macOS Sonoma 14.0: Error message › There was a problem connecting to the server. URLs with the type “file:” are not supported.

SOLVED - Eventually I was able to find a small set of folders that had obsolete Mac AppleWorks documents (with the extension .cwk). Even though these were not shortcuts, something about those files must have still been referencing the computer they were originally from. I excluded those folders from the Carbonite backup and that fixed the problem.

Just solved this problem with the help of Apple support. The fix for my computer was:

go to Macintosh HD > Library > Preferences and look for the file

com.apple.TimeMachine.plist

delete the file and restart your computer. A new clean plist file will replace the missing original.

Gary Horsman wrote:

I just installed macOS Sonoma version 14.0 on my MacBook Air with M2 chip (2022). I keep getting a popup message that says, ‘There was a problem connecting to the server. URLs with the type “file:” are not supported.’ Then there’s a OK button which I have a to click a half-dozen times or so before it dismisses. Then it just comes back a few minutes later. There is no explanation of which piece of software is trying to connect to which server at which URL.

Searching online doesn’t reveal any other user with this issue. Perhaps it’s a third party application? At startup, I do run Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and others that may try to access or sync files between cloud files and local files.

Anyone else encounter this?

What is it you are trying to do...?

If you suspect third party, to trouble shoot further you can:

—A SafeBoot Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

This test will tell you if third party interference; most* extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

unplug all third party peripherals when testing

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

gscottart: You're a lifesaver!!! I, too, have a M2 MacBook Air and upgraded to Sonoma 14.1.1 last week...and ran into exactly the same issue as Gary Horsman with the annoying, continuous popup of the message: ‘There was a problem connecting to the server. URLs with the type “file:” are not supported.’ Per the comments on this thread, I tried the other suggestions mentioned, including toggling Privacy & Security/Full Disk Access items on and off as well as General/Startup Items. YOUR suggestion of eliminating/refreshing the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file didn't make much sense to me as I haven't used Time Machine in over a decade (and never with this computer, of course). YET, eliminating this preference file & restarting was, indeed THE solution!!! 'Thank You' a thousand/million times!!! I don't understand the underpinnings of this specific preference file causing the problem, after following your suggestion, all is well. Crazy! But, again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

[Edited by Moderator]

Coming to this months later to say that I'm having the same problem with the pop-up error message. In my case, it is resulting from Carbonite – I can't figure out what Carbonite is looking for, but it's trying to connect network drives that haven't existed in a decade or more. I can't find any aliases or other connections to them, but it keeps giving me this error. In my case, clearing the Time Machine plist file didn't have any effect. I only get these errors when Carbonite is trying to backup; pausing the backup immediately stops them, so I know that's the issue. Just in case anyone else is experiencing the same.

I had been getting multiple instances of these error messages when I updated to Sonoma, usually right after startup but also periodically throughout my usage of the computer. The specific solution offered by gscottart didn't work for me, but the basic strategy did. I opened [UserName]>Library>Preferences folder and sorted by Date Modified. Then I waited to get the error message. When an error message appeared, I immediately consulted the Preferences folder to see which *.plist was being accessed by the system and then deleted that file. A new *.plist was created to replace the deleted one. So far, after about 20 minutes, this appears to have fixed the error.

Even though I don't actually use TimeMachine, so I was skeptical this would work for me, it actually did the trick. I removed the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file, rebooted, and the popup alert that is described here stopped popping up for me, too.

When I upgraded to Sonoma, our Drobo external drive became invisible to every machine in the office except the server it is attached to.

I had blamed the Drobo bankruptcy, and tried a bunch of other fixes that took tons of time and did nothing.

The move that actually did the trick, though, was as simple as could be: going into the server’s settings at “Privacy & Security,” then “Full Disk Access," and toggling-on “smdb.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I have been searching all over for a concise and easy to follow answer to this annoying question. I solved it with your help in just a few seconds. My blood pressure almost immediately went back down to normal. You made my day! :)

I had and still have the same problem. Several months ago, Apple Support directed me to follow the same instructions by deleting the TimeMachine.plist in Finder. It worked for about a month and has come back. Now the TimeMachine.plist file is trashed since the first time I was instructed to delete it and have no other option to get rid of this horrible error message. It has something to do with Finder, but I cannot determine how to get rid of this - AGAIN!

Thank you thank you thank you! Went to the genius bar in the Apple store with this very issue and no one could solve it. It was driving me crazy. I think this solved my problem!

Update on my earlier post: deleting *.plist files worked for a short period and then I continued to get two error messages at the same time about every half hour—though this was fewer than I had been getting. After trying everything that had been recommended above (at least three times each), I tried turning on TimeMachine. Up to this point, I had not been able to locate the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file in my preferences. After opening and messing with TimeMachine, the error messages increased. I then tried reinstalling Sonoma. The error messages continued, but I was suddenly able to find the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file in my preferences. I deleted this file, and the error messages have not appeared for about 12 hours.