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Finder stopped working after macOS 14 update

My MAC book pro system was on 13 latest version. But today I got a software update to 14. But after performing the update, the Finder is not responding at all. all the other app seems to work ok.


Someone please help urgently!


My system is Intel based.


Thanks.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Sep 27, 2023 12:01 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 13, 2023 1:46 AM

Turning off iCloud Drive fixed the problem...


Come on Apple, please fix this and do something on Quality Control and Change Management. This is getting ridiculous

152 replies

Dec 9, 2023 7:09 PM in response to chdsl

Ummmm...no. I don't think you quite understand, chdsl; turning off iCloud Drive is the only option we have if we want to use our Macs. We don't WANT to turn it off, but the Finder is unresponsive and the computer is unusable unless we do.


The update has not fixed the issue. Those of us who need to have our user folders on an external drive MUST change the file system on the external to APFS if we want to turn iCloud Drive back on. I haven't done this yet, but I'm assuming that wolfsk is correct.


I was really hoping Apple would fix the problem because I don't want my external formatted as APFS (which is wonderful for SSDs, but not ideal for HDD), and if I do change it there's no way to change it back. This issue should never have made it into the public release; I cannot believe it hasn't been fixed yet if Apple knows about it. There are a LOT of professionals who have far too much data to squeeze onto the internal SSD and instead use an external drive for their user folders - and those users would likely be using HDDs instead of SSDs for all that data (unless they're rolling in money and can afford RAID arrays of SSDs). My external is 14TB, and I want to keep the HFS+ formatting. I would be very surprised if there weren't a whole lot more users like me. I just can't believe this bug hasn't been squashed.

Dec 2, 2023 7:01 PM in response to bycero

Sonoma 14.1.2 Finder missing issue. This is driving us nuts.


Previous efforts: GeekSquad tune up. Update Sonoma. Clean up desktop on shared MacBook.

When I start up and log in, the screen goes black.

I wait.

Then the Menu bar displays the Safari Menu. No Finder. No Wallpaper. Only Safari has not yet been opened.

No status bar in the top right (wifi, search, date, nothing).

I wait.

Then I click on the top right corner and the status bar pops in.

Still no Finder, no wallpaper, etc.

Then the Dock fills in.

Finder does not respond.

Then finally wallpaper.

Relaunching the Finder in the dock makes the menu bar disappear.

I wait.

I click the menu bar and the Safari menu appears.

I open Safari using the dock (Safari is still not yet open by the way, only shows it as active in the menu bar)

I look for solutions. One says to open the Applications Folder. LOLOL. You need Finder to open a folder.

Then I thought, wait! Let me try the search window. So I searched for "Applications" and the folder was an option, so I clicked on that.

FINALLY I get the Finder to open. And all the desktop shortcuts along with it.

Next time we start up, I will use the search to find the Applications folder. Let's hope that works.

I hope they sort this out. My husband and I are in our 70s and this is not trivial for us.


Jan 30, 2024 11:34 AM in response to bycero

New M3Max MacBook Pro, 128gb memory, 4TB SSD. ($6k plus accessories; $7.2k with tax). Sonoma 14.3 Same issue (finder locks up unless iCloud Drive disabled). Asks for Apple ID repeatedly during setup. Seriously slow startup and shutdown times (Zero observable improvement over my Intel MBPro). Indexing ridiculously slow, and bogs things to a stop when trying to work on simple Word doc while indexing. Zero observable difference in speed to launch apps such as Word, Excel, etc. Apple seems to have completely lost its focus on the basic user experience. Even the ability to retain printer connections or plug in external monitors has become a chore. We can have spectral audio and rainbow news banners and woke films but struggle to get something that "Simply Works". Ahh Steve, where are you when we need you buddy?

