Desktop hidden files

Hi there, I'm new here.
I am an italian freelance programmer. I have buyed my first mac a couple of days ago and I use it together with my debian box. I have a problem with finder. Suddendly I cannot see icons on my desktop. I can create a file (for example) with TextEdit and when I choose to save it on the desktop I cannot find the icon. If I fire up bash shell I can clearly see with 'ls' command that the file is present on the /Desktop folder but Finder seems to not see it. Old icons are still there. Am I doing something wrong? (If I drag a file to the desktop from another folder Finder show the icon correctly). Thanks in advance.

When I first read the subject I thought that you were referring to the invisible files on your desktop but this one is a bit different. Try clicking once on your desktop then go up to your menu bar (on the top of your screen where the apple logo is.), click once on file and then click on get info. When the desktop info window appears (make sure it says desktop info) take a look at where it says Ownership & Permissions and make sure that it's set to-1.You can-Read & Write. 2. Owner-Your name (If you have to change this one, click the lock to do so). 3. Access-Read & Write. If you don't see any of this information when the Desktop Info window appears click on the little arrows on the left to reveal it. Welcome Aboard!
eMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
eMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Hidden files on my desktop

Hi there - I've just purchased OSX 5.6 (which is the highest OS I can get for a pre Intel machine I believe) but before it comes I was just doing a general tidy up. When linking my computer to an old G4 PowerBook (using OS9 don't ask why), once mounted I noticed some folders on the desktop of my G5 that do not show up normally. (I can only view them after mounting the G5 PPC onto the G4 PowerBook and looking on there). The folder names are all proceeded by a "." +which I think indicates a hidden file+. I know that there normally are very important files that are purposely hidden and are vital to the OS (e.g. ".DS_Store" etc.) but these particular folders do not seem to be in that category after investigation.
I have a US client and I download lots of very large files via their FTP server using Fetch. When viewing the contents of the strangely named "hidden" folders that I can only see on the G5 once connected to the G4PB I then see very familiar names and enclosed folders from my US client containing around 40Mb of info each that cannot be accessed directly from my G5.
*My questions are:*
What are these files and why are they there - are they aborted efforts of previous FTP downloads?
Are they partial downloads waiting for more info - and if I delete them will it mess everything up?
Can I delete them directly from the G4 PowerBook, the only place I can I can see them?
If not can I purchase some software that will allow be to view hidden files on my G5PPC and evaluate and get rid of them?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Regards - Deano
+PS: If it helps the hidden folders are named:+
.BAHmpVUM
.BAHrDXsQ
.BAHvWION

Thanks again Limnos -
The Fetch people have been back to me already - not bad huh? - and had the following to say:
"+Hi Deane,+
+I'm not sure where those folders are coming from, but I can tell you that they aren't created by Fetch - nothing Fetch does would create such folders. So no, we don't think they are partially downloaded files.+
+I would be a little careful before deleting them. They could just be an artifact of how the Mac OS X file system looks to Mac OS 9; it could be that they are not real copies of files, but just pointers (aliases) to other files on your disk, so deleting the folders and their contents might unexpectedly delete files you really want to keep on your Mac. I would make sure that is not the case before deleting a lot of them; you might want to delete one file you're sure you don't care about first.+
+And you might want to look at them on your G5 directly. You can display hidden files on your G5 by doing the following:+
+* Open the Applications folder.+
+* Open the Utilities folder.+
+* Open the Terminal application.+
+* At the prompt, type:+
+defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES+
+* And then press the Return key.+
+* Then go to the Apple menu and Log Out, or Restart your Mac, for the changes to take effect.+
+Unfortunately showing the hidden folders has a variety of other side effects (such as making all your icons look washed out), so you'll probably only want to do this so you can investigate, and then turn it off again.+
+You can turn it off by following the exact same steps as above, except type NO instead of YES after "AppleShowAllFiles".+
+I hope this helps.+
Thanks,"
Pretty much backs up what you wrote in your first post but I think I'll try the route you suggest in your second and tuck them away somewhere for a week or so to see what happens. If all goes well I'll be back to credit your answer with a solved.
Cheers for the help - Deano

Hidden file on desktop from QT?

