Desktop picture disappears, won't return

Hi. When I plug my new MacBook into a projector (mini display to serial port convertor) and then unplug it, my desktop picture is replaced with the standard space one, and choosing my own again under Desktop/Screen Saver in Preferences makes no difference.
It's not crucial - but it is annoying. Any tips?
Thanks
Aidan

Click on the desktop and check Finder > View > Show view options.
Sort by.. snap to grid will have the files flying around..
Disappearing files in folders no idea except I have always been advised not too have too many items in the desktop folder.. (The desktop is actually a folder, see finder)

Similar Messages

  • Custom desktop picture disappears after restart

    Ever since I purchased my MacBook Pro my custom desktop picture disappears after a restart. I select a photo either from the internet or my iphoto library and when I reboot the computer it goes back to the original desktop pattern, my photo is gone. Has anybody noticed the same problem on theirs and if so, have you found a solution? Its not a big deal, mostly goes under 'curious why this happens and how can I fix it' category . . .

    Try running the combo update.
    10.9.4 Combo Update
    If that doesn't work, go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.
    Restart and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.
    If the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.
    Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.
    You might need to redo the View settings after an update.

  • When switching between user accounts, the background desktop picture disappears and goes to just a blue background. Whats up with that?

    When switching between user accounts, the background desktop picture disappears and goes to just a blue background. Whats up with that?

    All fixed! It was TeamViewer that was causing the problem.

  • Desktop icons disappear. won't stay where i drop them, and disappear if i try to put them in a folder.

    Recently noticed several icons on my desktop had disappeared.... found them in applications and documents folder, but they should be living on my desktop and I didn't move them. This keeps happening... I wake up my computer, quite randomly it seems, a file will have disappeared.
    At the same time I noticed several files on my desktop had moved themselves all the way to the top of the screen, just the very bottom lip of the file names were visible. Clean Up had no effect on these files.
    On top of that, no icon will stay where I drop it. I can pick up and drag the icon, but as soon as I drop it, it flies to some random spot on the screen.
    Finally, i can move a desktop file inside any folder. if I try it the file just disappears.
    I'm assuming all these problems are related and I'm hoping someone has a suggestion of what I can do to correct it. thanks.

    Click on the desktop and check Finder > View > Show view options.
    Sort by.. snap to grid will have the files flying around..
    Disappearing files in folders no idea except I have always been advised not too have too many items in the desktop folder.. (The desktop is actually a folder, see finder)

  • Desktop picture disappears

    10.5.3 on a macbook pro 2.6ghz. I was importing a few hundred pictures in nikon raw format into iphoto. Midway through the import, the existing desktop picture I had set reverted back to the default mac background. I can change it at any time, but if I shut down the computer and restart, it's back to default. disk utility found nothing wrong and all permissions have been repaired. Based on some other recommendations i've read, I also have deleted the desktop plist files as well with no success in repairing the problem. How do I fix this?

    I wonder if something went wrong with the cache files? I have two monitors, and both are set to change the Desktop picture upon login, picking randomly, each monitor from a different folder, and every now and again I change the folders. So I have a TON of cache files. They are located here:
    "/Users/francine/Library/Caches/Desktop"
    You might take a look and see what is in yours. Unfortunately the Cache folder is not backed up by Time Machine, so unless you have a clone from before things went wrong the only option is to remove the cache files and start over. So open the above referenced folder and drag the contents to the Trash, log out and back in, and the try resetting the Desktop in System Prefs.
    Francine
    Francine
    Schwieder

  • Client desktop pictures disappear after admin share screen

    I share my screen with 15 computers in my lab. When I quit the process and clients have access again, several machines lose their custom desktop pictures. It seems to fix itself if they log out and log back in. Any ideas on what causes this?

    What version of the mac os x is the client computers running?
    if one of the effected users, on an effected computer sets their desktop picture, then logs out, and then logs back in, do they still keep the custom desktop picture? or dose it default back to the generic picture?
    On the effected computers, dose the issue happen on all user accounts? Or just specific user accounts? If you create a new local user account, dose it have the same issue?

  • My desktop picture disappeared!

    I logged on this morning to find the "galaxy."  I had a jpeg in the "tile" layout there yesterday and it's no longer there.   I went to System Preferences to change it back, but when I clicked on the pictures folder none of my pictures showed up.  There is a big question mark.  Can anyone please help?  Thanks.

    The same thing happened to me this morning. I opened iPhoto and some of my albums had zero pictures. Fortunately I have an external hard drive which I used to restore my iPhoto albums.Like you, I would like to know why this happened.

  • Is iTunes changing my OS X desktop picture momentarily?

