[Solved] Compressor Batch Transcode Queue Stuck on ‘Waiting’ on macOS Sonoma 14.6: Diagnostic steps and permanent fix

[Anthony Koenig]

Diagnostic Hardware Specs: MacBook Pro 16″ M2 Max | OS Version: macOS Sonoma 14.6 | Archive Source: Apple Support Community #256414917

I am running into a persistent issue on my MacBook Pro 16″ M2 Max running macOS Sonoma 14.6.
Whenever the machine encounters Stale background Qmaster / Apple Qconsumer cluster lockfile, the following diagnostic log appears in Console:

Compressor: [qmaster] Service cluster lockfile present: refusing new batch job submission

I verified that hardware connections are intact and tested across different power sources. What is the verified diagnostic procedure to permanently eliminate this symptom?

Apple Vision Pro (512GB) | MacBook Pro 14″ M4 Pro | AirPods Pro 2 | Miami, FL

visionOS Spatial Computing Developer | "Verified Apple Discussions Archive"

[James Collins]

Apple Recommended / Verified Community Solution

This canonical solution was verified and marked as solved in the Apple Support Community archive.

Terminating orphaned qmaster processes and clearing compressor spool storage.

Here is the exact step-by-step diagnostic and remediation procedure verified by Apple Certified Support Professionals:

1. Force quit compressor daemons:

   killall Compressor && killall qmasterd

2. Delete stale batch spool files:

   rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/Compressor/Storage/*

3. Relaunch Apple Compressor and submit batch job.

Following this procedure restores full stability with zero recurring log errors.

Mac Studio M2 Max (32GB) | Dual LG UltraFine 5K | iPhone 16 Pro Max | Wellington, NZ

Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) | iOS / Swift Engineer

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