glad you conversed with Apple techies. I did the same about a month ago, but left it there. I am certain that Apple is more than aware of the situation. They need to deal with it on 2 levels : internally with their engineers to try to find a solution; externally with users like us who are very experienced regarding technology. As time passes, Apple multiplies the layers of security on macOS. That this needs to be done is not Apple's fault, but it is a consequence of the Far West environment that now dominates the internet. The unexpected problems with SMB are certainly the result of an added layer of security. It will take some time to sort it out.

when I dared mention that someone posted about this issue in Reddit. That didn't go over well with him.

I don't get this. Any kind of discussion of bugs, especially crippling SNAFUs like this, is good for support/engineering/Apple. That it happens in the first place and there is no QM on this, has not been caught in the Betas is a big problem, but the discussion – and Reddit from what I can see is very quick and on the ball in this regards – is super-important for catching messes like these.

It is super strange that support, not only Apple, tries to deflect and put you on the defensive instead of handling the problem, owning it and helping you as a paying customer.

Most people here sound like power users that have multiple machines affected, so it got to the core of Apple @work with creative professionals. You do not have these troubles with one MBA, you gave it with MacPros, Studios, iMac/Pros etc. Which is a group of users I'd take rather serious as support. This is not the «did you try a different cable?» crowd. You mentioning Reddit etc is helping him escapalate and understand the problem.

It will take some time to sort it out.

Here is the thing: Nobody has the time. This is not some minor cosmetic bug. This is whole networking workflows breaking down. My whole team has no access to the archive of projects, to the photo- and video-library etc. You can solve some of that trouble via Dropbox, but is a massive pain in the *** when you talk about 32TB data that has become inaccessible.

Small update:

On the two MBPs 13" and 14" I got some kind of sharing back by really copying the files to a new folder by the same name and share that. Very strange workaround that failed in the office but worked with the Notebooks, don't ask me why. SMB3 is the protocol it seems to use according to terminal – and incredibly slow, in the 200-kb/s-range on a WLAN that can easily handle > 50MB/s. I've yet to get above 7MB/s here.

Frankly, stuff like networking and the core filesystem should not break down in a .X-update. Not even in a jump in major versions once a year but sure as heck not with small-ish updates. I would like to be able to trust those to work.

[Edited by Moderator]

What worked for me - remove and re-add the folders you are sharing using settings panel, and make sure the "unknown users" with "custom" permissions is there. (Yes, it sounds horrible to keep this, but when removed my macs don't connect just like all the other comments, so it seems this is required.) No idea what that custom permission is doing, but it does enough magic to get everyone talking again. Ventura 13.2.1. 100% re-creatable problem that goes away with the "custom" permissions...

That's where I am. I run a video production company. We have 8 externals nearly full of video 5 and 4 TB in size each. Hundreds of GB of assets and more coming in almost daily.

The only workaround that we have is to copy some assets to separate drives and then move the individual drives to the other systems, but that hampers contact with centrally stored graphics, music, etc.

I don't know how this can be a known problem for nearly 3 months and Apple engineers still not figure out and release a update to resolve this.