Is it OK to force quit finder?

Is it OK to force quit finder. I cannot turn off my computer because finder is running empty trash, and has been for over 30 hours.

Hey jamesfromlakeway,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like you want to know if you can Force Quit the Finder.
OS X: How to quit an unresponsive application using Force Quit
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3411
If the Finder is unresponsive, use Force Quit to relaunch it. Select Finder in the Force Quit Window or Dock, then click Relaunch.
Have a nice day,
Mario

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Desktop - files not showing - have to force quit finder

One little thing that annoys me about using the Mac is that files don't always show up on the desktop when an application, for example wiretap saves an audio file. I've also noticed they don't always show up on the desktop automatically when transfering a file to the desktop of another mac. The only way i've found to solve this is to force quit the finder, when they show themselves at last.
This seems a bit of a glitch in the perfection of OS X to me. Is it a recognised fault because it's a bit annoying to have to force quit the finder to use the files. I'm using 10.4.8. Thanks.

Hi Jerry,
I haven't let the ball spin for longer than 5 minutes so i'll let it run for longer and see if anything happens. I've tried both starting pages and opening a document independently and both cause it to freeze. This isn't happening with any other application.
Rachel

Force quit Finder - now Finder won't restart!

Hi there,
Last night I was converting a bunch of video files in Quicktime and copying them to a samba server on the LAN (so I could play them on my Linux-based media machine) when the Finder stopped responding and I got the spinning beachball of death.
The beachball appeared when I clicked on one of the files in Finder and it tried to generate a preview in column-view. The media files were fairly big ones (1 gig) and .mkv format (which seem particularly processor-intensive to decode) and I'm pretty sure the file in question was on the Samba server.
So all in all everything seemed to be against the Finder creating this preview and I figured it was going to take a long time to do so, so I'd just force-relaunch the Finder and go back and open the folder in a different view in order to copy it wherever it needed to be.
After doing so, though, Finder fails to restart - I've got no icons on my desktop and I can't navigate to a folder of files to click on the one I want to view.
Often in the past when I've experienced this, typing `open /path/to/folder` in terminal has had the effect of forcing Finder to restart, however on this occasion I get this error message "2008-05-23 18:11:07.383 open[7567] LSOpenFromURLSpec() returned -600 for application (null) urls file://localhost/Applications/."
If I look for the process using `ps` I see the process name in brackets:
$ ps -wwwwwx | grep Finder
5958 ?? E 0:00.00 (Finder)
$
Apparently the "E" in the above line indicates that the process is trying to exit. I can't get any further using `kill -9 5958` or anything else I've tried so far.
The Finder icon is still showing in the Dock and if I right-click on it I see "Application not responding" (greyed out), "Hide" and "Relaunch". Choosing "Relaunch" has no effect. Finder does not seem to appear in Activity Monitor (showing "All Processes") . If I open the "Force Quit Applications" dialogue again the Finder is still shown and highlighting it changes the button from "Force Quit" to "Relaunch", but clicking that has no effect (except that Finder disappears from the lit of programs; it reappears if I close the "Force Quit" window and reopen it from the Apple menu).
*+Obviously I could sort this by rebooting my computer, but I really don't want to do that right now.+* Can anyone suggest a way of properly killing this process so that Finder can restart?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Stroller.

