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The "Shared" section in the Finder sidebar does not appear

Two fixes for this issue.

CNET staff
2 min read

For some users, when connecting to PC networks the "Shared" section of the Finder sidebar does not appear as expected, even though the PCs have available shares. The only time Widows shares seem to appear is when the Macintosh is the first device to log onto the network. Despite this problem, network functionality appears to be working normally, and manually connections using the "Connect to server..." option in the Finder's "Go" menu (command-K) works fine. This problem seems to only be with the sidebar, as the network resources do display normally in the "Network" section located at the computer's root (next to the hard drives), as described by one user:

Apple Discussions poster Timothy Roban writes:

"This problem has just shown up on my machine as well. My settings appear to be correct however the 'Shared' tab does not show up at all. I can find my network and all the connected machines by digging down to the root folder on the hard drive but it refuses to display on the sidebar."

Unfortunately, the fixes that have worked for some users have not been universal solutions, and this problem persists for some users.

Fixes

  • Change the firewall settings For some users, changing the firewall settings from the default "Allow only essential services" to the "Set access for specific services and applications" resolves this issue.
  • Remove relevant .plist files The sidebar contents and behavior are determined in part by two .plist files that may have become corrupt. Removing these files should restore proper behavior if they are corrupted. The files are located in the user preferences folder (~/Library/Preferences/) and are called com.apple.sidebarlists.plist and com.apple.finder.plist.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources

  • Timothy Roban
  • Late-breakers@macfixit.com
  • More from Late-Breakers