Many people have reported being unable to run Google Drive for desktop on MacOS because they get a message saying "account <email address> cannot be loaded".
The current version of Google Drive for desktop seems to not behave properly if there is an old dfsfuse.kext kernel extension . This is visible when you run System Information and click on Extensions. "System Information" is in Applications/Utilities or you can click on the Apple at the top left of the screen, select "About This Mac", then "System Report...".
- Exit any running Google Drive desktop program by clicking on the Google Drive icon in the top bar, then the gear wheel , then Exit.
- Using Finder move Google Drive from Applications to the Bin.
- Using Finder look in "Macintosh HD/Library". There should be a folder Google with a subfolder DriveFS.
- Move DriveFS to the Bin. (Be careful, I find it best to right-click (ctrl-click) on the folder and select "Move to Bin".
- Empty the Bin.
- Restart the Mac, this causes the Auxiliary Kernel Collection (AuxKC) to be rebuilt.
- Download the latest version of Google Drive for desktop and go through the installation procedure.
- You may now find that Google Drive just works with no more error messages.
- You may need to approve it in System Preferences, under Security & Privacy->General then reboot (I did not have to do this on the two machines I tried, one running Catalina and one running Monterey.)
I haven't had any problems doing this but I accept no responsibility if things go wrong or you delete the wrong files! It is always a good idea to have a bootable backup ready.
The /Library/Google/DriveFS/dfsfuse.kext is repopulated when Google Drive for desktop is reinstalled.
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