BigSur: Delays in icon display on desktop

After running my iMac (BigSur, now 11.5.2) for a few weeks without rebooting, I notice some strange behaviour of the desktop: When creating files on the desktop, there is a very noticeable delay (tens of seconds) for the file's icon to appear on the desktop. , e.g. when

  • Taking a screenshot with ⇧⌘4 storing it to desktop
  • Dragging files from ~/Downloads to desktop
  • Using print dialog and storing pdf-file to desktop

During this delay, the Mac stays fully responsive. I can use or start applications normally, I can delete files on the desktop and the corresponding icons disappear immediately.

Activity Monitor or top or vm_stat do not show me anything unusual: No CPU shortage, no memory pressure, no network activity, no unusual disk activity. Also I do not find any helpful messages in Console App. To me, it looks like some kind of contention between threads.

Restarting Finder does not help. Only after rebooting the desktop returns to its normal responsive behaviour. The trouble starts again after approximately two weeks without restart.

I'm just sure, but I think this problem only occurs since the migration to BigSur.

I have no clue what is causing this effect. Any helpful hints welcome

Hans-Peter

BigSur: Delays in icon display on desktop
 
 
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