Ventura 13.2.1 broke file sharing and related issues

After experimenting I see two bugs connected to File Sharing.

1) Ventura 13.2.1 does not properly handle extended attributes on a shared directory.

2) Macs connecting to a directory with extended attributes shared by Ventura 13.2.1 eventually hang and need to be force-restarted.

As soon as there are extended attributes present on the directory to be shared by Ventura 13.2.1, File Sharing stops working. The connecting Mac (does not need to run Ventura as well, also tested with macOS 12) hangs itself up in an I/O deadlock and unless its network connection is stopped, it will need a forced restart.

Examples:

After adding "Comments" using "Get info" the extended attribute "com.apple.metadata:kMDItemFinderComment" and the connecting machine can connect but hangs after a while. The hangup can be triggered by trying to "Get info" on the mounted share.

After adding a Tag using "Get info" the extended attribute "com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags: is added. Now I can no longer connect, the share is listed but the connecting machine hangs trying to connect. On the machine serving the share I can not even turn off File Sharing, the Sharing preference does not even load. I could load it again after force killing smbd using sudo kill -9.

After adding a custom icon the extended attribute "com.apple.FinderInfo" appears and kills File Sharing in much the same way.

After clearing all extended attributes using xattr -c, sharing works again.

First and foremost, I think what ever happens on a network it should never ever deadlock the file system of any machine ever. Filesystem lockups should never happen. Ever. This is a bad bug imho, regardless of the bug in the Ventura machine serving the share.

Secondly, I do hope that Apple is aware of this issue. The issue is still present in Ventura 13.3 public betas 1 and 2.

As soon as I upgraded to Ventura 13.2.1 I could no longer access files on my Mac laptop from my Mac mini. I was having to go into every file on my laptop and use "info" and set it up so that my Mac mini could access that specific file. Given the number of files I would need to access over time, this was not an acceptable long-term solution. Read most of the posts here, tried them, nothing. Went to Apple support, nothing.

However, I just found this and tried the second option. ...and it worked.

https://www.stratospherix.com/artic...=Re-enable File Sharing,again to re-enable it.

The fix involved going into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Full Disk Access, then turning off smbd (did need to give the pw for my Mac mini), then re-enabled smbd. I then accessed files on the laptop from the Mac mini that I had not yet set up to be specifically accessed, and all files opened with no problems at all. It appears I have access to all the files on the laptop once again.

Good luck!

I did find a solution.

As soon as I upgraded to Ventura 13.2.1 on my Mac mini, I could no longer access files on my Mac laptop from my Mac mini. I was having to go into every file on my laptop and use "info" and then "sharing" and set it up so that my Mac mini could access that specific file. Given the number of files I would need to access over time, this was not an acceptable long-term solution.

I found this and tried the second option. ...and it worked.

https://www.stratospherix.com/articles/fb141019.php#:~:text=Re-enable File Sharing,again to re-enable it.

The fix involved going into System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Full Disk Access on my Mac mini, then turning off smbd (did need to give the pw for my Mac mini), then re-enabled smbd. I then accessed files on the laptop from the Mac mini that I had not yet set up to be specifically accessed, and all files opened with no problems at all. It appears I have access to all the files on the laptop once again.

Good luck!

After several weeks of failed SMB sharing of files on 13.2/13.2.1 Mac mini, I finally succeeded in implementing stable file sharing. The key was eliminating all items previously shared on the mac mini prior to upgrading to Ventura from Monterey. I turned off file sharing, restarted, and added back each shared volume/disk or folder, followed by setting appropriate user access within file sharing settings.

In the case of external disks, under the "get info" window for the disk, I also checked the "ignore ownership" box, while still controlling user access within the file sharing settings.

Hope this provides a relevant fix.

Thank you, gk254! I was able to get the same result by removing my shares from the list in Settings, turning off file sharing, rebooting, and turning file sharing back on. No mystery user in my case. Shares now work normally. I had tried every other suggestion and crazy idea I could find, in every conceivable combination. Turning file sharing on and off, changing folder icons, resetting smb. Nothing worked. Removing the shares from the list before rebooting made all the difference. The changes have survived multiple reboots on both sides. I am cautiously declaring victory.

Ken225, Here is the process:

On the host Mac (the one where the shared folders reside):

1. Go to System Settings, General, Sharing.
2. Where it says "File Sharing", click on the little circle with the "i" in it. That will bring up a list of shared items.
3. Remove all items from the list using the "minus" sign.
4. Close the window by clicking "Done".
5. Toggle File Sharing to "off"
6. Reboot.
7. Go back to File Sharing and toggle "File Sharing" on again.
8. No need to restore items to the shared list; they should appear automatically when they are shared.
9. I rebooted again but not sure that is necessary.
10. If it worked, sharing should now be restored.

