Desktop Wallpaper folders disappearing in System Prefs

Whenever i try to add a picture folder to the system preferences to manage my wallpapers, the instant i close the system prefs window, all the folders i added disappears...
I'm on mountain lion on a brand new install from 2 days ago. I never had this problem on Lion or Mountain Lion (before i made a clean install)...
I found 3 other post from people with the same issue, do you know what the problem might be and what to do to fix this? It's really annoying!
Here are the 3 others posts about this:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4105775?start=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/19170719#19170719
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15556826#post15556826
Thanks for your help!

i just hung up with an apple tech on the phone and i happens that he have the exact same problem on his computer.
So i guess it's an Apple problem and it should be addressed in an upcoming patch...

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Desktop Wallpaper folders disappearing/reappearing in System Prefs

I recently upgraded to a 15 Inch MBP with Retina Display and I have a problem with desktop wallpapers. I migrated everything across from my old mac and when I go into System Prefs > Desktop & Screen Saver there is a list of all the folders I've added with all my wallpapers in. I've deleted these out because the wallpapers are no longer suitable for the new display. I've then added in a couple of new folders with retina wallpapers in and everything is fine. The problem occurs when I quit System Prefs and go back into it, all my old folders have reappeared and all my new folders have disappeared. Due to this problem sometimes when I boot up my MBP the wallpaper has changed to something random.
I'm getting a bit fed up with removing and adding the folders back in now, is there any reason why it might be doing this or is there a solution?

I purchased a Macbook Pro (2012, non-retina) and I have the same issue.
I went to the Genius Bar, and we went through the same steps I took before (deleting plist files, repairing permissions). The issue is system-wide; My admi account, Guests, new Users all experience it.
We could not solve the issue. The Genius' best answer was that this generation might have a bug in its particular build of 10.7.4. I ultimately had a choice of waiting for Apple to discover the bug, or live with it.
I'm about to attempt a reinstall of Lion. I doubt it will help with anything, since I can't download a fresh copy from the App Store (apparently having 10.7.4 preinstalled means I can never have access to a fresh copy).
I'm concerned, as I have no idea if this sort of issue is contained only to this preference, or if it can end up screwing with me later on, say in the middle of an iPad app I'm developing.
The only work-around I can suggest: Don't close System Preferences for the entire time the Mac is on. If you log out or reboot, you'll have to set up your folders again, but if you never close System Preferences, they will remain.

Folders added to "Desktop Pictures" not visible in System Prefs...

Hello,
I am trying to add additional wallpaper images to the "/Library/Desktop Pictures" directory. I can add images to this dir and they are visible in the Desktop & Screen Saver preferences, however newly added folders are not (I would like to add folders so I can keep the pictures organized).
How do I get Desktop & Screen Saver prefs to see new folders?
-Steve

Hi Mike,
Thanks very much! That did the trick!
Just so you know, there is one additional file I edited to make the folders appear with the desired name. Basically if you just add the text to Collections.plist it will display the folder but with the name on the identifier tag. If you want the folder to show a name other than the identifier you have to edit the Collections.strings file in the English.lproj directory.
Here are the instructions I've put together for this whole procedure:
--------------------INSTRUCTIONS------------------------
- cd /System/Library/PreferencePanes/DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane/Contents/Resou rces/DesktopPictures.prefPane/Contents/Resources
- sudo vi Collections.plist
- add additional items in the following form:
identifier = myPatterns;
path = "/Library/Desktop Pictures/My Patterns";
showScalingPopUp = YES;
- save file and exit
THEN
- cd English.lproj
- sudo vi Collections.strings
add line entries in the following format:
myPatterns = "My Patterns";
(the tag on the left of the '=' sign must match the identifier noted above)
save file and exit
--------------------INSTRUCTIONS------------------------
The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to get the scaling drop-down box to appear; you know, the drop-down box that gives you the following choices on how to display the image: Fill screen, Stretch to fill screen, Center, Tile.
I see in the Collections.plist file there is a tag for showScalingPopUp and I've set this to YES on some folders, but it doesn't bring up the drop-down box when I select an image within that folder.
I can certainly live without this b/c it's not that critical, but still it's curious...
-Steve

