"Fetching" spinning wheel in my sharing and permissions

See above, I corrected my typing error. My account is /Users/myname as it should be.

Today I was unable to login to my account and could not even change the password through another admin account, the recovery mode or iCloud. Thus I could not try the magic (?) command:

diskutil resetUserPermissions /  `id -u`

So I did the following:

• login on another admin account
• copy to "Shared" the folders from my damaged account
• login to Guest
• copy the folders from Guest to an external drive (Yes !!!! "staff" is back !)
• delete my damaged account
• recreate my account
• copy the folders from the drive to the new account
• set back the lost parameters (Mail accounts, etc.) TimeMachine restarted by itself but I wonder if I should not reset it.

In short, many hours lost to identify the problem, try to understand it (with your help) and finally to cure it.

Definitely, copying a TimeMachine archive (Backups.backupdb) from a HFS+ drive to a APFS drive was a VERY VERY VERY BAD idea.

Hi Barney-15,

Thank you for your answer but I am not sure I understand it.

for the missing user ID you just need to change ownership on the files to one of your users on the Mac.

Almost ALL the many folders of my account have "staff" replaced by Fetching. Even if it was not for so many folders, how I can repair this since "staff" is not amongst the groups proposed by the Finder?

The part that you think is strange is normal

I had a look to several Macs running Sequoia. All the users folders have:

xxxxx (Me) Read/write

staff Read only

everyone Read only

mine on the MacBook Pro has only:

xxxxx (Me) Read/write

everyone Read only

So I am surprised you think this is correct. Is Staff useless or just not necessary?

All the best

Thank you again for your help, I do appreciate your comments and suggestions.

When I initially read the post, I thought fetching was on the user as I have never seen it on the Group. Open Directory Utility, select the Directory Editor tab, and set the Viewing popup menu to Users. Find your account name, select it and look at the primaryGroupID. It should be 20 (Staff).

PrimaryGroupID: 38231146 <-- not exactly 20 indeed !!!!

Now that "fetching" disappeared, "staff" is replaced by "XXXDOMAIN" the Network Account Server of my lab.

The problem occurred when I tried to copy the whole content of an external HFS+ drive (archives from by old Macintoshes) to an external APFS drive. The copy of an old TimeMachine archive failed and then "fetching" appeared for folders in both external drives and also in the SDD of my computer. At the time of the copy, I was connected to my lab through a VPN. Disconnecting the Mac from the network did not restore a normal behaviour.

I am afraid that reinstalling macOS + TimeMachine won't cure the problem since my TimeMachine archive is probably damaged too.

In the Sharing & Permissions pane, option-click the + button. You will have access to every entity in the directory.

I tried that on /Users/myaccount. "staff" is now present but the gid is still wrong.

-------- Here more details on the present status of my account --------

Users
System
Library
Applications
	myaccount
		Group & permission
			myaccount (Me)	Read & Write
			[staff]          	<---------- Missing!
	         everyone 	Read only
	otheracoount
	Shared

My current account

$id
uid=1191350732(myaccount)
gid=38231146(XXXDOMAIN\Utilisa. du domaine)
groups=38231146(XXXDOMAIN\Utilisa. du domaine)
	12(everyone),
	62(netaccounts),
	79(_appserverusr),
	80(admin),
	81(_appserveradm),
	98(_lpadmin),
	33(_appstore),
	100(_lpoperator),
	204(_developer),
	250(_analyticsusers),
	395(com.apple.access_ftp),
	398(com.apple.access_screensharing),
	399(com.apple.access_ssh),
	400(com.apple.access_remote_ae),
	701(com.apple.sharepoint.group.1),
	702(com.apple.sharepoint.group.2),
	703(com.apple.sharepoint.group.3),
	704(com.apple.sharepoint.group.4),
	705(com.apple.sharepoint.group.5),
	106005411(XXXDOMAIN\xxxxxxxxxxxxx),
	then a list of XXXDOMAIN accounts

Other account

$id
uid=501(otheraccount)
gid=20(staff)
groups=20(staff),
	12(everyone),
	61(localaccounts),
	79(_appserverusr),
	80(admin),
	81(_appserveradm),
	98(_lpadmin),
	702(com.apple.sharepoint.group.2),
	705(com.apple.sharepoint.group.5),
	33(_appstore),
	100(_lpoperator),
	204(_developer),
	250(_analyticsusers),
	395(com.apple.access_ftp),
	398(com.apple.access_screensharing),
	399(com.apple.access_ssh),
	400(com.apple.access_remote_ae),
	701(com.apple.sharepoint.group.1),
	703(com.apple.sharepoint.group.3),
	704(com.apple.sharepoint.group.4)

Why is your account listed in the Applications directory? It should be in /Users

Oups, sorry this is copy/paste error!

Applications
Library
System
Users
	myaccount
		Group & permission
			myaccount (Me)	Read & Write
			[staff]          	<---------- Missing!
	         everyone 	    Read only
	otheraccount
	Shared

You seem to be bound to some directory server. I have no idea how that works.

I use a VPN to connect to my lab in a very classical way. Up to now, the gid of my account was 20 and the folders inside were simply "staff" as they should.

I was recently told that a colleague had similar problems when copying a TimeMachine archive (Backups.backupdb) from a HFS+ drive to a APFS drive. The Finder went mad!

I will try to get more details and search the web. I will also ask AppleCare if they are aware of such a problem.

I should add that, when I create a new empty folder it exhibits the "Fetching" spinning wheel.