Finder stopped working after macOS 14 update

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

I purchased a 2023 iMac and updated to Ventura 14.1, and then to 14.2. When I rebooted, Finder was frozen, and in Settings even my user ID and Cloud settings were not visible, so I was unable to switch off cloud to test the finder again. In the end I used Disc First Aid Utility and erased the computer. I reinstalled the Ventura 13 system the computer came with (not the Sonoma version which has this reported frozen Finder problem). Then I used migration Assistant to retrieve my data files from my previous iMac, and downloaded clean installations of my additional applications from the App Store and web sites. Everything is working again. I am going to stick with Ventura. If anyone finds out an upgrade has resolved the problem please keep us updated? Thanks, Lisa.

100% ‘what he said’. I turned off iCloud; backed up my HFS+ external drive with my user accounts; reformatted it as APFS; restored from the backup and reenabled iCloud… no more Finder hang.

Seems there is no such thing as escalation - Apple doesn't monitor or answer in this "Community". I opened a support case with Apple they couldn't figure it out and said to reinstall Sonoma and closed the case before the install was even complete. Not an award winning survey on that ticket!

Alright. Steps that I tried:

• Reinstall Sonoma
• Disable iCloud Sync - I tried it multiple times, but the system settings were freezing after disabling it, I waited one hour, but nothing was happening.
• Change the system language from Polish to English
• Multiple restarts

Finally, after one of the restarts, Finder was able to boot. 🥳

PS. Disable iCloud Sync never worked, it was enabled all the time.

Ever since I updated my macbook air (chip Apple M2) to Sonoma 14.0 my laptop has issues and isn't working properly. My work flow has been slowed down and the system has ridiculous bugs:

• preview per space key not working - when space key is pressed the file actually opens. cannot be fixed by relaunching the Finder.
• an odd blue frame appears when moving cursor/mouse
• when changing from, say, Windows to Chrome and back again the cursor jumps either right to the end of page or top of page in either applications???!!!
• i have reinstalled and rebooted incl. deinstalling and reinstalling applications such as chrome, endnote, outlook etc.
• i have shut down and launched in safe mode - problem occurs in either mode

With every update OS gets worse and worse. I was increadibly happy when I bought the airbook only a few months ago...now i am frustrated on a daily basis! bloody nuisance!!!

Alexaafiya - I’m a bit confused by your comments; you said that "with every update OS gets worse and worse", but then "I was incredibly happy when I bought the airbook only a few months ago". How many OS updates have you had in the few months since you bought the laptop? You mean…one? Or are you including a couple of OS 13 security updates before Sonoma came out? Did those minor little updates cause you issues in macOS 13?

I am also experiencing terrible issues with the Finder since upgrading to macOS 14. I’ve been using Macs since System 6 (~1988) and I’ve never been so frustrated and stumped as I am right now. I’ve never hit a point where I didn’t know what to do next until today. I bought a new M2 Pro Mac Studio a month ago and it was running great. I was excited to install Sonoma…but it’s been an absolute nightmare. Right-clicking the Finder in the dock reveals "Application not Responding" - even after rebooting. Some System Preferences lock it up, but the easiest way to make it hang is to just try to move a file or empty the trash. I’ve reinstalled the OS with no luck. My user folders are on an external hard drive, and they all experience the same problem. I have one local user, and it seems to be okay. It seemed to work for a while in safe boot, but eventually returned. I’ve tried everything I can think of: trashing the Finder prefs, Disk Utility, painstakingly examining every directory's ACLs… Looking at Console’s error messages, there are so many filling the screen every second that I have to pause it to read one. I finally tried clean installing to an external drive; when I booted from it, after a minute or two one weird thing after another happened (drives came and went from the desktop, applications launched and quit themselves) until the Finder disappeared entirely and wouldn’t come back - followed by a flash of solid magenta on my displays and a kernel panic. I have no idea what to try next.

Deactivate iCloud Drive in the System settings and file a case with Apple support. I have the exact same problem and they have been working on it for over a week now.

I do believe that this could be related to user folders being on an external drive (as is the case for both of us and others who have reported this problem), but Apple should fix this urgently

TheWho515 wrote:

I was having this problem, and for what it's worth, I too have my user folder on an external drive, connected via Thunderbolt.

Having your user folder in an external drive help you/your MacBook in what way? Doesn't your macBook have enough storage?

It's on a Mac Mini, not a MacBook. I did it to save money — I need a 2TB volume for my home directory, and a good-quality 2TB external was significantly cheaper than the additional cost of an internal 2TB.

Try turning off iCloud Drive in your AppleID System Setting (open System Settings and it's at the top, right under your name). That solved it for me.

I got a message saying iCloud would turn off after it finished updating, but there was an option to proceed without updating, which I selected. Apparently there's a horrendous delay, or outright error, in the new Sonoma updating process.

Is your home directory on an external volume, or internal?

Well, I agree about the cost, but I am not 100% sure that you need to put all your home directory in an external drive. It is easier (or better) to have the home directory in the internal drive, but keep the larger data in an external drive. Usually just two directories, Desktop and Documents are connected to the iCloud, and you don't have to keep larger data is either of them. The Desktop is for the work duration, and the Documents can keep symlinks, if there are larger files/folders somewhere else. iCloud is quite a useful thing, by the way :)

Maybe, it is the quality of your external disk, or the connection cable to the Mac Mini, or even the connection slot. Just check whether you can keep your Home directory, even a slimmed down one, in the internal disk.

Hm. That's not a bad idea. II might try that, thanks. I suspect it'd speed up reaction time in bootups and system settings work. Do I need to look up how to do symlinks in MacOS (or will you tell me :-D )?

TheWho515 wrote:

Hm. That's not a bad idea. II might try that, thanks. I suspect it'd speed up reaction time in bootups and system settings work. Do I need to look up how to do symlinks in MacOS (or will you tell me :-D )?

How to Create and Use Symbolic Links (Symlinks) on a Mac

You can open this webpage in Safari, click on Reader View, and then save it as a pdf for later use.