Activity monitor not working on Mac? Well, in this article, i’ll show you exactly how you can fix if
Activity Monitor
is not working properly on your Mac. The troubleshooting tips below will help you fix the following problems:
- Mac activity monitor crashes.
- Mac activity monitor won’t open.
- Mac activity monitor not responding.
- Mac activity monitor shows nothing.
- Not working as expected.
Activity Monitor is a utility app included with macOS. It monitors Mac activity, what your Mac is doing. This app is important as it can help you identify
Apps and processes that are not working properly, and shut them down if necessary.
You can open Activity Monitor from your
Utilities
folder of the Applications folder.
If you are facing problems using Activity Monitor, please try the troubleshooting steps below. After every step, check your Mac to see if your issue was fixed.
1. Force quit and restart
Try force quitting the app and then launch again. This may resolve activity monitor issues on your Mac. Please follow these steps:
- Hold down the Option, Command, and Esc (Escape) keys together (or click the Apple menu and Force Quit).
- Now, you’ll see the force quit window.
- Next, choose Activity Monitor.
- Next on, click Force Quit.
- Finally, launch the Activity Monitor.
2. Restart your Mac
Restarting your Mac may resolve Activity Monitor issues. To restart your Mac, select the Restart option from the Apple menu in the upper-left-hand corner of
your display.
3. Update your Mac
Ensure that your Mac is running the
latest version of the macOS software.
Follow these steps to update your Mac:
- To update macOS Mojave or higher, head over to System Preferences and then Software Update.
- To update macOS High Sierra or older, launch the App Store on your Mac and then click the Updates tab.
4. Safe Mode
Starting your
Mac in Safe Mode
may resolve your problem. You need to start your Mac in Safe Mode, then while in Safe Mode try to launch Activity Monitor. Then restart your Mac normally to exit Safe
Mode. Follow these steps:
- Shut down your Mac by going to Apple menu > Shut down.
- Power your Mac back on and immediately press and hold the Shift key.
- Hold down the Shift key until you see the login screen.
- After the login screen appears, release the Shift key.
- Now, login.
- Your Mac is now running in Safe Mode. Your Mac will run slower, don’t worry, it’s normal. Now launch Activity Monitor. Is it opening and working?
- Whatever the case,
exit Safe Mode.
Simply restart your Mac normally without pressing any keys.
5. Delete Activity Monitor plist file
A plist is a “preference” file for apps. This file stores app preference settings. Sometimes this file might get corrupted and lead to problems like this. Deleting
may fix Mac activity monitor not working issues.
When this file is deleted, a new plist file with the default settings Is automatically created by macOS.
Follow these steps:
- Exit Activity Monitor if it’s active.
- Launch Finder.
- Now, press and hold down the Option (alt) key.
- While holding down the Option key, click Go and Library.
- Go to the Preferences folder.
- Next, find the com.apple.ActivityMonitor.plist file.
- Next on, erase this file by dragging it to the Trash.
- Finally, empty the Trash.
- Now, open Activity Monitor to see if it works.
6. Use Console
If you are still experiencing problems, you may need to use the Console app to identify and then fix the problem. The Console app allows you to view debug messages and log
files on your Mac. Please follow these steps:
- Launch Console. You can launch it from the Utilities folder in your Applications directory. Alternatively, you can use Spotlight.
- Next, try to launch Activity Monitor.
- Next on, monitor Console for Activity Monitor log messages. These log entries may offer you hints.
Finally, if a third party app is causing problems, you can
contact its developer
or
remove it.