Making sure that Apple didn't further destroy file sharing with Sonoma

If you depend on File Sharing and are currently using it, do NOT update to Sonoma. There are Authentication problems (Files App on iPhone & iPad) when using file sharing. Oddly enough, the Guest account that uses no authentication works but you need to set folder permissions to allow all users read and write access.. totally hosed..

I have file sharing problems with Sonoma like I had with Ventura.

"File sharing" just stops working at some random time and I can't access my shared folders (SMB) neither from iPhone, nor from AppleTV.

I have to turn-off "File sharing" in Settings, restart my iMac and then turn "File sharing" back on. Then it starts working, but again after some time (hours) it just stops and the shared folders are not visible anymore. It works for less than a day.

Everything worked great in Monterey. I didn't update to Ventura just because of this.

Now I have updated to Sonoma, but the problem is there. File sharing just stops working any time within few hours after I turn on my iMac.

I only had problems on Ventura because I had custom icons on my shared drives. Once I removed the custom icons, it worked fine. Later, Apple fixed that problem.

I don't notice any issues in Sonoma, but most of my Sharing is just Time Machine backups. I have gone to grab a file or two, but not regular connections.

Even after the fix, some people were still having problems. I don't know what caused those nor do I know if Sonoma is a problem.

While some installs will authenticate properly for file sharing, others will not. This Discussion forum is littered with examples starting somewhere in Ventura.

i can file share with the guest account with read/write permissions but that’s it.

And, absolutely right. If file sharing is mission critical, have a good backup plan in case you’re one of the unfortunates.

I use file sharing to access my Mac from my iPhone and iPad with the FILES App. I used to work fine but since Sonoma (and possibly one of the latest Ventura updates) I developed authentication errors when logging in. I display find out that your Guest account works (no password) connects as expected. I updated the folders I need access to by adding the Guest account with read/write permission. I hope APPLE fixes it soon.

I don’t understand your configuration. Does each user have their own drive? Sharing the top level of a drive won’t work.

Here is my setup:

Single drive, APFS, System R/W, wheel R/o, everyone R/o.

Create a folder for each Sharing Only User (SO), My user is owner w/ R/W, no group, everyone no access.

In File Sharing add each folder and add the SO to that folder w/ R/W. Remove any other users and the groups. Set everyone to no access.

File Sharing will create Access Control Lists for each folder that is used to provide access to that specific SO user.

Kimberly Seiz wrote:

I did the same thing. When they go to connect to the server, EVERY user drive shows up in a list. Even though the permission is set to only each user and no one else, they are STILL able to mount the drive of anyone in that list and access it. Believe me, after 10 hours on the phone with Apple Expert Support, and even they don't know how to fix it.

Do they all have normal login accounts on that Mac. If so, they have the same access they would have if logged into that Mac. Also, make sure everyone has no access.

If you give each user a Sharing Only login, you can restrict access to only the items listed in Sharing Settings.

But, it has always been that way.

You need to remove the group and add each student individually to their respective share.

Yes, you have to know how to configure a server. They dropped the app that made it simple.

All of the capability still exists, but you must configure each folder manually for each user. Nothing in the underlying system changed.

You may still be able to bind users manually, also, but I don't know how to do that.

Kimberly Seiz wrote:

That is the only option.

<sigh>

I guess I failed. The thread is live again. Oh well, time to put it to bed.

I'm afraid that the answer is that Apple simply doesn't support this kind of usage, and really hasn't for years. I can't tell you if file sharing in Sonoma is worse than it was in Ventura. The last time I had access to a top-of-the-line SMB network with literally unlimited support resources (circa 2016-2017), Finder would regularly lock up doing QuickLook and the only reliable way to use a file server on a Mac was like an FTP server. I had to copy the file locally, make my changes, then copy it back. This was a large network with lots of users. Any attempt by more than one person to access files would always lead to corruption.

I have seen no evidence that Apple has made any improvements since then. Apple has taken down the one (1) document that it had posted regarding autofs. So I guess that feature is now fully disavowed.

My recommendation is to switch to a file sync solution. There should be multiple locally hosted options. Some of them might support Macs. You might have to use some kind of web page interface. I've recommended Atlassian in the past. We used that back in 2016-2017 and it was far superior to file sharing. Maybe something based on OwnCloud? I think they had a big data breach recently, but this is just student data.

I realize all these solutions are clunky and substandard. Such is life in the modern world. You are welcome to upgrade to Sonoma and prove me wrong. Good luck!

The group may be necessary to give everyone Reid access to the top level folder where you storing each individual share. Each share folder cannot have the group on it. Each individual user should have rewrite access to their folder.