Apple now says this is being fixed in the next OS update. Good luck! Let us know if it works.

abromber

I had the problem and spent allot of time with Apple tech support trouble shooting and eliminating issues that could be with the local network and router etc. But when it comes down to it, it is a MAC OS bug regarding local file sharing. Screen sharing works fine. The work around for now is using dropbox sharing instead of local file sharing; the issue with that, if the internet is down, that would not work. So it is a material bug in Apple OS 13.2.1 that is yet to be resolved; and I suspect some issues were starting in early versions of Ventura--

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.

Just installed 13.3. I still had to log in to "connect," which I didn't have to do before Ventura, but I was able to get into a number of files in my MacBook that I have not opened since the change nor set up to be accessed by my Mini.

So I would say that they DID fix it, except for that sign-in requirement, which is a tiny hindrance compared to the massive inconvenience of having to set every single file so I could access it via my Mini.

Ventura 13.3 did it!

File sharing works after the update.

OK, the update took time and the machines booted several times.

What I still will not understand the neglecting of that issue by Apple, although the forums where full of it.

... you can read what has changed with the update: new icons etc. but no mentioning the repair of file sharing.

In my opinion was pretening that that bug doesn't exist or even mentioning it a mean behaviour of Apple.

I'm really disappointed by Apple!

I can say the 13.3 update has fixed, or returned, the abilities of my machines back to where they were. Thank you! Thank you Apple, Mac, engineering, whomever completed the task. You rock! My apologies to the many tech support professionals and bots that I may have offended during these dark times.

Hi Ken225,

We recommend you try the steps in the link below since file sharing on your Mac is not working as expected.

Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support

To perform the recommended troubleshooting steps via the link above, complete the steps in the section titled "Set up file sharing."

1) On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click General  in the sidebar, then click Sharing on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)

2) Turn on File Sharing, then click the Info button  on the right.

3) To select a specific folder to share, click the Add button  at the bottom of the Shared Folders list, locate the folder, select it, then click Add.

The Public folder of each user with an account on your Mac is shared automatically. To prevent a folder from being shared, select it in the Shared Folders list and click the Remove button .

4) Control-click the name of the folder, choose Advanced Options, select desired options, then click OK. 

See Set advanced file sharing options.

5) By default, any user set up on your Mac in Users & Groups settings can connect to your Mac over the network. A user with an administrator account can access your entire Mac.

To give only specific users or groups access to a folder, select the folder in the Shared Folders list, click the Add button  at the bottom of the Users list, then do one of the following:

*Add users or groups from all users of your Mac: Select Users & Groups in the list on the left, select one or more names in the list on the right, then click Select.

*Add users or groups from everyone on your network: Select Network Users or Network Groups in the list on the left, select one or more names in the list on the right, then click Select.

* Add someone from your contacts and create a sharing-only account for them: Select Contacts in the list on the left, select a name in the list on the right, click Select, create a password, then click Create Account.

6) To specify the amount of access for a user, select the user in the Users list, click the pop-up menu next to the user name, then choose one of the following:

*Read & Write: The user can see and copy files to and from the folder.

*Read Only: The user can view the contents of the folder but can’t copy files to it.

*Write Only (Drop Box): The user can copy files to the folder but can’t view its contents.

*No Access: The user can’t see or copy files from the folder.

7) Click Done.

We recommend the steps above because they will show you how to set up file sharing on Mac.

If you’re still experiencing the same issue, then give the steps here a try: Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Performing this step above may help resolve the issue or allow us to isolate the problem further.

If the original problem persists after trying the previous steps, please provide us with specifics on what you see for more help, and we will continue from there.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

Cheers!

Update: smb (file sharing protocol) is definitely broken in 13.2.1. This is now a known bug and it breaks file sharing, because smb is what Apple uses for that. Other file sharing protocols still seem to work. Mac OS 13.2 does not seem to have this problem.

Since there is no way to revert directly from 13.2.1 to 13.2, the only fix is to downgrade to Monterey, and then re-apply your settings, or re-apply the Ventura 13.2 installer and restore your settings from a Time Machine backup if you can. However, the Ventura 13.2 installer is not available from Apple anymore, so this not a simple process and probably not worth it unless file sharing between local computers is essential for you on a daily basis.

The problem seems to be on the host side, not the client side. That is, clients running 13.2.1 can access files on a host Mac running 13.2 but not vice versa. There are some temporary work-arounds that seem to help for some people including those mentioned here, but most apparently fail after a few hours or a restart, so far from ideal. Apple will not officially acknowledge the issue until they have a fix, and we do not know how soon that will be.

Mac-oriented web sites are all covering this, so check there (not here) for a fix.

abromber