BDAqua wrote:
Sometimes after Force quitting it a few times, it'll work... about 5% of the time.
Thanks - I'll give that a few more goes. Not that I haven't already!!
Might try to open Activity Monitor to see what else is hung, my guess is System UIServer or Window Server.
How would they show as hung?
WindowServer shows 1% - 2% activity, and the real & virtual memory values are updated every second or so, so I assume that's fine.
I was about to say that SystemUIServer does indeed show no activity, but it just blipped up to 0.2%.
I'm not familiar with SystemUIServer, but if I recall correctly killing or restarting WindowServer will close all my active windows, which is exactly what I'd like to avoid (I might as well reboot the machine as do that).
$ ps -wwwwwvvxa | grep -e WindowServer -e SystemUI
61 Ss 87:59.46 0 664 0 474840 107808 - 0 1.8 -5.1 /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/CoreGraphic s.framework/Resources/WindowServer -daemon
177 S 0:46.88 0 652 0 253740 11164 - 0 0.0 -0.5 /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemUIServer.app/Contents/MacOS/SystemUIServer -psn0655361
8520 R+ 0:00.00 0 488 0 27812 276 - 0 0.0 -0.0 grep -e WindowServer -e SystemUI
~ $
Furthermore, I think your HD/OS needs some maintenance.
I wouldn't debate that - I installed OS 10.4 on this machine when 10.4 was released, IIRC, so it's well overdue for a reinstall. I want to upgrade this system to 10.5, but have a load of procrastinating to do first.
But I would debate your evidence for saying it - doesn't everyone have a hung Finder occasionally? I don't think I've ever had a Mac which I didn't sometimes have to reboot. I would guess I've had pretty much this problem half a dozen times since this G5 was new - I reboot it and everything works fine and I forget about it. No worries. But right now that's not terribly convenient.
Typically I sleep my Macs when not in use, and `uptime` typically shows a month or two. But I do believe that Macs are prone to "inexplicable grouchiness" in this condition.
Stroller.

Forced quit Finder,, Now everythings gone!!!

I forced quit the finder when i got the spinning rainbow wheel, and it reset evrything to as if I had nothing on the computer at all, all my home documents are gone, all my itunes music, photos as if I were a brand new user of the computer. How do i get it back to the ways it was before i did this and restore my files and programs back?
Please help!

Did you check in your Users folder to see if the directory is there? Did you attempt to rename your Home folder?
-mj
[email protected]

White screen after force quit Finder

The message on my MacBook Pro was that disk space needed to be freed up...tried to move files to the trash but just stayed "in progress" for hours...online support suggested a force quit of Finder...after reboot, I only see a white screen of death.
So many pictures that haven't been backed up...help!

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Try starting in safe mode by holding the shift key until the grey Apple logo appears. If it starts like this open Disk Utility, select the drive and do a verify disk.
If that shows any errors insert the original installation dvd and restart holding the c key until the grey Apple logo appears. On the 1st installation screen select language & on the next locate DU from the top menu. This time run 'Repair Disk'. If it shows repairs completed rerun it until it shows no errors/repairs necessary. Then restart normally.
Report back with your results.
Neville

HT201276 after force quitting finder it will not relaunch finder without having to restart the computer. Why?

can anybody help me with this. I find it extremely annoying that I have to restart the computer as the finder will not relaunch without doing so. I am new to Mac and have just purchased one last month and am having a few issues with it I would like to resolve.

ok so finder crashed on me again just before and I took a few screen shots to show you, I was copying files I had on my portable hdd into a folder on my portable hdd - I really don't think it makes a difference if im copying from my mac hdd or my portable hdd it still seems to do it sometimes

When I login, all of my desktop items are gone, the "Finder" icon is bouncing and a message asking to restore windows is blinking but unresponsive. I can't exit out of it. What do I do? I've tried force quitting, and it doesn't get rid of it.

When I login, all of my desktop items are gone, the "Finder" icon is bouncing and a message asking to restore windows is blinking but unresponsive. I can't exit out of it. What do I do? I've tried force quitting, and it doesn't get rid of this message. When I login to my husband's account, this message does not appear.

Hey sunnyday7!
Here is an article that can help you address this issue:
OS X: How to quit an unresponsive application using Force Quit
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3411
Additional Information
OS X automatically relaunches the Finder when it is quit. If the Finder is unresponsive, use Force Quit to relaunch it. Select Finder in the Force Quit Window or Dock, then click Relaunch.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden

Finder won´t work. It doesn´t open any of my files, and when I try to force quit, it flahses, so i can´t click it. Help!!

