[Bug]: Couldn't communicate with a helper application #9432
Description
⚠️ Before submitting, please verify the following: ⚠️
- This is a bug, not a question or a configuration issue.
- This issue is not already reported on Github (I've searched it).
- Nextcloud Server and Desktop Client are up to date. See Server Maintenance and Release Schedule and Desktop Releases for supported versions.
- I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct
Bug description
One folder is out of sync on the desktop client, while on the server side, the folder is okay. There is this error message "Couldn't communicate with a helper application". It's not the only folder that is out of sync and refuses to sync with the server, you can see in the screenshot multiple folders with the same fate. Though on the server side, they are all fine, and I can download them.
Also, the folder is no longer recognised as a folder but as an unknown file type.
Steps to reproduce
- VFS is enabled on the latest stable version of NextCloud Desktop on macOS
- Several weeks ago, it stopped syncing this folder in question and showing it with a white icon instead of the regular blue folder icon
- A cloud icon with an exclamation point appears
Expected behavior
The folder should be sync with the server or at least have the option to force the sync from the client side for this specific folder.
Which files are affected by this bug
Folder
Operating system
macOS
Which version of the operating system you are running.
macOS Tahoe 26.2
Package
Official macOS Virtual files 12+ universal pkg
Nextcloud Server version
32.0.5
Nextcloud Desktop Client version
4.0.6
Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?
Updated from a minor version (ex. 3.16.1 to 3.16.2)
Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?
Encryption is Disabled
Are you using an external user-backend?
- Default internal user-backend
- LDAP/ Active Directory
- SSO - SAML
- Other
Nextcloud Server logs
{"reqId":"HBccTLg1oVwPvXHBNxMZ","level":2,"time":"2026-02-06T09:44:44+00:00","remoteAddr":"IP","user":"USER","app":"settings","method":"GET","url":"/settings/api/apps/media?fileName=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnextcloud%2Ffirstrunwizard%2Fraw%2Fmaster%2Fimg%2FNextcloud.mp4","scriptName":"/index.php","message":"Could not load media file for app discover section","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/26.2 Safari/605.1.15","version":"32.0.5.0","exception":{"Exception":"GuzzleHttp\\Exception\\ClientException","Message":"Client error: `GET https://github.com/nextcloud/firstrunwizard/raw/master/img/Nextcloud.mp4` resulted in a `404 Not Found` response:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html\n lang=\"en\"\n \n data-color-mode=\"auto\" data-light-theme=\"light\" data-dark-theme=\"dark\"\n (truncated...)\n","Code":404,"Trace":[{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/guzzle/src/Middleware.php","line":72,"function":"create","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Exception\\RequestException","type":"::","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":209,"function":"{closure:{closure:{closure:GuzzleHttp\\Middleware::httpErrors():60}:61}:67}","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Middleware","type":"::","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":158,"function":"callHandler","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"::"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/TaskQueue.php","line":52,"function":"{closure:GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise::settle():156}","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"::","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":251,"function":"run","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\TaskQueue","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":227,"function":"invokeWaitFn","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":272,"function":"waitIfPending","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":229,"function":"invokeWaitList","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":69,"function":"waitIfPending","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/guzzle/src/Client.php","line":189,"function":"wait","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Http/Client/Client.php","line":206,"function":"request","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Client","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/apps/settings/lib/Controller/AppSettingsController.php","line":185,"function":"get","class":"OC\\Http\\Client\\Client","type":"->","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":204,"function":"getAppDiscoverMedia","class":"OCA\\Settings\\Controller\\AppSettingsController","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":118,"function":"executeController","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php","line":153,"function":"dispatch","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Route/Router.php","line":321,"function":"main","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\App","type":"::"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/base.php","line":1061,"function":"match","class":"OC\\Route\\Router","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/index.php","line":25,"function":"handleRequest","class":"OC","type":"::"}],"File":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/guzzle/src/Exception/RequestException.php","Line":111,"message":"Could not load media file for app discover section","media_src":"https://github.com/nextcloud/firstrunwizard/raw/master/img/Nextcloud.mp4","exception":[],"CustomMessage":"Could not load media file for app discover section"},"id":"6985b81aa9931"}
