How to relaunch Finder on a Mac when it stops responding
Finder is frozen, windows will not open or the desktop is blank. Three ways to relaunch Finder without restarting your Mac, and what each one does.
How do I relaunch Finder?
- From the Dock: hold
⌥, right click the Finder icon, and choose Relaunch. - From Force Quit: press
⌥⌘Esc, select Finder, and click Relaunch. Finder is the one app that offers Relaunch here instead of Force Quit. - From Terminal: run
killall Finder. Finder starts again at once.
Finder windows close and the desktop icons blink, then come back. Your files are not touched.
Will relaunching Finder stop a file copy?
Yes. A copy in progress is cancelled, and the copy at the destination may be incomplete. Check it, delete it, and copy again.
Why does Finder keep freezing?
- A network drive or server that has gone offline. Eject it from the sidebar.
- A damaged or very slow external drive. Disconnect it and see if Finder recovers.
- A folder with thousands of files in icon view. Switch it to list view with
⌘2. - A Finder extension from a cloud storage app. Turn it off in System Settings, General, Login Items & Extensions.
What if relaunching does not help?
If the Dock and menu bar are stuck as well, see a frozen Dock and a frozen menu bar. If nothing at all responds, restart the Mac.
For other frozen apps, see how to force quit.
Checked on 22 October 2026 on a MacBook Air (M1) running macOS 27.0.1: the Relaunch item was read from the Dock's own menus.
Questions
How do I restart Finder on a Mac?
Option right click Finder in the Dock and choose Relaunch, or run killall Finder in Terminal.
Can you force quit Finder?
In the Force Quit window Finder shows Relaunch instead, which restarts it.
Does relaunching Finder delete files?
No. It only restarts the Finder app. A copy in progress is cancelled.
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