I found a file on my desktop using Grand Perspective. It is 622Mb and has the following path/name:
Desktop/.QT-0142-bf812bbb-bffff3a4-00
From what little unix I know, this looks like a hidden file. I cannot actually see it on the desktop. Can I just open a terminal session and rm it?
iBook G4 1.42Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1Gb ram/ 120Gb Hd(swapped myself) / DVDburner

If nothing is currently using that file and it doesn't contain anything you want to keep, it is safe to delete. If the QuickTime Player is open, quit it before attempting to delete the file.
(14474)

Hidden files desktop.ini

under folder options I have "show hidden files folders and drives" and would like to keep it like that.
but on my desktop, desktop.ini icon is visible. how do I only make that (desktop.ini) not visible?
I would also like to keep "hide protected operating system files" also unchecked. (I know this would solve the issue)

There actually is a necessary use for desktop.ini, although deleting it won't really cause an issue.
Desktop.ini contains information on where the icon image is located, along with the localized folder names. In regular folders, when you set items in the "Customize" tab, these settings are also stored in desktop.ini.
More information here - hope that helps!

Assistance in retrieving hidden files on the desktop

Good afternoon all,
I'm actually assisting a family friend with her MacBook Pro. Apparently, one day she wanted to move multiple files on her desktop to one single folder. Should be easy enough, but unknowingly, she chose to "Select All" and moved all the files, even folders she did not wish to relocate, into one folder. Somehow, these files are now hidden in the desktop. For example, if I click anywhere on the desktop, where it looks as though no file is there, magically a file pops up. It's almost like a game at this point, clicking on random spots just to see what hidden file is there. I have never run into this sort of issue before, so any assistance with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

I have asked the Hosts to move your post to the MacBook Pro Forum, you will get informed answers there.
Good luck,

How to remove my ex-company's server? Their IT set up hidden files to access computer anytime. I went thru all the Network

I worked for a company from my home. They had an IT company that would maintain ecverything thru the network and wirelessly.
I no longer work for the company but was able to keep the computer. Since I've left the company I have noticed they have accessed the computer. I have gone through all the steps to change the network, account settings, etc. But still - when I try to Update the Software I get an error message that I cannot access company.server. I don't want to access company.server. I want to wipe away them and their access to the computer. How can I find their hidden Network setup. I have all hidden files showing nd can't find it. Help. I want to use this computer but can't till I get those jerks' nose out! Thanks, Carole

I was afraid you were going to say that.
My desktop is 4-5 years old.
I've been messing with backing up programs onto my 200GB backup drive all evening.
I'm glad I only did work stuff on that computer and very little personal stuff.
I'll go check my disks, but they are very old. I'll have a ton of software updating on all the applications.
Would it work if I -
1st: boot-up from the original disc
2nd: Pull all files from the desktop computer onto my backup drive;
3rd: After I wipe out the computer just drag all the files and apps back upto the computer?
Or do I HAVE to reinstall all apps? Having old disks that will then need to be updated is not very fun.
Thanks, Carole

Flash capacity and hidden files

I am about to order a new Mac Pro and am trying to work out whether to get 512 or 1TB flash storage
I have an 2007 MP, 4 drives in it but looking at the main drive and its content I cannot account for all of the used space.
The main (boot disk) shows 567GB used
Using Cmd + I on all the folders in the 1TB boot disk I get the following:-
So it appears that most of the unaccounted for space (136 GB of 146GB) is sitting in the Users folders.
So my questions is what would the "hidden" files be and would those reside on the flash drive in a new Macpro
Assuming I will put all of the Document files etc onto the Pegasus storage and that I would have the same apps on board, would it be safe to say to allow for
i.e. the 512GB should be sufficient !
Regards

Thanks form the reply DWB (Yosemete Sam !)
Would I be right in thinking that the User's directory would, in the case of the new Mac Pro, always reside on the flash drive?
So in my case above, providing I moved all User content (i.e. Documents, moves, desktop content,) to the Pegasus storage then I could expect to need 256 GB of storage and a 512GB flash storage should be sufficient to run all my apps etc?
Regards