{"reqId":"mKVVKSNm12HAGw9YTgwD","level":2,"time":"2026-02-06T09:44:43+00:00","remoteAddr":"IP","user":"USER","app":"settings","method":"GET","url":"/settings/api/apps/media?fileName=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnextcloud%2Ffirstrunwizard%2Fraw%2Fmaster%2Fimg%2FNextcloud.webm","scriptName":"/index.php","message":"Could not load media file for app discover section","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/26.2 Safari/605.1.15","version":"32.0.5.0","exception":{"Exception":"GuzzleHttp\\Exception\\ClientException","Message":"Client error: `GET https://github.com/nextcloud/firstrunwizard/raw/master/img/Nextcloud.webm` resulted in a `404 Not Found` response:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html\n lang=\"en\"\n \n data-color-mode=\"auto\" data-light-theme=\"light\" data-dark-theme=\"dark\"\n (truncated...)\n","Code":404,"Trace":[{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/guzzle/src/Middleware.php","line":72,"function":"create","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Exception\\RequestException","type":"::","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":209,"function":"{closure:{closure:{closure:GuzzleHttp\\Middleware::httpErrors():60}:61}:67}","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Middleware","type":"::","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":158,"function":"callHandler","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"::"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/TaskQueue.php","line":52,"function":"{closure:GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise::settle():156}","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"::","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":251,"function":"run","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\TaskQueue","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":227,"function":"invokeWaitFn","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":272,"function":"waitIfPending","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":229,"function":"invokeWaitList","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/promises/src/Promise.php","line":69,"function":"waitIfPending","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/guzzle/src/Client.php","line":189,"function":"wait","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Promise\\Promise","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Http/Client/Client.php","line":206,"function":"request","class":"GuzzleHttp\\Client","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/apps/settings/lib/Controller/AppSettingsController.php","line":185,"function":"get","class":"OC\\Http\\Client\\Client","type":"->","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":204,"function":"getAppDiscoverMedia","class":"OCA\\Settings\\Controller\\AppSettingsController","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":118,"function":"executeController","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php","line":153,"function":"dispatch","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Route/Router.php","line":321,"function":"main","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\App","type":"::"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/base.php","line":1061,"function":"match","class":"OC\\Route\\Router","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/index.php","line":25,"function":"handleRequest","class":"OC","type":"::"}],"File":"/home/nextcloud/live/3rdparty/guzzlehttp/guzzle/src/Exception/RequestException.php","Line":111,"message":"Could not load media file for app discover section","media_src":"https://github.com/nextcloud/firstrunwizard/raw/master/img/Nextcloud.webm","exception":[],"CustomMessage":"Could not load media file for app discover section"},"id":"6985b81aa9c55"}
{"reqId":"XfoUGJUgypraI2ZIbpvF","level":3,"time":"2026-02-06T07:42:31+00:00","remoteAddr":"IP","user":"--","app":"core","method":"GET","url":"/bgymj.php","scriptName":"/index.php","message":"Could not decrypt or decode encrypted session data","userAgent":"--","version":"32.0.5.0","exception":{"Exception":"Exception","Message":"HMAC does not match.","Code":0,"Trace":[{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Security/Crypto.php","line":98,"function":"decryptWithoutSecret","class":"OC\\Security\\Crypto","type":"->","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Session/CryptoSessionData.php","line":70,"function":"decrypt","class":"OC\\Security\\Crypto","type":"->","args":["*** sensitive parameters replaced ***"]},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Session/CryptoSessionData.php","line":47,"function":"initializeSession","class":"OC\\Session\\CryptoSessionData","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Session/CryptoWrapper.php","line":75,"function":"__construct","class":"OC\\Session\\CryptoSessionData","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/base.php","line":421,"function":"wrapSession","class":"OC\\Session\\CryptoWrapper","type":"->"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/base.php","line":699,"function":"initSession","class":"OC","type":"::"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/base.php","line":1192,"function":"init","class":"OC","type":"::"},{"file":"/home/nextcloud/live/index.php","line":23,"args":["/home/nextcloud/live/lib/base.php"],"function":"require_once"}],"File":"/home/nextcloud/live/lib/private/Security/Crypto.php","Line":162,"message":"Could not decrypt or decode encrypted session data","exception":[],"CustomMessage":"Could not decrypt or decode encrypted session data"},"id":"6985b81abc6f7"}Additional info
I can provide debug logs through a private link if needed.