Activity Monitor crashes every time I launch it

Activity Monitor crashes every time I launch it. I don't know if it is since updating to Sonoma or not, since I just bought it. This is my first MacBook, so I am not sure if this is a common error. I saw an older thread with the fix “Delete the com.apple.ActivityMonitor.plist file located in /Users/username/Library/Preferences/ and relaunch Activity Monitor.”

I unfortunately am unable to locate the .plist file.

Any fixes?

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Oct 18, 2023 11:59 AM

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Posted on Dec 20, 2023 8:38 AM

Have the same problem, Activity Monitor crashes and won't load anymore aafter openning the Energy tab (sonoma 14.2.1). This is so annoying, more after it has been reported for months and Apple did nothing. If only they had multi-billion $ in budget, I guess they could fix it. Oh, wait...

19 replies

Oct 18, 2023 12:48 PM in response to Omerzafeer

Omerzafeer wrote:

Activity Monitor crashes every time I launch it. I don't know if it is since updating to Sonoma or not, since I just bought it. This is my first MacBook, so I am not sure if this is a common error. I saw an older thread with the fix “Delete the com.apple.ActivityMonitor.plist file located in /Users/username/Library/Preferences/ and relaunch Activity Monitor.”
I unfortunately am unable to locate the .plist file.
Any fixes?


upgrading to Sonoma.


Seems most unusual to see A.M. crash on opening...

Are you having a bigger issue?


You can try holding the Option key and launch the Activity Monitor.app and compare your results..


Shutting down and restarting the Mac more than once after any "upgrade" will sort many glitches.




I would try those options and compare your results before entertaining the idea of deleting .plist

if no insight or resolve—


the plist is found here—

from Finder>Go>Go To Folder ,copy and paste:

~/Library/preferences/ActivityMonitor.plist




Nov 3, 2023 10:40 PM in response to Omerzafeer

Omerzafeer Said:

"Activity Monitor crashes every time I launch it"

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Troubleshooting a Crashing App:


A. Add as a Login Item:

What happens when you add Activity Monitor as a Login Item? Add it as such, log out, and then log back in, seeing if you still get this error.  Go Here: Open Items Automatically when you Log In on Mac - Apple Support


No success?

B. Reinstall the macOS:

Activity Monitor is part of the macOS. So, one option would be to reinstall the macOS to fix any bugs in this app. Nothing would be lost. It's just that misplaced items would be placed back to where they should be and corrupt system files would be replaced by clean files. Go Here: Reinstall macOS - Apple Support. Boot into Recovery Mode (Intel or Silicon).  Important: Prior to installing an update or performing a reinstallation, to prevent data loss, be sure to Back up your Mac with Time Machine.

Nov 4, 2023 7:56 AM in response to Sridhar Ananthanarayanan

Thank you for letting me know, I was just about to reinstall it. Have you tried this fix posted above? I have not been able to find time to do it myself

Add as a Login Item:

What happens when you add Activity Monitor as a Login Item? Add it as such, log out, and then log back in, seeing if you still get this error.  Go Here: Open Items Automatically when you Log In on Mac - Apple Support

Nov 4, 2023 7:57 AM in response to Omerzafeer

Problem has come back after a reboot. Energy tab crashes the Activity Monitor again.


I had a fresh installation of macOS Sonoma v14.0 on my external SSD where the Activity Monitor was working just fine. I updated to Sonoma v14.1 and there are no problems. The OS on my internal disk is not a clean install. It is probably Catalina upgraded to Big Sur upgraded to Ventura upgraded to Sonoma.


My guess is a clean install is required to which a Time Machine backup can be restored. Except this particular problem, everything else is working fine for me.

Nov 5, 2023 8:56 PM in response to Omerzafeer

Omerzafeer wrote:

Thank you for letting me know, I was just about to reinstall it. Have you tried this fix posted above? I have not been able to find time to do it myself.

I did a complete wipe of my system partition and did a clean install of macOS Sonoma 14.1. Then restored my Time Machine backup. Unfortunately, Energy tab still crashes the Activity Monitor. Surprisingly, it doesn't do that on macOS Sonoma installed on my external SSD, which too is restored with a Time Machine backup (although the backup dates are slightly different).


I have installed Activity Monitor app from a macOS Mojave installation, and it runs fine without any problem (there are two Activity Monitor apps on my system now: one inside the Utilities folder and another that I copied from macOS Mojave to the Applications folder).


At this point, I think I'll have to do a fresh installation and set everything up from scratch to solve this. There is this problem with the Firewall app too where any changes I make don't stick. But this started from macOS Ventura itself.

Activity Monitor crashes every time I launch it

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