Learn how to collect system diagnostics in macOS for troubleshooting
A sysdiagnose is a tool in macOS that gathers system-wide diagnostic information. It’s useful for debugging and understanding system behavior. 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
- 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.