    I am running a clean install OS X, including my third-party applications, and this five-year-old machine has never run better. However, an anomaly has arisen. Whenever I push play (iTunes) my desktop picture disappears briefly, replaced by a neutral gray screen, before reappearing.
    As I write this, I quit and re-launched iTunes and the problem still exists. I am loathe to restart my computer as I am in the middle of some pressing business. I will check back if a restart resolves this issue, otherwise, feel free to comment.
    With iTunes running, pushing Play starts the song and one-second later my desktop picture disappears briefly. Pushing the button (Pause) again stops the song but nothing else happens.
    I am currently listening to iTunes DJ and just now the O'Jays started playing and without my doing anything, the desktop picture disappeared and reappeared. I have iShowUHD and will make a recording of it, if it continues.
    TIA

    You're very welcome.
    Completely unrelated, albeit unsettlingly too coincidental, was a sudden slow down (freezing) of my Safari and other internet functions. It's like a UFO landed on my roof and scrambled my Mac's internal settings. Apparently, this same UFO flew across the state, because this occurred simultaneously with 3 different people, me and 2 of my friends, all in 3 seperate counties.
    The other things we had to do to get our Macs back to resembling "normal" was...
    Turn OFF iCloud unless you really need it (you could lose all Calendar events - Thanks, Apple!) or you're using a screamingly fast connection. - It ties up your modem, especially DSL.
    Make your first DNS entry "2001:4860:4860::8888". - It speeds up accessing webpages. (Without quotes. Yes, there is a colon-colon, it's not an error. Weird numbers, I know.)
    Set your ethernet's MTU to "Manual" with a number lower than 1500. Try "1460". - Apparently, your Mac is trying to bite off more than it can chew. MTU is the maximum ethernet byte size.
    I found all of these tips scattered within the Apple Discussion areas. Do a search on them for more information on how to make these adjustments (don't worry, just system prefs changes, no UNIX is necessary).
    This could apply to only older (more than 3 years) Macs. Still a pain nonetheless.
    Side note: Starting at the sametime, 2 of us are experiencing random system-wide Kernal Panics and freezing. One Mac panics over 8 times per day, the other about once every 2 days. If our 7th trip (in 2 months) to the Genius bar miraculaously nets a solution, I'll post it.
    If you are a conspiracy theorist, you'd be in heaven. An undisclosed virus? ...from Microsoft? Apple or Intel (both?) intentionally crippling old Macs, and forcing purchasing of new computers? ... and is this a test for installing (BIOS) programmed obsolescence/aging into current computers? Why no offer for replacement after 6 failed repair attempts? Is Apple quietly reducing expensive programming staff (sloppy coding, numerous updates, no OSX Server, reduced Pro apps, just as MS is dying) with cheap unknowledgeable retail staff? Mountain Lion and iTunes 11, more eye candy, less innovation... much like MS Windows 8.   Something's afoot.

  • Desktop icons disappear (and don't return) if switch halfway to a new desktop.

    If I only swipe halfway to a new desktop (using the trackpad) and then let go to return to the original, my desktop icons disappear. To get them back i have to either killall finder, or switch to another desktop then switch back.

  • Desktop pictures won't use all pictures in folder

    When I created a folder in iPhoto of the pictures I wanted on my desktop, not all the pictures are used, only 4 of the 8 I put there. I deleted the preferences, logged out and in again, but the same thing happens. Then I deleted the number of pictures, but two of them still don't show up.
    Can anyone help solve this problem?
    Thanks in advance.
    Joanne

    Found an answer to my own question. Some pictures I import won't be recognized by iPhoto, but if I do an edit, then iPhoto does acknowledge them. After I slightly cropped each picture, they all show up, both in desktop pictures and screen saver.

  • Dock spaces desktop picture screensaver all crashed and won't work

    The Dock doesn't appear.
    Spaces is greyed out and won't stay enabled.
    Desktop picture cannot be selected (stays standard blue screen).
    Screensaver does not work and cannot set hot corner.
    I have deleted the dock plists, restarted, repaired permissions, updated to 10.6.8, restarted again. Still no dock, no Spaces, no desktop picture change, no screensaver.
    How did this begin? I had lots of large-memory apps running (eg. Photoshop, Garageband, Pages, Audacity, etc) and then there was a freeze, I can't remember which app – probably Photoshop) and I had to shutdown using the on/off button.
    After that startup, all the problems were present. :-(
    (I've looked at related Dock-crash posts here: I do not have installed: Parallels; Fusion.)
    How do I fix these problems?

    Hello, try this...
    First, Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.
    Then move these files to the Desktop...
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
    /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
    Reboot & test.
    PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

  • Desktop Picture won't change....

