Learn how to collect system diagnostics in macOS for troubleshooting
What is a Sysdiagnose?
A sysdiagnose in macOS is a powerful tool designed to help troubleshoot and debug complex system issues. It collects a wide range of diagnostic data from your Mac, making it invaluable for identifying performance problems, crashes, and other system anomalies. Sysdiagnoses can be generated using a few different methods, each of which may apply for different levels of user access.
- Generating a Sysdiagnose Using a Keyboard Shortcut
- Generating a Sysdiagnose Using the Command Line
- Generating a Sysdiagnose Using Activity Monitor
What sysdiagnose Collects
When you run sysdiagnose, it gathers an extensive array of information, including:
- System-wide performance profiles - Captures the state of running processes
- Filesystem activity logs - Reports on system calls and page faults related to filesystem usage
- Process information - Provides detailed data on running processes and memory usage
- Kernel memory usage - Includes data on kernel zones and loaded kernel extensions
- System and crash logs - Collects all relevant logs to help diagnose issues
- Hardware and software configuration - Similar to the System Information app, but more detailed
- Network and power management data - Details on current network status and power settings
Generating a Sysdiagnose Using a Keyboard Shortcut
- Click the Finder icon in the Dock to ensure that Finder is in the foreground.
- All at once, press Command + Option + Shift + Control + Period (.) on the keyboard.
- After a few moments, a Finder window should appear with a tar.gz file shown.
- If the sysdiagnose was requested by Kandji Support, please zip it and provide the entire bundle.
Generating a Sysdiagnose Using the Command Line
This method requires administrator privileges.
- Launch Terminal.app and enter the following command:
sudo sysdiagnose -f ~/Desktop/
- Wait a few moments for a file ending in .tar.gz to appear on the logged-in user's Desktop. If you logged into Terminal with a different user than is logged into the Mac, the file will be on the Terminal user's Desktop.
- If the sysdiagnose was requested by Kandji Support, please zip it and provide the entire bundle.
Generating a Sysdiagnose Using Activity Monitor
This method requires administrator privileges.
- Open the Activity Monitor app on your Mac.
- Click the ellipses at the top of the Activity Monitor window.
- Select System Diagnostics...
- Read through and accept the privacy agreement.
- Wait for the progress bar to complete. Once done, a Finder window should appear with a tar.gz file shown.
- If the sysdiagnose was requested by Kandji Support, please zip it and provide the entire bundle.