Copy/paste not working: pboard crash

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Copy/paste not working: pboard crash

After upgrading to build 17B1003 (Security Update 2017-001) copy/paste stopped working. There's a noticeable freeze when trying to copy anything to the clipboard.

Investigating the logs revealed that it is due to pboard crash with the following message:

Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** initialization method - initWithFormat:locale:arguments: cannot be sent to an abstract object of class NSString : Create a concrete instance!'

It is always accompanied with another Sandbox message:

Sandbox: pboard(664) deny file-read-data /usr/libexec

The error is reproducible in Safe mode and under any user.

How to fix this?

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015), macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)

Posted on Dec 1, 2017 1:07 AM

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Answer 1

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kaluzhanin Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 4, 2017 6:04 AM in response to kaluzhanin

I've recently had a call from Apple Support, and it was super helpful.

The issue was fixed after opening the Terminal.app, typing

sudo update_dyld_shared_cache-force

It will ask for a password. Provide the password, wait for the command to finish, and then restart.

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Answer 2

Dec 4, 2017 4:55 AM in response to yifeiZhao

The only thing that helped me was reinstalling MacOs. First Aid didn't help. Deleting some apps didn't help either. So, I decided to reinstall. Took some time but no files were deleted and the problem was gone. Have a try.

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Answer 3

Dec 3, 2017 5:53 AM in response to kaluzhanin

I just reinstalled MacOs and it helped. I've noticed this issue after installing Commander One. I deleted it, the issue didn't disappear. Then I just reinstalled MacOs. Nothing of my files disappeared but the trouble was gone.

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Answer 4

munkymajik

Level 4

1,505 points

Dec 1, 2017 1:17 AM in response to kaluzhanin

Sounds like a permissions problem.

Try booting into Recovery Mode and selecting disk utility and running First Aid on the MacOS disk.

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Answer 5

munkymajik

Level 4

1,505 points

Dec 1, 2017 1:53 AM in response to munkymajik

munkymajik wrote:

Sounds like a permissions problem.

Try booting into Recovery Mode and selecting disk utility and running First Aid on the MacOS disk.

Try this?

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2017 1:23 AM in response to kaluzhanin

It may be a bug somehow specific to your localization. What are your language & international settings?

Can you temporarily switch to English-or make a test user and set its language to English-and see if the same thing happens?

Also you didn’t mention in what programs this happens. It may be application-specific.

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Answer 7

munkymajik

Level 4

1,505 points

Dec 1, 2017 2:13 AM in response to kaluzhanin

Does it happen with both "command-c/v" and right-click copy/paste?

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Answer 8

Dec 3, 2017 5:48 AM in response to kaluzhanin

I just reinstalled MacOs with the combination Ctrl+Option+Command+R+P. It helped a lot.

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Answer 9

kaluzhanin Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 1, 2017 1:49 AM in response to munkymajik

Thanks for the suggestion!

Unfortunately, running First Aid didn't help. I also checked permissions on /usr/libexec files manually through the terminal - everything seems to be ok (files are readable-executable by anyone).

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Answer 10

kaluzhanin Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 1, 2017 1:50 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks for the tip!

I switched to English and restarted the system, but it didn't help. The issue is not application-specific - it's reproducible in Google Chrome, iTerm, Evernote, Visual Code and TextEdit.

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Answer 11

kaluzhanin Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 1, 2017 2:16 AM in response to munkymajik

Yes, it happens with both keyboard shortcuts, right-clicking, or selecting Edit > Copy from the top menu. I see in the system log that pboard receives the data (it mentions the type of the thing I'm trying to copy), and then immediately crashes with the messages I described in the post body.

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Answer 12

kaluzhanin Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 2, 2017 12:58 PM in response to kaluzhanin

Thanks to everyone who tried to help. Today the issue resolved itself, and I unfortunately do not know what fixed it. The only thing that seems to be relevant is that I uninstall Microsoft Office suite when trying to make some space on the hard drive. I'm not sure that it was the solution because I found out that clipboard works again much later.

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