I have a Macbook Pro. I´ve just installed Lion version 10.7.3.
Basically, one day I turned on my computer, and all my desktop folders and pictures were missing. And the finder just kept flashing with screen that said "finder quit while trying to restore all it´s windows" And you had the option between clicking To re-open the windows or not. Thing is, doesn´t matter what you clicked, because the thing kept flashing, so you couldn´t click it.
I ended up using the "killall finder" Code in terminal to close it.
But when that ended, turns out i can´t accsess any of my files. I can search them in spotlight, and if they are images, i can see them, but I´m uncapable of using my folders because they won´t open. Also, if you click the "Finder" app, it just opens the "All my files" Tab, for a split second before closing. I can´t force quit it, because when i open the force quit tab, the finder keeps flashing, so I can´t click it. Finder is killing me.

Lightroom doesn't use the Camera Raw plug-in. All of the Camera Raw technology is part of the Lightroom program. You will either have to upgrade to Lightroom 5 or use the DNG converter to create digital negative copies that can be used with Lightroom 4.

I imported vacation photos, got the color wheel and did a force quit. Now I can't find any of those photos, and of course I deleted them from the SD card when I imported them. Where can I find those photos?

I imported vacation photos from my cameras SD card and deleted them when the import was complete. Then I moved them from Events into an Album. When trying to move 2 photos as once to another album I got the color wheel and locked up. I did a force quit but when I go back into iPhoto none of the recently imported photos appear - not in Events, the album, trash, etc. Where can I find those photos?

backup the iPhoto Library and launch iPhoto while depressing and holding the option and command keys until the first aid window appears - rebid your iPhoto library
LN

The finder app on my Macbook is always open, no quit option and no force quit option. any ideas?

The finder app on my Macbook is always open. No "quit"option appears, and Force quit doesn't work to make it quit. Any ideas?
Thanks

There's absolutely no reason to quit it, just for curiosity maybe.
Most people think Finder runs the Mac GUI and that's why you can't quit it, but they are wrong. This is for Windows and Windows explorer. Mac is way stronger than Windows, thus doesn't need to run it's GUI on finder. There's no option to quit finder for pure symbolism, because Finder doesn't bother anyone and is the way the OS uses to manage files. However, if your curiosity is too strong, you can do this:
Enable Voice Feedback, Voice control, whatever you call it.
Put it to always work with a Keyword active.
Put focus on Finder and say "(Keyword), Quit this application".
Mac will quit finder. BOOM.
Nothing else will happens, the Mac will keep running and Finder won't start again until you (or some app) open it.
That was made on OS X Mountain Lion.

Finder spontaneously force quitting

Hello! About a week ago I updated my 2011 Macbook Pro to Yosemite and had no issues except I noticed that the Finder was constantly "Not Responding" but I was able to access it by going to File->New Finder Window despite this issue. Then last night, my computer slowed down a great deal and I was forced to restart my computer. Upon restarting, I was greeted by a gray screen with a little image of a gray man with a question mark over his face and the words Update Needed in brackets under that. I proceeded to my desktop to find that the icons on the desktop were all flashing as the Finder was spontaneously force quitting and reopening. I could not do anything as the computer was absolutely freaking out so I booted up in Safe Mode. Ran disk permissions, fixed disk permissions. No change upon rebooting normally. So i decided to install a fresh copy of OS X from the Recovery drive. Problem is still persisting. Does anybody have any suggestions for fixing this before I go ahead and do an erase and install from Time Machine? Thank you for your help!

EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)
Report generated November 5, 2014 at 7:49:20 AM AST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 21:55:18
Disk Information: ℹ️
Hitachi HTS545050B9A302 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 498.88 GB (271.49 GB free)
Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked
Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online
MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Mac App Store and identified developers
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
[failed] com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist
[failed] com.apple.nsurlsessiond.plist
[failed] com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.ctkd.plist
[failed] com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist
[failed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist
[failed] com.apple.nehelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.periodic-weekly.plist
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[invalid?] com.absolute.abtsvcd.plist Support
[loaded] com.absolute.rpcgeo.plist Support
[running] com.absolute.rpcnet.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[invalid?] com.cirrusthinking.dollycloned.plist Support
[failed] com.cirrusthinking.dsfploader.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[invalid?] com.amazon.cloud-player.plist Support
[running] com.amazon.music.plist Support
[invalid?] com.cirrusthinking.dbackupd.plist Support
[invalid?] com.cirrusthinking.dssbackupd-local.plist Support
[invalid?] com.cirrusthinking.dsyncrevod.plist Support
[invalid?] com.cirrusthinking.RevoScheduler.plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
DollyDrive UNKNOWNHidden (missing value)
iTunesHelper ApplicationHidden (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Dropbox ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.189 - SDK 10.6 Support
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 4.3.4f1 - SDK 10.6 Support
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
DirectorShockwave: Version: 12.1.0r150 - SDK 10.6 Support
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 15.0.0 - SDK 10.10 Check version
User Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
WebEx64: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 498.88 GB Disk used: 227.38 GB
Destinations:
Katie Behnke's Back-Up [Local]
Total size: 999.83 GB
Total number of backups: 17
Oldest backup: 2013-07-17 17:20:15 +0000
Last backup: 2014-10-26 00:55:53 +0000
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 999.83 GB > (Disk used 227.38 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      15% WindowServer
      4% Safari
      3% Dropbox
      3% hidd
      1% BetterSnapTool
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
120 MB Safari
116 MB Mail
82 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
52 MB WindowServer
47 MB Preview
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
229 MB Free RAM
1.11 GB Active RAM
776 MB Inactive RAM
1.13 GB Wired RAM
20.05 GB Page-ins
1.23 GB Page-outs

Every time I click on Safari nothing happens (macbook pro). Could it possibly be open in a hidden window? I have force quit, tried to reopen, tried to open in finder...nothing is working for me. Thanks, A

Every time I click on Safari nothing happens (macbook pro). Could it possibly be open in a hidden window? I have force quit, tried to reopen, tried to open in finder...nothing is working for me. Thanks, A

Hi vaqban,
If you are having an issue with Safari not launching you may want to troubleshoot using the steps in the following article -
Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1199
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

When I allow thumbnails to be generated, it can't find two (probably deleted awhile back) and now gets hung up and I have to force quit. What should I do?

Using latest version of iMovie. Have two external harddrives for my movies. Decided to finally allow "generate thumbnails" run. While running, it says it can't find a couple clips and gets hung up - have to force quit. What can I do?. Also, anyway to speed things up? Loading takes forever. Thanks for any help!

To answer the post title FireFox save all downloads automatically in the download folder, which you can find in the Documents folder. If you want to choose where to save your downloads go to tools>options>check always ask me where to save files.
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10.4 MAX OSX Fire Fox, for several months now, constantly is 'Unrepsonsive' and I have to force quit and start it again, can't find an answer on your support section, please help.

I have one or more Tabs open on my Fire Fox Browser, when suddenly, I am not able to do anything. I go to the "Force Quit" command, and find that the word "unresponsive" next to the Fire Fox Browser on the list of what's open on my desktop. Sometimes it happens with Word 2004. So, it could be a computer issue but I have no idea what to do. I don't think it has anything to do with downloading anything but it crashes several times a day.

Afraid I don't understand what you mean by a clean install. There is no such feature to Mac OS X. These are the installation options available:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607614
Please clarify?
Message was edited by: a brody

Finder 'force quitting'

For a couple months now 80% of the time i right click something in finder or on the desktop it starts that pinwheel and then just 'force quits' so no more arrow under the finder and everything on the desktop disappears, but then after 15 seconds or so it comes back (including everything on the desktop), but now lately it doesn't come back on it's own, i have to actually click on the finder in the dock, anyone know what's wrong? This is obviously not normal.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Leyslie

For a couple months now 80% of the time i right click something in finder or on the desktop it starts that pinwheel and then just 'force quits' so no more arrow under the finder and everything on the desktop disappears, but then after 15 seconds or so it comes back (including everything on the desktop), but now lately it doesn't come back on it's own, i have to actually click on the finder in the dock, anyone know what's wrong? This is obviously not normal.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Leyslie

Is it OK to force quit finder?

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