I just updated from Monterey to Ventura 13.3. The Finder doesn't work, there is a spinning wheel possibly relating to opening windows (although I see the normal windows) and Activity Monitor says Finder is not responding. Force quit does not fix it. Rebooting does not fix it. Finder refuses to launch.
Mac mini (M1, 2020)
Thank you, Randall. It's too late to test whether that procedure works. I posted the issue because I didn't see a chat option on the Apple "Support" page, but later I found a link for chat. The Apple Advisor instructed me to open Finder Settings. That seems to have fixed the problem, although windows that were open pre-update disappeared. It does seem like there is a bug in the update process, at least from some versions of Monterey, as if the Finder is looking for a list of windows to open but the list is no longer where the Finder expects to find it, except that I think the windows were already open at the point that the Finder got hung.
The solution given to me was to create a new user admin and sign into my apple user with it. This worked because I back up to ICloud. Otherwise, it would have been disastrous.
Yes, this is what I did, (from the article) and I was very relieved that it worked.
Method 1: From the Dock
Wishing you luck!
Since Apple is not posting a solution here, apparently the best thing to do is to contact their support either via chat or phone. That's what worked for me. Here is a path to get there:
support.apple.com/contact > more products > Mac > Apps & Software > macOS > Continue > scroll down
I've managed to force quit and re-launch but went freeze again.
after try to randomly click whatever, I randomly right clicked the icon in the dock and click "connect to server" (the bottom one in the attached ss) and it start to go back to normal.
after a while it went freeze again when I open a file, and tried the same procedure and click the connect to server, again it back to normal. still not sure if that is really the solution, but it worked so far.
I assume (and wish) there is actually a permanent solution to this.
I can't access the Finder setting because as soon as select "setting" I get the spinning wheel of death. In fact, I get the wheel when attempting to open any file.
My laptop has no such file, and the finder issue is so bad that no app can function correctly.
here's something I found that worked:
csaw wrote:
I just updated from Monterey to Ventura 13.3. The Finder doesn't work, there is a spinning wheel possibly relating to opening windows (although I see the normal windows) and Activity Monitor says Finder is not responding. Force quit does not fix it. Rebooting does not fix it. Finder refuses to launch.
A SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies
Login and test, reboot as normal and test.
After performing a safe boot, if that doesn't resolve the issue, you can delete the file:
/Users/your_user_name_here/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
Restart system....
This will force macOS to create a new one which then replaces the possibly corrupted older plist file.
> How can you do this Randall if Finder is not working?
It would help if Randall would respond to that question, but I think the answer is that you don't need the Finder if you have the Dock. You can use it to open Terminal and then just rm that plist. Right, Randall?
My problems began immediately after installing Ventura 13.4, so I am not sure what to think. This is a time consuming problem.
I can't access finder settings and the finder window is grayed out meaning I don't have access via the sidebar. Pix attached:
My problems began immediately after installing Ventura 13.4, so I am not sure what to think. Thanks anyone who can help. This is a time consuming problem:
I can't access finder settings
the finder window is grayed out meaning I don't have access via the sidebar.
Pix attached:
gwhz, glad you found something that worked. That article tells how to quit the Finder. Is that all you had to do to fix your problem? You may have been dealing with a separate issue, because as I noted in my original post, quitting the Finder and even rebooting was not fixing it.
I am having a similar, I think related issue: Since updating to Ventura my Finder goes crazy two or three times a day. All of my desktop icons except the hard drive just disappear. I have to reboot the Finder to get them back. I've never had this happen before, but since Ventura it now happens multiple times a day.
Is this happening to anyone else?
Finder not responding after update to Ventura
