Beta 2 Finder crashing

Getting rid of the iCloud did the trick. However, trying to do it via Safe Mode didn't work out at all. Had to wait through like 100 crashes/freezes via Preferences to disable it and now it works just fine. Even apps like Photoshop that didn't start at all now works fine.

Thanks for the tip! For me, I couldn't even disble icloud drive because if I try to disable it, the system gives up after few minutes of trying. I tried to disable icloud drive for few times... and gavae up.

What worked for me is to create a completely new user account with administrator privilege, don't connect the user account with Apple Id on first login & finish the usual first time setup, reboot, and connect the user account with appleId. This allowed me to re-enable everything, including iCloud Drive, system is clean, and Finder no longer hangs or becomes unresponsive. The downside of doing this is that you manaully have to move files from your old account to your new account, but that is a icing on the cake compared to broken Finder.

I do think root cause of all these issues is iCloud Drive.

Yeah - I'm having exactly the same issues with Finder. I also get the issue when other apps try to open a finder window, say when adding an attachment in Outlook or adding an image in PowerPoint or on Slack. When trying to disable iCloud Drive it goes through the motions of trying to turn it off and then never manages it so stays enabled with the issue persisting.

I think there are multiple issues with Finder in general here. I too am having the issue of Finder hanging and crashing, but only if I go to view 2 specific (of 4) external drives. In my case the workaround was to change from list view to column view for those 2 drives.... bam, no more crashing.

Its worth noting that this isnt the first time Ive run into Finder issues like this in MacOS betas. Hopefully they get these things ironed out sooner than later. Bring on beta3! lol

Turn iCloud off and the fans will stop going crazy. And it's not only with Catalina, you might experience the same in Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra. Aniway, turning iCloud off is the easiest solution for now.

Has anyone tried beta 3 yet? I rolled back to 1 but a bit reluctant to update to 3 if this issue persists.

It works for me now even with iCloud enabled but would wait for more feedback from others to be sure.

Thanks clearthecourtroom, that was precisely the problem I was having as well. Those 2 steps you outlined cured the issue. Thank you.