Desktop Wallpaper folders added disappear

I've had this issue since I had my HDD changed at Genius Bar and they installed Mountain Lion. Whenever I add more than one folder with wallpapers to System Preferences>Desktop & Screensaver and later close and re-open System Preferences, all folders, except for the last one I added, have disappeared. It's a really annoying bug and I haven't got an answer on how to fix it yet, I have several folders with wallpapers and when I had Lion I never had any problem adding them to system preferences to switch wallpapers from there. Does anyone have any clue on how to solve this issue? I'm running Mountain Lion 10.8.2 (latest update which didn't solve the issue either).
I have read here in the forum of other people also having the same issue, I would really appreciate any help from someone who has find a way to solve it other than reinstalling Mountain Lion.
Thank you in advance for your help.

I purchased a Macbook Pro (2012, non-retina) and I have the same issue.
I went to the Genius Bar, and we went through the same steps I took before (deleting plist files, repairing permissions). The issue is system-wide; My admi account, Guests, new Users all experience it.
We could not solve the issue. The Genius' best answer was that this generation might have a bug in its particular build of 10.7.4. I ultimately had a choice of waiting for Apple to discover the bug, or live with it.
I'm about to attempt a reinstall of Lion. I doubt it will help with anything, since I can't download a fresh copy from the App Store (apparently having 10.7.4 preinstalled means I can never have access to a fresh copy).
I'm concerned, as I have no idea if this sort of issue is contained only to this preference, or if it can end up screwing with me later on, say in the middle of an iPad app I'm developing.
The only work-around I can suggest: Don't close System Preferences for the entire time the Mac is on. If you log out or reboot, you'll have to set up your folders again, but if you never close System Preferences, they will remain.

Desktop and Screen Saver in System Prefs hangs. Why?

I just migrated everything over perfectly from my old intel mac to my new one. when i go to "desktop and screen saver" in the system preferences and try to choose a folder of images for screen saver, sys prefs hangs and i have to force quit. i am trying to choose the same folder i used in my old mac but i have the same problem when trying to chose any folder. is there some "desktop and screen saver" file that could be corrupted that I need to delete? if not, why is it hanging?

I too am having the same problem as the original poster. I tried what was suggested as far as creating a new admin. account and still have the same problem with no iPhoto library showing up and the desktop/screensaver preferences hanging up and finally forcing a quit to close it.
I migrated everything from my old computer to this new one including the system software. It was suggested by someone else to reinstall the system software which I have done also with no change in the problem. (something to do with shared libraries I think????)
Any more ideas?

Desktop Pictures: "Change Pictures" in System Prefs no longer works.

I used to have my Desktop pictures change every five minutes using a special folder of photos. This function no longer works. The setting appears to be in effect according to the System Preferences Desktop Pictures Pane but the function appears to be broken in 10.4.5. I have trashed the Destop Pictures Preferences file in the Preferences Folder, but it still will not work.
Can anyone using Tiger 10.4.5 get this to work?
Griff

OK, that was really dumb!
The reason for the problem became abundantly clear when I quit Pathfinder. Suddenly the picture change became functional again.
So, I guess Pathfinder will not follow the Finder when it comes to settings like this.
Hey Cocoatech, how about getting this into your next release?
Griff

Very disturbing graphics issue in system prefs

Hi all. whenever I open the desktop/screen-saver pane in system prefs, it freezes up, and the screen saver preview locks up, forcing me to "force quit". The genius at the Apple Store showed me something interesting though: when we have the start menu active, the two pane's run smoothly, and you can choose a new desktop w/o it locking up. We isolated it as a software issue, because the graphics in other programs (iTunes visualizer, iPhoto) work just fine, and all other system prefs pane's function properly. Also the screen-saver itself works when active. Anyone having this same issue?