Cannot find hidden files on Windows 8.1 after refresh

I stupidly did a Refresh on Windows 8.1 when having trouble with Clean Up disk not working. I know that i need to find the hidden files from other questions on here, and have checked the box for this, but how do i actually access these files, to get them back onto my Desktop. have lost Firefox history and bookmarks,my Avast Security,etc etc. I believe that i can retrieve them, is this right? I am not terribly computer literate but can follow instructions if they are kept simple. many thanks anyone.

Users is good. Try to drill down to:
C:\Windows.old\Users\''username''\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
Do you find anything there?

Hidden Files in Volume/Temp

I've accidently saved some web images into a folder named temp, in Volumes. I thought I was saving them to a network folder I have named Temp, but it turns out this is a hidden folder.
I don't want to have to re-do these images, and I wonder if there's a way to move these files to the desktop so I can access them?
Can I type a command line in the Terminal, similar to a DOS command?
I see there's a command you can type in Terminal to show hidden files, but I wonder if there's a simpler way to do this?
Thanks!

The easier, non-Terminal, way is to go to the Finder and then to Go -> Go to Folder... and then enter in the pathname to the folder in question and click OK.
For example: /Volumes/temp
This will open up the folder, revealing the files you saved there.
You can then safely drag them out to the Desktop or folder of your choosing.
Hope this helps.
-Jonathan

Deleting hidden files

Silly question...but I need help! I have a flash drive that all the data has been erased from, yet the memory if full. I am pretty sure the deleted files are being stored in a hidden trash folder, however, I can find anyway to view the hidden files. Do you know how I can view the hidden trash folder on a flash drive, so I can erase it and free up the memory? Thanks!!

Ok, now you have two posts listed there so I am going to assume you are new to Macs and just not familiar with how they do things.
Now the terminal is the Mac equivalent of the Windows Command Prompt. (I'm also assuming you're a switcher).
If you navigate to the applications folder within it you'll find another folder called 'Utilities'. Open it and double click the icon called Terminal. A small window will appear.
If you copy and paste the text that VK suggested-then press enter, (defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles True; killall Finder) it should enable the hidden files, by the way when done use this new command to disable hidden files, (defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles False; killall Finder).
But as suggested if you plug the flash drive back in wait a few seconds the Mac should find it. (make the finder the active application ie. make sure it says finder in the top left of your screen and open finder prefs by pressing ⌘, go to the general tab and ensure that the show external discs box is checked).
The flash drive icon should pop up on your desktop. Once that happens click and hold on the trash icon until empty trash appears and select it. Your space should come back to you.
As for formatting, I believe VK has just posted.
Message was edited by: gumsie

View hidden files?

how can you view hidden files on the iBook? my ipod is hidden, or doesnt show up...

Hi Lee,
I don't believe looking at hidden files will make your iPod appear. If you were to show hidden files on your computer you would see files like .DS_Store, which you probably don't want to mess with.
To help solve your iPod problem, you may want to look at Knowledge Base Document #60950 on iPod missing in iTunes and Mac desktop.
You should go through "The Five Rs", which are the basic and usually most effective way of troubleshooting iPod problems.
Jon
Macbook 2.0 White (100Gb HD 2Gb RAM) Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