    My girlfriend just re-installed mac osx 10.3.9 on her ibook, and put some images on the computer to use as desktop pictures. Not only do they not change to them, but none of the pre-installed apple desktops work either. What could be the cause of this?
    Thanks,
    Steve

    Probably she has to check the owner settings and repair the user rights. If that doesn't help, delete the finder.plist and restart. Still no change, create a new user account and try to change the desktop picture in this account.
    It should work.
    Just my 2 cents.
    Greetings, ilikejapan

  • "set as desktop picture" option completely disappeared!

    I'm running snow leopard on a mac mini, and up until yesterday I could select any photo I had on my computer, right click and select "set as desktop picture" at the bottom of the options. Now, my options end at label colours, and is no where to be found. I phone apple tech support and they are completely stumped. anyone who can answer this one is a hero I suppose.
    Also, I have selected another user in accounts to test if it happens there when I log out, and it works just fine when I do so, so this is related to a user acount (my main one). The tech support said to find apple.com.finder.plst and drag to the desktop+restart, but this didn't work either. Any ideas?

    If your contextual menu stops at Labels, something is blocking the Services menu. I'm not sure why Applecare tech support would start at deleting those plists which have nothing to do with the services menu.
    First, Go to an Application menu, like Safari, and select Services>Services Preferences… Look in the Pictures section and make sure that "Set Desktop Picture" is selected.
    If that's not it, open up your user Library/Contextual Menu Items folder and see if anything is in there; if so, move them all to the desktop. Log out and log back in. It's likely that folder doesn't even exist there, but just in case. Since it is only your user, I don't think the main Contextual Menu Items folder in /Library/ would cause problems, but you could try the same with anything in there.
    The next step would be doing same with your user Library/Services folder. Move everything out of that folder to a folder on your desktop and see if that helps.
    If at any time something starts working, you can move items back one at a time and see what happens. When it stops working again, remove the last item you moved back.

  • Desktop picture won't save

    Every time I turn on my MacBood Pro lap top, the desktop picture changes. I put the picture I want up, and then the next time I turn on the computer
    the picture is replaced by another one. How do I get it to save the picture I want on my desktop?

    You likely have a corrupted preference (.plist) file that needs to deleted and the machine rebooted, which will rebuild the preference file from a master copy.
    See #12/#13 here to find the corrupted ones.
    ..Step by Step to fix your Mac
    Then read here for how to remove it.
    Deleting the System Preference or other .plist file
    If you have done this and it still doesn't work, then go back and run through the Steps more throughly to be systematic.
    Sometimes the master copy of the preference file is corrupted, that may require having to remove all the user data from the account and deleting it, rebooting and then making the same user account again, or simply transfering all the user data to a new account.
    What this does is it rebuilds the master copy of the preference file, so that the copy of the preference file your using is also pristine and awaiting your new preferences to be stored in it.

  • 10.9.3 on iMac 27", dock displays near middle of screen, desktop picture isn't covering whole desktop. Anyone else having this annoying glitch?

    Hello Everyone.
    I upgraded an iMac 27" (3.4 Ghz, Intel Core i7, 3TB fusion) from Mac OS X 10.8.6., to Mac OS X 10.9.3 a few days back.
    Ever since then, the 2nd user to login on a given day, gets the dock displayed near the middle of the screen. It still interacts OK (e.g. you can launch applications from there), but it is not in it's correct location. The desktop picture (in this case, a shade of solid dark grey), only covers the smaller desktop area (up to where the Dock is). The remaining area of the screen automatically gets a 'light grey' background colour.
    So person A logs in, no problem. But when person B comes along (with perosn A still logged in), the user logins, and they get this 'chopped of' version of the screen, with the dock mid-screen. (See screenshot attached).
    The users can still click on any dock icons, and the applications will open up. But the dock won't return to it's original home, and refuses to 'jump' back to their proper home (at the bottom of the screen).
    I've tried using CSCREEN to change the resolution at startup, via a terminal command and Automator, but that only works on some occasions. Others (like the attached screenshot) boot with the two-colour background, and 'confused' dock. A manual screen resolution change in the Settings area (down and then back up again), resolves the issue for that boot.
    I've tried stripping back all non-essential plug-ins, tried removing a variety of start-up items, add-ons etc. I've tried creating a 'test' account, and the same issues appear to this account too.
    Is it just me, or are others having problems with a misbehaving dock / screen resolution, in Mac OS X 10.9.3 / on an iMac 27"?
    Thank you!
    D.

    Hi folks.
    I found a solution...Looks like the Dock is the culprit it's self. So, I made an automator app that I fire up automatically at login time. The automator app runs a shell script command:
       killall Dock
    (make sure you have a capital D on Dock)
    The Dock gets closed off, and it then re-opens in the correct spot (bottom of the screen -- not the middle of the screen). Hope this helps someone else!
    Enjoy.

Maybe you are looking for