MacOS High Sierra 10.13.2 causing Finder crash

Question

Level 1

45 points

MacOS High Sierra 10.13.2 causing Finder crash

Since updating to MacOS High Sierra 10.13.2 (from 10.13.1), I cannot connect to my NAS unit or other computers on the network, and in attempting to do so, Finder crashes and will not relaunch. I cannot find a fix to this problem, and as a consequence, my MacBook Pro (with TouchPad 2016) has become an island. I share files between computers on the network as part of my work process so this is a pretty big issue.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), iOS 10.3.2

Posted on Dec 7, 2017 9:05 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Charles Mangin

Level 1

9 points

Jan 9, 2018 9:02 AM in response to lfuller105

The problem seems to stem from defaulting the connection to SMB version 3, which is somehow broken. Changing the connection string to CIFS:// reverts to the much slower SMB version 1. The solution to maintain relatively speedy connections and avoid the bug is to set the default connection to SMB version 2, instead. This will also maintain compatibility with Windows servers where SMB1 is disabled.

This answer from the JAMF forums seems to do the trick. Enter these two lines in the terminal. You will be asked for your admin password:

sudo echo "[default]" >> /etc/nsmb.conf sudo echo "protocol_vers_map=2" >> /etc/nsmb.conf

Reply

Answer 2

lfuller105 Author

Level 1

45 points

Jan 21, 2018 5:58 AM in response to KKrrPP

I started this thread in early December and as everyone here has noted, Apple has not released an OS update to correct the problem. I tried some of the suggestions mentioned throughout this thread, but found a resolution that works for me as follows. (I posted the following December 24, 2017.)

What I have done to circumvent this issue is to set up my NAS (Samba via Linux) unit to use SMB2 and Windows to use SMB1 (since Windows seems to view SMB2 protocol the same as SMB3). I have used these settings for a month now and have not had a Finder crash to date. (I might add that I also use Chronosync to sync files between my NAS and Windows units and I have not experienced a crash using these programs either; they were affected as well.) For detailed listing of samba connections including the protocol in use, type this into your terminal on the Mac: smbutil statshares -a (make sure you are connected to your server before typing in this command).

In order to make changes to Windows, you will need to use Regedit to go to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters and add 3 DWORD entries: SMB1 (value data “1”), SMB2 (value data “0”) and SMB3 (value data “0”). I had to make these three entries in order for Windows to acknowledge SMB1 protocol.

Reboot.

Once you are back into Windows, go the your Mac terminal after connecting to your Windows server to verify the SM1 connection.

After changing the SMB protocol on your Windows and/or NAS units, be sure to remove the old server connections in Finder and enter them again. Yes, I know, you are still using SMB, but for some reason, I had to re-enter them as new server connections to see results.

The following is useful information posted in this thread by Finn Nyman as a SMB reference for Windows users.

For reference to everyone using Windows:

SMB 1.0 – The version used in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2

SMB 2.0 – The version used in Windows Vista (SP1 or later) and Windows Server 2008

SMB 2.1 – The version used in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

SMB 3.0 – The version used in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

SMB 3.02 – The version used in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

SMB 3.1.1 – The version used in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016

Reply

Answer 3

andy72

Level 1

14 points

Dec 16, 2017 10:31 AM in response to lfuller105

Dear all,

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) running Os X version 10.13.2 (17C88) and I have the same issue.

I never experienced such Finder crash in any of the previous versions of operating system so I guess it was introduced with 10.13.2. In my case I connect to my company's Windows servers both at home via Cisco VPN and at work. In case of using the VPN, the Finder crash and the associated forced reboot was almost instantaneous upon connecting to the share and starting browsing through the folders or copying files.

I did the following and now it seems that the issues is solved :

1. booted the rMBPro in safe mode

2. rebooted the rMBPro normally

3. I now use cifs:// instead of smb:// for mounting Windows shares.

... not sure if the "cycle" in safe mode is necessary.

I hope that this might help.

Reply

Answer 4

lfuller105 Author

Level 1

45 points

Dec 27, 2017 2:27 PM in response to Rusic Ivan

I have seen no definitive answer from Apple on this and there have been no OS updates to remedy the Finder crash experienced when connecting to a NAS unit and/or Windows server using MacOS version 10.13.2.

What I have done to circumvent this issue is to set up my NAS (Samba via Linux) unit to use SMB2 and Windows to use SMB1 (since Windows seems to view SMB2 protocol the same as SMB3). I have used these settings for 3 days and have not had a Finder crash to date. For detailed listing of samba connections including the protocol in use, type this into your terminal on the Mac: smbutil statshares -a (make sure you are connected to your server before typing in this command).

In order to make changes to Windows, you will need to use Regedit to go to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters and add 3 DWORD entries: SMB1 (value data “1”), SMB2 (value data “0”) and SMB3 (value data “0”). I had to make these three entries in order for Windows to acknowledge SMB1 protocol. Reboot. Once you are back into Windows, go the your Mac terminal after connecting to your Windows server to verify the SM1 connection.

After changing the SMB protocol on your Windows and/or NAS units, be sure to remove the old server connections in Finder and enter them again. Yes, I know, you are still using SMB, but for some reason, I had to reenter them as new server connections to see results.

