Airdrop Crashing Finder (12.6.5)

NOTE: in recent macs, the process is much much easier, as one can simply erase the contents and leave the base system alone. I don't think this can be done with the 2013 Mac Pro, though, so the following are the traditional instructions (it can take a while).

1) I suppose you know how to use Time Machine.

2) Make sure the backup is up to date.

3) Download Monterey from here:

How to download macOS - Apple Support

4) Make a bootable installer on a USB thumb drive

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

5) Start your mac using that installer drive created in step 4.

Choose Disk Utility, select the WHOLE drive, and choose Erase, selecting APFS as the format with GUID Partition Map

6) Quit Disk Utility, and proceed with the installation

7) When asked, elect to migrate "from another mac, drive or Time Machine backup".

8) select your backup drive, and MOST IMPORTANT: check ONLY the user accounts you want to migrate, and NOT applications, settings or other files.

(If you check everything, you just get back to where you started!)

Sorry, I had just read another Etrecheck report and confused your mac with the other one.

AFAIK, the procedure is identical.

Only on more recent models (from around 2018 or 2019 on) can one keep the system and just erase the data - see Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings - Apple Support

I haven't seen this before. Try deleting Finder preferences. Corrupted preference files can cause all sorts of trouble, maybe this is one such case.

In Finder, press Command-Shift-G and paste

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

Drag the file to the trash, and relaunch the Finder.

If the problem persists, there may be other issues. Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

There could be a hardware problem, but before taking it in for service:

1 Make sure to have a backup

2 let's do some more testing: create a new admin user, log out from your account and log in to the new user.

Does Airdrop still cause the Finder to crash in this new user? Does Bluetooth work?

There is a bunch of old stuff in this system.

I can see that this machine has been upgraded in place since 2015.

Now this does not help in case there is a hardware issue, but you could try making a full backup, erase, install and then migrate only the user accounts. This would give you a clean system without any of the cruft accumulated over the years. It is quite common for an old kext or daemon to not work well with a new OS and suddenly cause crashes or weird behavior.

Yes. It may seem like a daunting task, but nothing like it used to be (like when I had to install Excel from 7 floppy disks ... boy, I'm old 😎)