Finder freezes

Question

Level 1

5 points

Finder freezes

Out of nowhere, Finder started freezing. I cannot open any folder, whether that be through a desktop icon, right-click to the the Finder icon on the dock, CMD+SHIFT+G, or via command-line to open Finder (though I can access files in the shell). Finder also freezes when I right click on the desktop, and icon, or attempt to view anything but the Finder menu in the menu bar (such as File).

If I don't try to use Finder for a bit, I can open some folders. But as soon as I go to Recents (which is blank), problems start up again.

What I have tried:

* Starting in Safe Mode. Finder works, but not after a reboot into normal boot.

* Ran OnyX maintainance.

* Used CleanMyMac to clear various caches.

* Manually cleared CloudKit metadata (`rm ~/Library/Caches/CloudKit/CloudKitMetadata*; killall cloudd`).

* `rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist`.

* `rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemuiserver.plist`.

* `rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist`.

* As a desperate attempt, `sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches`.

I have had a similar problem that I believe was caused by Xcode before, but I cannot delete it because I cannot open the Applications folder.

EtreCheck: https://pastes.io/fw0kp6vgic

MacBook Pro (M1, 2020)

Posted on Aug 17, 2023 8:17 AM

Reply

Answer 1

geowar1

Level 1

14 points

Oct 22, 2023 10:58 AM in response to BeekeeperDan

Open spotlight (command-space); if there's a blue progress bar then spotlight is indexing.

For me once that finished the Finder started responding normally.

Reply

Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,334 points

Aug 17, 2023 9:57 AM in response to oliveryasuna

Since it works fine in Safe Mode means there's some software that is interfering with the system in normal mode. With that in mind do the following:

Download and run Etrecheck. Be sure to give it Full Disk access before running.

Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Then we can evaluate the report to see if we can determine the cause of the problem.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 5, 2023 1:56 PM in response to oliveryasuna

I have this problem also, since catching Sonoma I think.

If you go to your storage tab in settings, do you get erroneous numbers for your documents size on the volume?

Mine is bigger than the drive somehow.

In my case it's something to do with the home folder because I tried my spare login (worked fine) then remapped the home directory on that login and it broke in the same way instantly.

Now I need to figure out what it is.

Reply

Finder freezes

Similar questions