Problem with iCloud Drive "Desktop and Documents folder" check box not sticking

Question

I have a problem very similar to What could cause iCloud Drive to refuse to sync Desktop & Documents?. I can't get the Preferences -> Apple ID -> iCloud Drive , Options ... -> "Desktop and Documents Folders" check box to stick. I check it and there is a spinning wheel and the text "Setting up" and then I press done. But when I go back again it is still not checked.

I have a new MacBook Air M1 and with the latests 11.1 OSX. I have just started it and enabled iCloud.

When I look in the console and filter on bird, I get the following error messages:

default 16:46:30.160768+0100    bird    DSMoveSyncedDocumentsAndDesktopToHomeDirectory_V1 <private> -> (null),<private> (0)
error   16:46:30.160867+0100    kernel  Sandbox: bird(969) deny(1) file-write-create /Users/oskar/.DS_BarrierSync
default 16:46:30.168781+0100    bird    "The connection to ACDAccountStore was invalidated."
fault   16:46:30.195447+0100    bird    [CRIT] Failed to move synced Documents to Home Directory: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=66 UserInfo={NSFilePath=<private>}
error   16:46:30.198179+0100    bird    [ERROR] Failed to apply sync policy: -1 for folder type: 2, error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=66 UserInfo={NSFilePath=<private>}
fault   16:46:30.219949+0100    bird    [CRIT] UNREACHABLE: there are still XPC clients around: <private>

I have tried removing the Documents folder that seems to help for some but I made no difference. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Later today I actually solved it. Mostly by chance. What I did was that I changed the computer name via Preferences -> Sharing -> Computer name: I did anyway want to change it and after I changed it and checked the terminal I noticed some folder name change in my home directory.

So after this I again tried to check the Preferences -> Apple ID -> iCloud Drive , Options ... -> "Desktop and Documents Folders" box, and this time it took longer for the spinning wheel and it worked. After allowing it to sync for 10 min and then a quick reboot I not have the desktop and documents folders under the iCloud Drive section in Finder and it is synced with all my precious documents and devices.