The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8058).

I agree that searching google should be everyone's first choice but look at it from another perspective.

I had this exact same problem today when I got into work. I searched google like a good techie and the very first link was this thread. Quite a circular condundrum, eh? The answer to my google search was to search google!?!

That's the reason why replying to a thread with search google is a waste. Saying 'search google' is fine but not in isolation. Provide an answer for the next person who did search google.

Unlike the original Mac OS, Mac OS X has a system of preference storage that involves a programmer-friendly, user unfriendly construct, the plist. Plist is short for "property list".

With fairly regular frequency, these preference files or "plists" get corrupted under Mac OS X. Worse, the corruption is largely undetectable with plists. This means that the plist file can become corrupted, the operating system facilities can't tell, the application tried to read the plist and digest the data, the corrupted data gets into the app, the app malfunctions, no clue as to why except some crazy error code that was eventually generated within the app because of an operation that went bad because a long time before, there was undetectable garbage read in from the plist file.

Ok, here is the good news. The preferences or plist files can be deleted and the worst case is that you lose some of your app settings you modified, usually through the "Preferences" menu item under the menu named after the app. In this case the menu is named "Finder" and the item is "Preferences".

By deleting the file, you remove the corruption, the app (Finder) recreated a default plist the next time it is run (for Finder, that typically means reboot unless you do some command line work). New plist is clean, you can reset the preferences, Finder is ok until it happens again.

I posted my solution because it was the third time it had happened to me last year and figured others were having the same issue, and the same frustration with "google it" style answers ;-)

But before you go looking for an app that helps you detect corrupt plists, know that I have never had any of them work due to how the plist is designed. It has been a manual (and regular) effort since the inception of Mac OS X. This is one of the system's Achilles heals.

I just love useful replies to forum posts. Here's a hint folks if your answer is search google, please do the gentlemanly thing and not reply. Because if that was the answer to every question and nobody gave an actual answer google wouldn't have any silly results! LOL!1one

<Edited By Host>

Quit all applications. Make sure you are in Finder Menu>Go and hold down Alt/option to reveal LIbrary. click Library and look for Preferences. Open that folder and look for com.apple.finder.plist and its Lockfile. Drag that out of the desktop. If it cant copy there then drag that on documents. After creating a copy and deleting tha file under Preferences Restart and try to copy on your desktop.

I had this problem as well, and just wanted to let people know that at least in my case, I was still able to use the 'cp' command in Terminal to copy files when this error was popping up.

I know it's by no means a fix, but if you're in the middle of something like I was and don't have time to troubleshoot at the moment, it's a simple workaround that is effective because it takes Finder out of the equation.

Example in Terminal:

cp /Path/To/FileToCopy.txt ~/Desktop

(use 'man cp' for more info) Deleting the plist worked for me too btw, and I also agree that telling someone to search google is a useless response that comes across as slightly condescending, even if it's not intended to. It's safe to assume that a very high percentage of people do at least a small amount of research prior to posting a question, and regardless of the reason, they're seeking a helping hand that a lot of people are happy to give.

Just don't reply if you're response is 'search google'. Let someone else take care of them.

Peruse the hits from a google search for error 8058.

I got here from a Google search for exactly that term. That was not a helpful answer.

<edit> reading further, sorry for reiterating what others have already said.

Sometimes with the problems in the Finder straws and grasping thereof start to look logical.

I am currently looking at every file that the Finder opens and deleting them to see if one or more are the culprit. Here is a list of files that impact the Finder that are located in

~/Library/Caches/

• com.apple.finder
• CloudKit > com.apple.finder
• CloudKit > com.apple.clouddocs
• CloudKit > com.apple.CloudDocs.container-metadata
• CloudKit > CloudKitMetadata
• CloudKit > CloudKitMetadata-shm
• CloudKit > CloudKitMetadata-wal
• com.apple.icloud.fmfd
• com.apple.iCloudHelper

Since the file system is Unix's achilles heel and since "cache file" is nearly synonymous with "corruption" on Unix, I would recommend whacking these files and logging out, then back in. Cache files get recreated by the apps that need them.

I have also found a utility called CleanMyMac which is is not adware and knows a great deal about the system cache files. Utility is not cheap but neither is the time I am wasting chasing these defects around instead of working on my projects. ;-)Recommend grabbing the trial and give it a spin. Macpaw.com Beware, torrents with CleanMyMac carry malware... get this only from the company and you are fine. Info here : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CleanMyMac

google search brought me here as well...

i'm glad someone had the decency to post a legitimate helpful answer. thanks

if as implied the answer is easy to find via searching, why not do the decent thing and relay that answer to the person asking? if even by just pasting the appropiate helpful link.

for any future visitors to this thread: deleting the plist and killing and restarting the finder process did the trick for me as well, no need to log out and back in.

HI there,

I'm from Australia and I have eye tv el gate I transferred some movies but couldn't delete them from eye tv.

Well my verdict is that "YOU'RE A F#$#ING GENIUS"

Thank you for your help worked like a beauty.

For everyone out there listen to this guy he knows what he's talking about.

Good staff thanks again I could've never done it other wise.

kind regards

syztem1

This error seems to apply to many other Finder operations.

In my case I added a folder and attempted to name it and I got the -8076 error.

Turns out I had added the folder to a larger folder (101gb) that was still being copied to an external hard drive.

Once the transfer was made I was able to name the folder.

"for any future visitors to this thread: deleting the plist and killing and restarting the finder process did the trick for me as well, no need to log out and back in."

How do you restart Finder? I was directed here like many people and tried the posted solution, but I had to restart the mac to launch Finder again. The fix didn't help me at all, in the end I found that if I wanted to save a file onto a networked computer I had to paste it into public > dropbox. This seems to be the only place I have "modify" permissions and other folders prevent changes.

topazzz9 wrote:

"for any future visitors to this thread: deleting the plist and killing and restarting the finder process did the trick for me as well, no need to log out and back in."

How do you restart Finder?

OPT-click & hold the Finder's Dock icon and select Relaunch.

Thanks baltwo! Though I must have had a mental blackout - just clicking on the Finder icon relaunches it, like it does for every other program that has a desktop icon. I'm sorry for posting such rubbish. 😊

When you say OPT-click, did you mean the cmd button?

Lastly, how do you format posts here? Since it doesn't like BB code.

EDIT: heathf, thanks for the terminal commands, I wish I was proficient in this as in the past the option to use terminal has solved quite a few issues, but I always have to ask someone what to type. However my problem isn't so much copying of a file, it's when I try to paste it I receive this pesky error message.

Sorry for the delay in responding. In the end, I had to use unix commands to painstakingly delete all these files. I got the instructions from this site:

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=30243&seqNum=8

Thank you baltwo your response was very helpful and I have marked it as such.