I'd try installing the iLife support 9.0.3 update. It solves the "screen saver of death" issue which sounds much like what you are experiencing.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2032815&start=15&tstart=0

IPhoto 6.0.6 lost 'sync' with System Prefs/Desktop&Screensaver!?!?!?

I took my G5 to the Apple store for a check(fan speed) and when I got it back, when I go to System Prefs/desktop & Screensaver I can no longer see the folders representing the photo albums. I thought it might be an iPhoto Issue, but now I'm not so sure. I'm running 10.4.10 ans iPhoto 6.0.6. I created another user and tried the same thig and it's not working there either. I have 4100+ images in 30+ albums.
I'm almost ready to load 10.4 on my 2nd internl drive and then use migration assistant, but I don't know if THAT would work. I have repaired permissions, ran Diskwarrior 4.0, thrown out plists and prefs, and caches. I've even removed the .xml file, still without success.

OK FOLKS!!! GET THIS!! It was a single corrupt photo. The photo worked fine within iPhoto, but caused the disconnect with the system prefs. it wasn't a very big photo, or old, but I did drag it from a web page.
I ended up creating new iPhoto Libraries, and importing the photos until it broke. Then I went through the files within the one questionable folder until it broke. I pitched the file from the iPhoto Library, and my hard drive but the Library stayed broken. I just deleted it, and started over. I have all my original photos back, and in the proper albums again. Now to the tweaking all over again. 6000+ photos to go through.

Apple Desktop pictures do not appear in System Prefs

I tried to change my desktop picture and discovered that there are none of the apple images showing in the system prefs for Desktop & Screen Saver. The folders are there (Apple images, nature, plants, etc) but the folders are empty.
Digging via the finder I found in Library/Desktop Pictures all of the missing files but Prefs does not apparently see them.
The default Aurora was there after 10.5.5 upgrade, then I replaced it with one of my own from the user/Pictures folder which shows in the prefs window. All of those pictures still show in prefs.
What is wrong?

Derryl S wrote:
Conclusion, there is now something about my account that no longer can see the contents of the Desktop Pictures folder. Why is unknown still.
Usually, a bad preference file or incompatible login item is the culprit, although it could also be corrupted data in a user cache.
For the first, you can try moving likely suspects from ~/Library/Preferences to a desktop temp folder, then logging out & back in or restarting to see if the problem is gone. If not replace the old preference from the temp folder to its original location to restore the old preferences. One general way that may help locate suspect pref files is to change the preference in the normal way while ~/Library/Preferences is sorted by date changed -- the file storing the preferences should be very near the top of the list.
You can also run a terminal command that checks the syntax of most preference files. It won't indicate all problems but it is worth a shot. In Terminal type:
sudo plutil -s ~/Library/preferences/*.plist
followed by pressing the return key. At the password prompt, enter you admin account password & press return again. It won't be echoed to the screen. If you get nothing besides the prompt for the next command, those prefs are syntactically correct. Otherwise, remove the indicated pref file as above & test.
If desired, repeat this for the main system-wide preference folder with this command:
sudo plutil -s /Library/preferences/*.plist
Note: since your new account has no problems, it is highly unlikely a system preference is the problem.
For login items, check the list in the accounts system preference. Suspect anything that isn't from Apple. You can list them here in a new post if you have any questions about them.
If the problem is a bad user cache, a third party utility like Onyx or Leopard Cache Cleaner will allow you to "clean" (delete) them. Try this as a last resort, since caches speed up the operation of your Mac & will need to be rebuild by the system, causing one-time delays until this is done.

System Pref "Desktop" doesnt work

Hey guys,
In my desktop prefs where i change my desktop wallpaper, everytime i add a new folder to select pictures from, they always add as "aperture projects" and it loads my aperture library. How can i reset this and use an actual folder???

