Fix Mac File Sharing Not Working on Monterey/Big Sur/Catalina

You have configured File Sharing on your Mac and are going to share files and folders with others over your network. However, you find that Mac File Sharing is not working. And you may run into one of the following specific scenarios:

File Sharing goes wrong is not a rare issue. If you are looking for workarounds, check out this post. This guide offers the ways for fixing Mac File Sharing that is not working on macOS Monterey, Big Sur, and Catalina and also explains the reasons.

Why is your File Sharing not working?

File Sharing on your Mac is a built-in feature that is used to share files and folders with other users over your network. So, when File sharing is not working, either unable to enable and set up or the shared user can't connect and access the shared folder from another device, the possible reasons are as below:

• Incorrect File Sharing configurations
• System bugs
• File Sharing errors
• Limited permissions of the shared folders for the shared user

Some users report that File Sharing is not working properly after upgrading to macOS Monterey, Big Sur, or Catalina. And they are feedback by the Apple support team that this issue resulted from a macOS bug, not File Sharing.

If your friends don't know the reasons why Mac File Sharing is not working, go to tell them.

Mac File Sharing is not working, what to do?

There are diverse reasons that can make you can't turn on File Sharing on Mac or fail to access the shared folder on your Mac from another computer. Whatever your specific situation is, you can follow the workarounds in this part to get your strike File Sharing back to normal.

And the first way you can try is to restart your Mac, which can refresh the operating system and fix the temporary bugs that may lead to Mac File Sharing not working properly. If this way makes no sense, try other solutions below.

Ways to fix Mac File Sharing that is not working:

Turn File Sharing off and then on

If File Sharing is not working, disabling and then enabling it is the simplest way to verify if the temporary File Sharing errors cause this problem. And you also need to ensure that File Sharing is enabled on both Mac computers rather than only the one that shares folders.

You can open the Apple menu > System Preferences > Sharing and then uncheck the box beside File Sharing to turn it off. After waiting for a moment, re-launch File Sharing and share the files or folders you want with others.

Enable File Sharing on Mac with Terminal

If you find that the Mac File Sharing checkbox is not working, leading you to fail to launch File Sharing. You can use Terminal to enable File Sharing on your Mac alternatively.

When the process finishes, just close the Terminal window. Then, re-open System Preferences and go to Sharing and check if you can tick the box beside File Sharing now.

Allow guest users to connect to shared folders

If you share a folder with the guest users of your Mac, you not only need to add the guest users to the Users list box in File Sharing but also need to reset the Users & Groups preferences to render the permissions to them.

To allow guest users to connect to shared folders, follow these steps:

Click the padlock to save the changes and then, relog into your Mac with the guest user's account to check if you can access the shared folder.

Show up the hidden shared folder in Finder

Perhaps, the Network icon doesn't appear in the Finder sidebar, which stops your access to the shared folder. So, you may think that Mac File Sharing is not working.

In fact, the Network icon is hidden. You can show it up by resetting the Finder preferences.

Then, you can open Network and select the Mac which shares folders and then follow the on-screen guide to connect to it and look through the shared folders.

Check and adjust File Sharing settings

Sometimes, you or someone else fails to read the files stored in the shared folder on another Mac and receive an error message like "Could not open because you do not have permission to view". That is not because Mac File Sharing not working but the permission issues.

You can apply the read or read and write permission to all the files in that shared folder.

Also, your inappropriate File Sharing configurations are also the culprits that make the shared folder can't be accessed or edited.

So, you also need to check your File Sharing settings, such as whether you've added the target folder to the Shared Folders box, granted the specific user the read or read and write privilege to that folder, and check "Share files and folders using SMB" in Options.

Repair the broken File Sharing with Terminal

Some users report that File Sharing is out of work due to certain inner software errors and there are no permanent fixes, except the trick - run Terminal to fix the broken File Sharing.

Now, go to check if File Sharing runs well or still not.

Update Mac

As the system bugs are also the troublemakers who cause File Sharing not working on macOS Monterey, Big Sur, or Catalina, you can check if there are any minor updates of each macOS version and update your Mac to the latest to fix the trouble.

Simply open the Apple menu > System Preferences > Software Updates. Then, click the update button if any minor macOS updates are available.

Share the above methods with more people to help them fix Mac File Sharing that's not working.

Other ways to share files and folders on Mac

In fact, apart from using Mac File Sharing to share files with your friends or colleagues, there are also other simple ways to share and transfer files from Mac to Mac. If you still can't get out of the Mac File Sharing not working in Catalina trouble, you can try other methods to share folders.

Use iCloud

iCloud will automatically save all files of the Desktop and Documents folders on your Mac. You can tell others about your iCloud account, then they can log into iCloud on their Apple devices, including Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and access your shared Desktop and Documents folders.

Use AirDrop

Moreover, you can also use Migration Assistant, Bluetooth Sharing,  iMessage, etc. to share a specific folder with the target Mac users.

Using File Sharing to share files is not the only method. You can tell more people about the other ways mentioned above to share files and folders on Mac.