Please help me! Your Zotero profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible

TennJ
Hi. I just dowloaded Zotero on my Mac. It just updated its OS to Sequoia. I tried opening Zotero and it says "Your Zotero profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible". Please help.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u11972435/7x2tc0mqh9d0d7msran5.png
  • dstillman
    edited December 16, 2024
    Have you run Zotero on this computer before?

    Did you transfer data from another Mac where you did use Zotero?

    Check the file permissions in your Zotero profile directory as well as /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/Zotero. (Follow similar steps as on the linked page to get to the latter.)
  • TennJ
    No. This is brand new Mac and I'm just now trying to install Zotero. I had it on my Windows PC. I'll try to follow these steps and see if it fixes anything.
  • TennJ
    I accessed the library and went into the application support folder but there's no folder there for Zotero even though I have it installed. The only folder I see is called Old Windows AppData and when I clicked all the folders inside it, it just takes me to a jpg file.

    So it's Library/Application Support/Old Windows AppData/Local/Packages/MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy/LocalCache/Microsoft/IrisService/14444069445890255785/133785283033122507.jpg
  • dstillman
    It sounds like you're looking at the wrong Library folder (/Library). Library/Application Support within your home folder (i.e., /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support or ~/Library/Application Support) would have more in it.

    Are you running third-party security software on this Mac?
  • TennJ
    I followed the instructions on the previous thread exactly how they were written, I even found the hidden Library folder so it's unlikely that I'm in the wrong place. There's nothing about Zotero in Application Support. I also went to Library/Application Support and there's nothing there for Zotero either. I'm not running a third-party security software
  • dstillman
    edited December 17, 2024
    But you're saying you only have one folder, "Old Windows AppData", in [home]/Library/Application Support? I think something would have to be very wrong if that's the case — I'm pretty sure there are normally more folders there even in a new macOS installation, and certainly if you've opened any other apps.

    Did you set this computer up yourself, or did an IT department do so? Did you use Migration Assistant (which starts when you start a new Mac) to copy data from the old PC? I'm barely seeing any mention of a folder by that name online, but it's possible Migration Assistant creates it.

    Can you open Terminal via Spotlight, copy and run this, and paste the result here?

    ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support
  • kraut_librarian
    Hello, was there a solution to this problem?
    I was asked exactly the same question today by a student here in the library. (no Zotero in the application support folder, only macutil1 and Old Windows AppData, same error message.
    Thanks for your help!
  • dstillman
    edited yesterday at 2:01pm
    @kraut_librarian: Can you (or the student) run the command above and provide the output and also answer my other questions above?

    To be clear, this definitely wouldn't be a Zotero issue, but it'd be good to know how it's happening. This would be due to something going wrong in the migration process, possibly by some third-party tool.
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