Yosemite [erroneously] displays multiple Shared Instances under Finder

I had this too... tried all the remedies I read online, from deleting plists to tweaking MTU sizes. What 'finally' worked was static IP reservations in DHCP on my Airport Extreme, and 'just' for my Yosemite Macs. My older Mavericks Mac and Apple TV don't have this problem... clearly something introduced with Yosemite. Personally, I think it's related to the new Continuity 'features', but that's just speculation.

Nope, sorry for that, the problem is back... just took it longer to re-manifest. What a royal PITA

I've been dealing with this too.

I delete the "Shared Computer" icon by turning my wifi connection off/on, but it shows up again in a few hours.

I think this bug is related to Apple's iCloud coming to check on what we're doing with our computer.

I haven't upgraded to Yosemite yet, still on Mavericks, but I have installed some recent system/security updates and the problem began afterwards. What also happened at the same time is the "iCloud" icon showed up in my Finder, and my "Contacts" app deleted all my contacts and replaced them with my wife's iPhone contacts list. Years ago I let her use my "Apple ID" to set up her phone because she never used the internet much. Since then Apple made me use my ID for a few songs I bought off iTunes, and now they've set up an "iCloud" account for me that I never wanted.

I have my own web server and I don't use Apple's iCloud, but Apple is pinging my computer several times a day since and it's when those pings come in that I get a computer named "orangejello" showing up in my "Shared" folder. I also had a few others show up, but that one is consistently showing up. The "Connect" button never works, and I've never caught it exactly when it showed up, so I cannot confirm this is the cause yet, but I'm thinking it's connected to it.

I get these messages in my Console app under the "Diagnostic and Usage" messages:

This is always the 1st in a series:

11/4/14 12:21:40.348 PM UserEventAgent[161]: com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.usage.activetime

com.apple.message.value: 14161

com.apple.message.value2: 5953

com.apple.message.value4: 0

com.apple.message.value5: 1

com.apple.message.summarize: YES

Sender_Mach_UUID: 55428B1C-9198-32BF-80EA-4731081F402E

This is always the 2st in a series:

11/4/14 12:21:40.348 PM UserEventAgent[161]: com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.usage.app_activetime

com.apple.message.signature: com.apple.ShareKitHelper

com.apple.message.signature2: com.apple.ShareKitHelper ||| 1.0 (185.2)

com.apple.message.value: 14161

com.apple.message.value2: 0

com.apple.message.value3: 0

com.apple.message.value4: 0

com.apple.message.value5: 0

com.apple.message.value6: 0

com.apple.message.value7: 0

com.apple.message.result: NO

com.apple.message.summarize: YES

Sender_Mach_UUID: 55428B1C-9198-32BF-80EA-4731081F402E

This is the last:

11/4/14 12:21:40.356 PM UserEventAgent[161]: com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.usage.app_activetime

com.apple.message.signature: com.apple.WebKit.Networking

com.apple.message.signature2: com.apple.WebKit.Networking ||| 9600 (9600.1.17)

com.apple.message.value: 14161

com.apple.message.value2: 0

com.apple.message.value3: 0

com.apple.message.value4: 0

com.apple.message.value5: 0

com.apple.message.value6: 0

com.apple.message.value7: 0

com.apple.message.result: NO

com.apple.message.summarize: YES

Sender_Mach_UUID: 55428B1C-9198-32BF-80EA-4731081F402E

In between those are messages that are specific to apps running on my Mac:

11/4/14 12:21:40.351 PM UserEventAgent[161]: com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.usage.app_activetime

com.apple.message.signature: Fetch

com.apple.message.signature2: com.fetchsoftworks.Fetch ||| 5.7.4 [5H1367, Web Store] (5.7.4)

com.apple.message.value: 14161

com.apple.message.value2: 0

com.apple.message.value3: 0

com.apple.message.value4: 0

com.apple.message.value5: 0

com.apple.message.value6: 0

com.apple.message.value7: 0

com.apple.message.result: YES

com.apple.message.summarize: YES

Sender_Mach_UUID: 55428B1C-9198-32BF-80EA-4731081F402E

My hunch is that these oddball "Shared Computers" show up in my Finder when these messages are made, and that these messages are related to Apple doing some snooping on what apps I'm using on my Mac.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

Here is what just worked for me, where I had 2 mac computers showing up several times under 'Shared' and a printer on the network showing up 9 times under Bonjour. (I'm still holding my breath to make sure it sticks!)

1. Under Settings>Energy Saver, un-check the box that says "Wake for network access"

2. Under Settings>Network>Advanced>TCP/IP change the IPv4 settings to "Configure DHCP with Manual Address"

3. Enter a new IP address (10.0.x.xx)

4. Under Settings>Sharing, change your computer name to remove the ( x) after it; hit the EDIT button right beneath to make sure your .local address reflects that same name

5. Repeat these steps for all computers on the network.

6. Under Applications>Utilities, open AirPort Utility. Select your router (mine was an AirPort Extreme), then from the top menu bar choose Base Station>Restart

7. Restart your computer(s)

This worked for me. The multiple computers have disappeared under 'Shared', I now only have one printer showing up under Bonjour, as it should.

It is a Yosemite bug related to Bonjour Sleep Proxy and AirPort/Time Capsule.

Until next Yosemite update, I found a temporary solution here:

http://ispire.me/fix-yosemite-rtc-alarm-wakeup-issue/

You can disable the "change name" feature from discoveryd service with this command:

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :ProgramArguments: string --no-namechange" /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

to revert to the previous version:

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c Revert /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

I've done this 5 days ago and, from then, my shared mac name never changed anymore.

The first suggestion in this article took care of the problem for me as well as recurring errors regarding an IP address conflict.

http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/25/fix-wi-fi-problems-os-x-yosemite/

Yes.

I've deleted /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ folder content too, before doing the discoveryd plist modification.

I also don't have com.apple.finder file anywhere in my prefs. Some of us just don't I guess. Running a MBP by the way.

The following fixed the problem for me.

- turned off wifi on MBP

- went into Settings/Sharing and renamed computer - deleted whatever (number) was there; made sure address on local network matched

- reset airport (unplugged it, waited a minute, plugged it back in)

- turned on wifi on MBP, rejoined network

- fixed - no more duplicate computers with numbers

As others have stated, seems to be a bug relating to airport/wireless settings more than anything else.

Thank you for this solution. In the last few weeks I've tried anything and everything that's been suggested and nothing worked permanently. The issue was escalated at Apple and even after trying all of their solutions the phantom Macs keep reappearing. This one seems to have solved the issue.

Remember, this will wipe out all your network settings including any VPNs you had configured!

I believe all I needed to do was reboot my Airport Express. When I did that the problem disappeared.

Thanks - That did the trick - I had 9 replicates of my drive! I'll see how long it takes for them to start reappearing. I need to have my computer wake for network access. But at least I know how to fix it if it comes up again.

It seems that the new Yosemite update solves this issue (I'm an Apple developer)...

I am having similar issues since upgrading my 2009 iMac to Yosemite. Three other Apple laptops in the home have not been upgraded and do not have this issue.