Show hidden files in Finder

I've been ripping my music CDs into mp3 files using iTunes.
I recently bought an HDTV. It shows the hidden files on the flash drive as well as the visible files. When I try to play one of the hidden mp3 files, the TV tells me that the file isn't supported. Yet if I scroll to the right, the TV shows the visible mp3 files. I had to use Windows XP to show the hidden mp3 files on the flash drive so that I could delete them. After I did that, the TV displayed the visible mp3 files & played them. Today, I tried to search for hidden mp3 files on the flash drive using Finder. When I use the Terminal to show the hidden files, hidden folders are shown, but none of the hidden mp3 files are shown. Yet the hidden mp3 files are shown in Windows XP. The hidden mp3 file starts with ".01_" followed by the file name & ending with the mp3 extension. Each track starts with a different number. In other words, .01_, .02_, .03_, etc. I don't understand why I can see the hidden mp3 files in Windows XP, but not in Finder. The command "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES" apparently doesn't show ALL of the files. Is it possible to change the Finder so that ALL hidden files are displayed just as I can do in Windows XP? I shouldn't have to go to my PC so that I can see the hidden files & delete them & then go back to my Mac. (Windows XP is the only PC OS that I have. I don't have Vista or 7 or 8.) Or maybe there's a Terminal command that will just rip visible mp3 files in iTunes & not both visible & hidden files. Or maybe there's software that I can install that will do that. If there's no solution, then I will have to use Windows XP to show all of the hidden mp3 files so that I can delete them all at once. I sure would rather use my Mac for everything instead of going back & forth from Mac to PC.

Perhaps I should have noted that DesktopUtility is free. I wouldn't spend money for that functionality, either.
Me either. Didn't notice that one was free. Everything seemed to have a cost on the various apps.
I suppose that it doesn't make any difference whether I enter TRUE or YES, does it? And likewise, FALSE or NO?
Correct. True, Yes, and 1 all do the same thing.
For the opposite, False, No and 0 are the same.
I've also been told to hold down the "option" key & right-click on the Finder icon & click "relaunch". I suppose that it doesn't make any difference whether I relaunch or kill the finder, does it? If I kill the Finder, I reopen it to view the hidden files, right?
Also correct. Doesn't matter which way you do it. The Finder automatically relaunches itself whether you kill it in Terminal, or relaunch it from the Dock (which is really the same as kill then relaunch).
I did see ".DS_Store" on the Desktop, but I didn't see any of the hidden mp3 files on the flash drive.
Now that is weird. You should see all hidden files and folders on all drives. Unless the Flash drive is formatted for Windows (exFAT, FAT16 or FAT32) and OS X doesn't treat it the same way.
TinkerTool and Secrets are two more free utilities that offer easy ways to toggle hidden file viewing.
Yup, there's lots of free utilities to do the same thing. OnyX will also toggle hidden items on and off.

The hidden files on my macbook air keep showing up!

The hidden files on my macbook air keep showing up! I use different methodes to hide them, but every time, out of the blue, all those horrible 'windows like' .docs show up. I used Paralles 5 (have deleted it - no change), even updated to Lion, no change.. Deleted MacFuse.. no change... I suspected ThinkerTool, but also that one is gone... Files most of the time show as soon as I open a desktop folder... HELP anyone??

Dear People,
After month I'm still struggeling. Like I said, it is not just a replace True with False sollution. When I hide the 'hidden files' and I copy a file to my desktop, the screen flashes and boom... there are my hidden files again.
I can keep on hiding them, but they will keep showing up.... what to do?

Http server and hidden files

Is there a way to disable the serving of hidden files. I'd like to block the http/application server from serving any hidden file such as .bash_history.
Any help is appreciated.

It is strange.
But, you edit /etc/smb.conf
and edit the [global] section and add:
veto files = /Desktop DB/Desktop DF/Trash/Move & Rename/
and then restart Windows services - probably enough to
sudo killall -HUP smbd
assuming of course that all Windows users are logged off at the time

Boot Camp 3.0 and hidden files

I've upgraded Boot Camp to 3.0.
Windows XP can access Mac disks except all files in my /Users folder (Desktop, Documents, Library, etc.).
Clicking option "Show hidden files and folders" only shows mac's hidden files.
Can anyone help?

Hello everyone:
By deleting the Xauthority hidden file on Mac and then booting into windows, it will work GUI wise. However once you are back in the Mac OS X environment and if you launch any application using X11 or X 11 itself, it will rebuild the Xauth. file once more and the temp hack is no longer usable. So for all guys that want to use mac70's hack and never use X11 then go for it if you only want GUI listings of your user home folder files.
By the way nice discovery mac70

Desktop hidden files

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