Reply

Answer 5

Jan 3, 2018 7:09 AM in response to lfuller105

Do you connect to your NAS via a smb:// file share? Try to change it to cifs://

German computer magazine ct has reported problems with smb on 10.13.2 macOS 10.13.2 hat erhebliche Probleme mit Netzwerkfreigaben | Mac & i so changing your share to cifs should solve the problem.

Greetings from germany

Chris

Reply

Answer 6

P_Boyer

Level 1

4 points

Jan 3, 2018 2:56 PM in response to nsg_dev

Depending on where the share resides that you’re trying to connect to you might have to enable that protocol. With my NAS I I turned that on, connecting to a share in Windows Server 2016 I didn’t have to enable that protocol.

Changing the smb to cifs worked for me.

I have the shares saved in the Connect to Server window.

Example:

cifs://192.168.1.2/Share

Reply

Answer 7

1DX

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2018 6:52 PM in response to lfuller105

As a temporary solution - this worked for me...

1. Finder > Go > Connect to Server

2. When you login to the server, use cifs:// and the IP address of the server

for example cifs://10.58.**.**

This worked for me anyway, and was recommended by apple tech support as a work around. Good luck and let Apple know of the issue so they get more engineers on to it.

Reply

Answer 8

nsg_dev

Level 1

4 points

Jan 10, 2018 8:52 PM in response to HyperloopOne

I’m sure you can find what I’m about to say in the many contributions to this thread but in summary it seems to be a major bug in 10.13.2 involving SMB3. Several users have reported the bug is fixed in 10.13.3 Beta 4. In the meantime, while we all await the release of 10.13.3, you can mostly resolve the finder crashes by switching to SMB1 or SMB2. There are good instructions in this thread on how to do so. Hopefully 10.13.3 will be out soon!

Reply

Answer 9

Jan 18, 2018 2:17 PM in response to lfuller105

I was able to fix it by modifying the file /etc/nsmb.conf as follows:

~$ cat /etc/nsmb.conf

[default]

protocol_vers_map=2

signing_required=no

After changing it I rebooted my MacBook Pro. Hope that helps also others...

Reply

Answer 10

Dec 19, 2017 4:03 AM in response to lfuller105

My Fix:

Delete all shortcuts, aliases etc to any shares.

Don't mount shares at startup (login items)

Delete any keychains to server to store passwords

Turn off bonjour browsing in finder sidebar

Reconnect to shares as cifs:// instead of smb://

Everything happier. Not perfect but does bring a degree of stability. Apple Engineering calling me this afternoon (UK) to discuss.

Cheers

Reply

Answer 11

Dec 19, 2017 5:44 AM in response to Vmax28

Delete shortcuts to shares (inc login items)

Turn off bonjour browsing in finder.

Delete any saved keychains for your server.

Reconnect to server as cifs://server instead of smb://server

This helped for us. Not perfect but reduces the amount of finder freezes.

Reply

Answer 12

Jan 4, 2018 12:22 PM in response to lfuller105

I finally managed to solve it...

This fixed it for me, although I am running on 10.13.2. I am working for a couple of hours now on SMB shares without a single problem. Wasn't able to do that for more than a minute.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208317

Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
Type
```
sudo /usr/libexec/configureLocalKDC
```
and press Return.
Enter your administrator password and press Return.
Quit the Terminal app.

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 13

tkrombac

Level 1

8 points

Jan 9, 2018 1:17 AM in response to andy72

Same here. Finder on macOS 10.13.2 crashes when I try to rename files on a ahared folder. I have switched to CIFS for 2 days now and so far have no crashes anymore. Thank you very much for this suggestion!

Reply

Answer 14

Jan 9, 2018 12:21 PM in response to lfuller105

Apple has addressed this here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208209

Specifically, here are commands to try:

Speed up browsing on network shares

To speed up SMB file browsing, you can prevent macOS from reading .DS_Store files on SMB shares. This makes the Finder use only basic information to immediately display each folder's contents in alphanumeric order. Use this Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool TRUE

Then log out of your macOS account and log back in.

Force the Finder to gather all metadata first

Alternatively, you can force the Finder in macOS 10.13 High Sierra to always collect complete metadata before displaying folder contents, matching the file browsing behavior of macOS 10.12 Sierra and earlier. Use this Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices UseBareEnumeration -bool FALSE

Then log out of your macOS account and log back in.

Reply

Answer 15

Feb 5, 2018 2:52 PM in response to lfuller105

I use a maxed out 2012 Mac Pro and had no issues under Sierra. Upgraded to High Sierra 10.13.2 because of the Intel vulnerability issue and experienced the instant crash and reboot problem when connecting over vpn to my work Windows network. Installed 10.13.3 yesterday and still crashed under smb but I removed all network shortcuts and reconnected with cifs:// and so far it is working fine. Can open files remotely on the network and move files around without crashing. Haven't tried it under AFP yet but will try that too if its faster than cifs. BTW in case anyone is still having crashes, I also use windows through parallels and bootcamp partition and even under 13.2 I was able to log into the vpn on the Mac host and then access the network through the virtual windows machine with no issues. The work around was downloading files with the windows machine to a shared drive then working on them with the Mac. Not ideal of course but it did work. Hopefully we are fully resolved with 13.3 and won't need to do that anymore.

Reply