Finder freezes when copying files from NAS to Mac on macOS Sequoia 15.6.1

Question

Level 1

24 points

Finder freezes when copying files from NAS to Mac on macOS Sequoia 15.6.1

Hi everyone,

since I updated yesterday to macOS Sequoia version 15.6.1 (24G90) on my MacBook Pro M2 Max, I’ve been experiencing serious issues accessing files on my QNAP NAS over SMB.

Here’s what happens:

I can copy files from my Mac to the NAS without problems.
But copying from the NAS to my Mac doesn’t work at all.
If I select a file and the Finder tries to load a preview, the whole Finder freezes.
After a force quit, Finder still won’t reopen, and the only way to recover is to power off the Mac by holding the power button.
The same freeze occurs if I try to open a file directly from the NAS or copy/paste it to the Mac.

Luckily, I have a backup of the NAS files on an external HDD, otherwise this would have been a disaster for my work.

Has anyone else experienced this with Sequoia 15.6.1? Any suggestions or workarounds would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Here a report:

Issue description:

After updating to macOS Sequoia 15.6.1, Finder becomes unresponsive when accessing files on the NAS.

Steps to reproduce:

Connect to NAS via SMB.
Browse to a folder containing files.
Select a file (Finder attempts to load preview).
Finder freezes completely.

Observed behavior:

Copying files from Mac → NAS works correctly.
Copying files from NAS → Mac fails (Finder freezes).
Finder does not recover after force quit.
Only way to restore functionality is to power off the Mac via long press on the power button.

Expected behavior:

Files should be accessible and copyable in both directions without Finder freezing.

Additional notes:

Issue did not occur before updating to 15.6.1.
Luckily I had a secondary backup on an external HDD; otherwise this would have caused serious data loss risk.

Has anyone else experienced the same issue, or found a workaround?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Finder freezes when selecting files on NAS drive (SMB). macOS Sequoia 15.6.1 (24G90) – MacBook Pro M2 Max

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Aug 28, 2025 03:12 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 28, 2025 03:19 AM in response to IceCubeAle

It is a Sequoia 15.6.1 SMB bug rather than anything wrong with your NAS. Right now the best workaround is to bypass Finder: either mount the NAS via AFP if your QNAP still supports it, or use Terminal/rsync to pull files down (rsync -av /Volumes/NAS/Folder ~/Desktop/).

You can also disable Finder previews (View > Show View Options > uncheck “Show icon preview”) which sometimes prevents the freeze. If you need Finder reliability, copy via QNAP’s web interface or mount over WebDAV until Apple drops a patch.

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Answer 2

Aug 28, 2025 05:22 AM in response to IceCubeAle

yea, for now, avoid Finder for NAS pulls, either kill previews (View Options > uncheck “Show icon preview”), or just grab files via Terminal with rsync/cp. If your QNAP still supports AFP or WebDAV, mount that way to dodge the freeze.

They have to patch SMB handling in a point update, so until then it’s just workarounds.

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Answer 3

Sep 1, 2025 03:10 AM in response to neuroanatomist

It’s not a universal bug, which is why you’re not seeing it on your Synology or QNAP. I’ve personally hit it on a QNAP setup with Sequoia 15.6.1 where Finder consistently froze when previews were triggered, but only on certain shares.

Disabling previews or pulling files via Terminal avoids the hang, which points to metadata/thumbnail requests as the trigger. So yeah, not everyone will hit it, but it’s real enough for some QNAP users on this build.

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Answer 4

IceCubeAle Author

Level 1

24 points

Aug 28, 2025 04:30 AM in response to iamshivam

Yeah i think Sequoia doesn’t like SMB at all 🤣

Also with Safari i have a bug that doesn’t allow me to save downloaded files directly to the NAS but i have to save it first on the Mac, than copy them on NAS.

This things trigger me 😅

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Answer 5

Aug 28, 2025 06:55 AM in response to iamshivam

iamshivam wrote:

It is a Sequoia 15.6.1 SMB bug rather than anything wrong with your NAS.

Is there documentation of this bug? Is this a bug that you're personally experienced? I ask because with two different Macs running 15.6.1 connected to two different NAS systems, copying files from the NAS to the Mac with Finder and viewing previews (Finder thumbnails and Quick Look) work just fine.

Tried it at home with my personal Mac (16" M4 Pro MBP) and my Synology DS 223j and it worked fine. Tried it at work with my work Mac (16" M1 Pro MBP) and our QNAP TVS-h1688X and it worked fine.

Connecting to both NAS units with SMB. No bugs here.

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Answer 6

Aug 28, 2025 06:45 AM in response to IceCubeAle

IceCubeAle wrote:

Also with Safari i have a bug that doesn’t allow me to save downloaded files directly to the NAS but i have to save it first on the Mac, than copy them on NAS.

I can save from Safari to a QNAP NAS just fine, e.g., secondary-click an image, click Save Image As and point the dialog box to a folder on the NAS. Just did that, the image shows up where I saved it (and I can preview it in Finder and copy it back to my Mac).

I would recommend troubleshooting your NAS or your connection to it.

Is your NAS running current firmware? Have you restarted the NAS? Those are simple starting points.

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Answer 7

IceCubeAle Author

Level 1

24 points

Aug 28, 2025 08:54 AM in response to neuroanatomist

[SOLVED - Just don't know how neither for how long 😅]

TL:DR

Strangely, the issue seems to have resolved itself this afternoon. I didn’t change anything on the NAS (firmware already up to date), but after reconnecting to the office network and toggling SMB/AFP, Finder suddenly started working again. For now everything is fine — I’ll keep monitoring in case it comes back intermittently.

________________________________________________________________________

This afternoon the bug seems to have fixed itself.

On the NAS side I didn’t change anything – it was already updated to the latest firmware months ago and I’ve never had issues using it with either Mac or PC in the office. I had also restarted the NAS previously while the bug was happening, but that didn’t solve anything.

Today, when reconnecting my MacBook to the office network, I tried switching the protocol from SMB to AFP just to test. Of course, my QNAP NAS doesn’t support AFP, so nothing changed. I switched back to SMB and, magically, it started working again.

Earlier this morning I had already removed and re-added the connection between Mac and NAS, and tried several other troubleshooting steps without success. I really don’t know what changed, but for now it’s working.

Hopefully tomorrow in the office it will still work and won’t start acting up “intermittently” 🫤

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Answer 8

IceCubeAle Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 1, 2025 01:00 AM in response to IceCubeAle

[NOT SOLVED / SOLVED]

Sometimes it works properly sometimes not. Today not.

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Answer 9

IceCubeAle Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 1, 2025 03:34 AM in response to iamshivam

In the meantime, I’ve found a temporary workaround.

If I access the NAS through its local web portal (https://192.xxx.xxx.xxx), I can manually download/copy the files to my Mac, work on them locally, and then upload them back to the NAS at the end of the day.

It’s not ideal, but at least it allows me to continue working while Finder/SMB access is unreliable.

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