LMBvideo wrote:
Ok, I did that but i was only able to find 2 of them.
com.apple.preference.desktopscreeneffect.plist
com.apple.desktop.plist
I moved those like you said, did a restart, but am still having the same problem. Could aperture be to blame?? I saw an aperture preference file but didnt do anything with it. What else could i try?? thanks a ton too.
It could be the aperture pref file. Dragging it to the desktop simply forces the system to create a new, default one, so the worst thing is you have to reset your preferences again.
That might be the one, or it could be some other obscure .plist.
It might even be the plist for Finder itself.
If you want, you can experiment and drag them, one at a time to the desktop and reboot.
As noted, no guarantee, but I am sure it's one of these .plists.
Maybe someone here knows which one or has a good idea of which ones.
After rebooting, if the problem is fixed or not, if everything else is normal, you can safely trash the .plist files on your desktop.

In my Macbook Pro, on a few occassions, the apple menu bar blacks out. its displayed as a negative image. The desktop wallpaper get greyed out and i get a blank screen as wallpaper. No idea why this happens. I reset the system and issue gets resolved.

In my Macbook Pro, on a few occassions, the apple menu bar blacks out. its displayed as a negative image. The desktop wallpaper get greyed out and i get a blank screen as wallpaper. No idea why this happens. I reset the system and issue gets resolved.

AshwinVC wrote:
I reset the system and issue gets resolved.
How?

IPhoto folders no longer showing in iTunes & System Pref???

has anyone had this problem recently?
when i'm syncing iPod it no longer shows individual folders that you could select from. it seems to me that it wants to wipe out the folders that are existing on my iPod to replace it with entire iPhoto library without separate folders.
also, in system preferences it no longer shows folders from iPhoto. ?
i don't understand. could it have anything to do with iWeb? that is about the only thing i've "played" around with recently...

okay, so i just restarted my computer & the desktop changed.
i usually only sleep the computer & so the desktop doesn't change. even when i did shutdown/restart computer in the past, the desktop did not change. i think somehow this is all connected. it seems if i don't have whatever photo my desktop is saved on the desktop, it will change it back into some generic photo...should i just make an appointment at an apple store? i don't have iPhoto 08 & there have been no updates...

Universal Access System Pref disappeared

Recent MBP, OS X 10.7.4. Up until today, Universal Access worked perfectly (Command-option-+/_ to zoom screen). Today, when I tried it, it didn't work. When I opend System Preferences, Universal Access System Pref had disappeard. I tried moving the com.apple.universalaccess.plist file to the desktop and rebooting - no luck. I tried restoring from Time Machine the com.apple.universalaccess.plist and com.apple universalaccess.plist.lockfile files, then restarting - no luck. I also tried reinstalling the OS X 10.7.4 update package - no luck.
Short of totally reinstalling the entire OS, can anyone help me with an idea?
Thanks,
Claude

A few System Preferences to check:
Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts make sure you have not assigned a keyboard shortcut to opening System Preferences.
Universal Access > Keyboard make sure Sticky Keys is set to off.
Universal Access > Mouse make sure Mouse Keys is set to off.
Accounts > Login Items make sure VoiceOver is not one of your login items.

System pref - desktop is freezing

New MBP Retina. I go to system prefs, desktop,to set a picture and the beach ball appears and will not leave, force quit is the only way to get out of it.

Then I suggest you first start out wiping the complete drive by booting the system from the internet recovery system, command+option+r keys and hold them down until you see a globe on the screen, and repatition the drive as one partition to erase everything on the drive then reinstall the original shipping version of os x.
Then install your programs one at a time and reload your aperture library. If you still have problems it might be hardware related and should go to a apple store to be checked out.

While installing app updates on my original iPad, my wallpaper reverted to black, my folders disappeared. How do I fix this?

While installing app updates, my wallpaper for both Home & Lock Screens reverted to black and cannot be re-set. All folders disappeared as well. What now? RESET?

Yes, reboot: Hold the power and home buttons at the same time for at least 10 seconds (keep holding past the swipe to shut down bar if it appears) until the Apple Logo appears, then let go of both buttons and your iPad will restart. Hopefully, things will be back to normal.......

Desktop Wallpaper folders disappearing in System Prefs

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