Oct 5, 2023 7:12 PM in response to Darell

Yes, give it a ton of time, it will open. After reinstalling the OS ( Sonoma) the issue didn’t get resolved. So I opened a chat session with apple support. He asked me to do whatever we already have discussed above and I had already tried like restarting in safe mode, complete shutdown and restart, removing finder files from the installation folder etc. nothing worked for me. At least 2 hours went by while I was talking to the support person as he was investigating. I didn’t do anything to my system other than just chatting with him. And suddenly the Finder windows popped up on my screen after a long time ( at least 2 hrs after installation). I think on some systems, there are a few other services or Finder services are taking longer to install or initiate.


The system is working fine since then.


Well, when I created another user account on my system same issue came again. I left it there, it was late night and in the morning it was working. So, in my case all that it needed was long time.


I have escalated this issue to Apple but looks like they are thing that it was a local glitch on my system that caused the issue. But it looks like many are facing the same.

Oct 28, 2023 12:27 AM in response to bycero

I had the same issue. However, I am on M1 MacBook Pro. This is what worked for me:


  1. Disabled iCloud Sync: Settings -> Apple ID (Your username/persona on the very top) -> In the section "Apps using iCloud", iCloud Drive would be showing 'On'. Click on iCloud Drive, a popup will open. Toggle Off both the toggles in the popup and click 'Done'. Click 'Ok' or 'Agree' for any other popups that appear.
  2. Shut Down the system.
  3. Restart the system.
  4. After Restart, the iCloud drive should not be syncing with your Mac.
  5. Now follow step 1 again and but this time, just Toggle On the iCloud Drive / Toggle On all toggles in the popup.
  6. Hopefully things should work fine now.

Oct 12, 2023 7:46 AM in response to bycero

Turning off iCloud Drive solved the problem instantly. But it sure would nice to be able to access all the files I have there.


It wasn't easy getting the AppleID System Setting to respond, but eventually I got lucky. I had to do it fast, after a reboot, to get the AppleID setting to A) display and B) be responsive.


Along the way, I got a notice that iCloud would turn off after it finished updating. There was a progress bar with just a tiny blue dot at one end, like "1% done". I had an option to skip updating and turn off, so I took it. I got the notice on the attached pic, but then it went ahead and turned off, and all is "well", for now. Now we wait for the fix.

Oct 22, 2023 4:04 AM in response to bycero

Here is a "fix" (a bit of a stretch) that worked for me.


I had the same issue during the first launch after an update, so I tried many things, most of which are discussed in this thread. I couldn't revert to Ventura because I had no backup. As a last resort, I found the Ventura installer in the App Store, downloaded it (when you start the download, it automatically redirects you to Settings > Software Update, and you can monitor the progress there).


After downloading, my Mac announced that it couldn't install this particular OS version, so I sighed and clicked "Quit." Voilà, Finder got unstuck! For some reason, iCloud had become turned off in the settings, so I simply turned it back on, and all my files magically reappeared.


At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but the same thing happened to me today after rebooting my Mac (I had to). Finder got stuck again, and there were no items on the desktop. So, once more, after a few standard procedures, I downloaded the Ventura installer, and it worked like clockwork.


It's strange, and I have no idea why it works. My best guess is that Sonoma gets intimidated in the presence of Ventura's greatness.


I hope this helps someone. Have a great day!





Dec 3, 2023 12:54 AM in response to janetwriter

Once the Mac screen opens, can you check whether there's anything in System Settings > Login Items? If there are any apps mentioned there, disable or delete them all. If you have any 3rd party modifier apps, any VPNs, any antivirus apps, uninstall them, according to their uninstall instructions. If such instructions cannot be found, pull those apps to the Bin and then empty the Bin. After that, shut down the Mac, wait a while, reboot your Mac. Check, if the system would come to normal.


My Login Items look like this,

Nothing there.


Also, please read this, If your Mac runs slowly – Apple Support (UK)


Also, read about how to reinstall macOS, How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


Jan 31, 2024 4:41 AM in response to bycero

I disabled iCloud Drive which fixed my finder, but lost a lot of documents (weeks of work). I'm really sad right now. Contacted Apple and they told me there's little I can do to recover them since I was not using Time Machine. Oh well, really wish Apple took these things more seriously instead of focusing their time on stupid things that no one cares about like the new Journal app.

Finder stopped working after macOS 14 update

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