Finder quit unexpectedly - fails to load

[gzembow]

Helping a friend with a MBPro running HS 10.13.5

After a slow bootup the desktop appears and Chrome or System Preferences will open but there is no access to Finder or most programs.

One of the two following messages appears if Finder is Launched:

"The application finder can't be opened" or "finder quit unexpectedly"

When Disk Utility didn't remedy the issue I installed a new HS 10.13.6 on a new external SSD and it booted up and ran fine. But after running Migration Assistant and transferring the primary User to the SSD - after rebooting the same failures occurred.

Any ideas how to get Finder and the other apps, like Pages, to load properly?

Thanks

 

[BrianBaughn]

Your friend has a User Account that is showing symptoms of corruption or some sort of software conflict...his User Account doesn't run properly but a new, fresh one does.

Starting from scratch with a new User Account would be one solution.

Alternately, you're trying to track down an issue that may be hard to find. If you want to go down that rabbit hole you could download and run Etrecheck and post the anonymous report here for our perusal.

 

[Fishrrman]

Brian is right.
Your friend has -something- running in his account that is messing things up.
What is it?
(could involve some work to find out).

Best solution:
Create a NEW account, and then "move things over into it" a little at a time.
Keep notes.
If the problem suddenly re-appears, refer to the notes to see what the last few things "brought over" were.
They're probably the source of your problem.

 

[Gregg2]

Look here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443

A quote from that page:
"You can remove the new user account when you're done testing. Follow the steps for creating a new account, but click the Remove button (–) instead of the Add button (+). Before removing the account, make sure that you don't need any of the files or settings you created or copied in that account."

I was hoping it would be more specific. I can look for more info later, unless someone else wants to step in...