Finder stopped working after macOS 14 update

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!

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.

I did reinstall Mac OS Sonoma with SSD cleaning but it's did't help, MacBook Pro 14, issue with savings file and opening into programs, window with saving simply do not respond and long response all across the system settings

Same issue, mine is the Intel-based Mac mini.

I found that the issue appears when I use Spotlight or Alfred, so I think it may be caused by the index. I rebuilt the index by running the following command in Terminal:

sudo mdutil -a -E

Finder will work, but the files in iCloud cannot be seen. So I logout my iCloud account and quit the VPN, then login again. Now it works normally.

Yes I agree I think it was indexing and finally finished and I was able to run Northern Softworks “Sonoma Cache Cleaner” which also repaired permissions and did a finder checkup. Finder Seems to be running ok right now.

How long did it finally take? And do you have user directories on an external volume?

If I remember I let mine run overnight with no noticeable progress or response. I'd like to use iCloud Drive again, but I don't want to put my machine on ice for 4-5 days until it finishes.

Not exactly sure how long. System files all on internal drive. Woke up in the morning after seeming finder failures and was able to run a few utilities and it appears quite normal now. Frustrating I know. My wife's MacBook pro is doing strange things with her documents folders. Com on Apple!