Finder stopped working after macOS 14 update

The only thing left that I can think of is to First, force quit Finder. Then delete that plist file. Then before opening Finder.....reboot then test again after logging in.

Safe Mode - about the same. Finder eventually responds - but EVERYTHING that relies on Finder has the same lag. Trying to resize a window - have to wait for Finder to catch up. Still no files in iCloud. From System Settings it takes forever to move from one menu item to another (like trying to check iCloud settings). THIS IS BAD!

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.

Same issue here. Issues happens when I use Audition to save files to a remote folder on NAS or upload a file from local folder on Macbook Pro M1 2021 with Macos 14 Sonoma. The finder will soon go frozen and then everything related to Finder usage will be stopped. Forced reopen of Finder will not work. If you use active monitor to force close, the Finder will never be opened again which the only way to solve it is to reboot. (and rebooting after this issue is a painful process. Excel and words and local apps can't be saved!!!

我也遇到了同样的问题。我在使用Audition保存文件到NAS路径或者在本地app里使用上传功能的时候，会有一定概率触发这个bug。使用的设备是MacBook Pro M1 2021. Macos 14 Sonoma。症状是：访达会卡死，然后所有正在使用访达或者调用访达的app都会卡死无法操作。强制重启访达无效。使用活动监视器强制关闭后，访达将无法再次打开，唯一解决方法就是重启。而且重启也非常痛苦，因为很多app无法正常保存！！！！

I`ve got same issue and I can confirm, that go out for dinner and wait was right way. Sonoma has more mistakes like this or even worse connected to iCloud (loosing files from local mashine etc). But for now this can be called "solution" as I don`t have to switch off iCloud and it starts working itselfs...

Give it a ton of time - eventually it will open. Have you observed the weird back and forth slider looking thing during reboot? A gray box on a black background AFTER entering your password.

14.1.1 fixed it :)

Sorry that didn’t work for you. There is another update, 14.2. Maybe it will help.

Same issue. Reboot doesn't help. FQ/Relaunch Finder doesn't help. Can't see files in iCloud Drive - suspicious on this one. Handoff doesn't work (wanted to open this thread on iPhone - copy/paste not working. I have M1 processor.

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!

I have Unity projects in a folder Unity.nosync. After upgrading to Sonoma I wasn't able to copy folder from Unity.nosync, Finder shows an error. I disabled iCloud Drive in the Settings. Finder removed all folders, even my Unity.nosync, this folder also doesn't exist in the iCloud Drive Web because ".nosync" marks folder as not to sync (project is synced using GitHub).

Maybe the problem is related to this:

"problems with iCloud Drive, in some cases leaving Macs apparently trying to download the entire contents of their iCloud storage before they could work normally again"

https://eclecticlight.co/2023/10/25/macos-sonoma-has-changed-icloud-drive-radically/

(I do not use iCloud Drive and have not experienced this).

Most probably, an app not starting (or not responding) is because that app had not been updated correctly. It is trying to update itself over the internet, but can't so it doesn't respond correctly, or crash, or simply won't start. I am not sure, if Finder can be updated/upgraded separately, so you might have to to reinstall the macOS.

Remember updating any app/OS over the internet is risky, for not all the internet providers reliable as they appear to be. In some countries, the consumer is not at all protected, even in the so-called 1st-world countries.😏

You're kidding?!? Could you tell us where to find that info, wolfsk? Thanks for posting that.

It certainly is NOT a solution, though...and I was so disappointed that 14.1 didn't fix the problem. Disabling iCloud Drive worked for me on my M2 Mac Studio to stop the Finder from freezing when trying to move/copy documents, empty the trash, or even open some System Preferences...but I'd kinda like to have iCloud Drive back.

My user folders are on a 14TB external drive, but I don't particularly want to change the format to APFS; the new file system is optimized for SSDs, and apparently not as great with HDDs as HFS+. This really sucks.

I opened a case with Apple Support who took a long time to figure out what the issue was, but finally came up with this solution

I guess in your case it might be best to work with symlinks, leaving your library folder on the internal SSD and putting everything else on the external HDD