4

Somehow recently I managed to mess up my Desktop folder so the contents are no longer displayed on the actual desktop. Anybody have any ideas how to get this back? It's not a problem normally since I normally use spotlight, but it'd be nice to have.

Thanks

tshauck
  • 429
  • What did you do? Perhaps all of the items are hidden. Click on an item, hit cmd+i, and see if the hidden checkbox is ticked. If it is, just unhide everything. Also make sure the folder you think is your desktop, actually is. Your desktop folder is located at /Users//Desktop. Maybe you created another folder elsewhere called Desktop and you're now confusing the two. – Harv Dec 12 '10 at 19:51
  • Not sure exactly what I did that changed it. I've your two suggestions any they both were fine. I also can't drop items on the desktop to put them in the folder - they just move back to the finder. – tshauck Dec 13 '10 at 05:33
  • @tshauck: are you using path finder by chance? – Robert S Ciaccio Dec 13 '10 at 15:37
  • @calavera I actually was at one point, dl'ed the trial version, but didn't think I needed it. – tshauck Dec 13 '10 at 15:52
  • @tshauck: there is an option in path finder to hide finder's desktop and replace it with a version provided by path finder. I'm not sure if it could be causing your problem if path finder is not running. However, you might want to try reinstalling it and checking its preferences, particularly the general preferences section. – Robert S Ciaccio Dec 13 '10 at 16:02
  • @calavera Hey, thanks that did the trick. If you'd like to post that in the answer section I'll give you some rep, if not thanks anyways. – tshauck Dec 13 '10 at 20:12
  • @tshauck: awesome, I'm glad that did it! – Robert S Ciaccio Dec 13 '10 at 20:16

2 Answers2

5

If you don't want to reinstall PathFinder, you can type this command in Terminal.app

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true

This will get them back. You might have to log in and out.

Loïc Wolff
  • 14,706
1

There is an option in path finder to hide finder's desktop and replace it with a version provided by path finder.

You might want to try reinstalling it and checking its preferences, particularly the general preferences section.

Robert S Ciaccio
  • 5,647
  • 3
  • 42
  • 52