Finder disappeared, all folders on desktop disappeared

I have had problems with turning my iMac off. Now all folders on the desktop disappeared, and Finder tells me that it can' t open.
Anyone have a clue what to do?

Now, boot normally and see if the problem continues. If so, boot into safe mode, create a new admin user account, log into it, and see if the issue persists.

Similar Messages

My macbook screen doesn't work so I have connected it to the TV and now nothing works, I can't see the dock or the finder bar, no folders on desktop either. I don't know what to do!

My macbook screen doesn't work so I have connected it to the TV and now nothing works, I can't see the dock or the finder bar, no folders on desktop either. I don't know what to do!

Do you see anything on the TV?
If you just see your desktop, then your MacBook is defaulting to extended display mode. Try pressing the Command + F1 keys to see if you get the menu bar and other icons.
~Lyssa

Cannot see all folders on remote Mac, even when "Connect As" admin user

Shouldn't an "admin user" be able to see all folders, including Desktop, Documents, etc. of other users? I'd like to be able to see all folders.
Thanks

itsme213 wrote:
Shouldn't an "admin user" be able to see all folders, including Desktop, Documents, etc. of other users? I'd like to be able to see all folders.
Thanks
I don't think so.
Try this.
On your Mac, in Finder, click on the top item in Sidebar, Macintosh HD
Now open Users
Now click on a user that is not you.
If your system is like mine, you will see red dots on most of the folders, meaning you do not have access to them.
If you can't do it locally, then it's probably not possible to do it remotely.
An administrator account does not have universal privileges.

FINDER disappears, along with desktop icons, when I plug in external drive

Hello, All:
FINDER disappears, along with desktop icons, when I plug in an external memory card from my Nikon camera. This also happens regardless of which USB port I plug it in to. It didn't happen when I installed Leopard two weeks ago, but happens all the time now.
Interestingly, the desktop icons (hard drives and files) DO show up when I open any software program and try to open up a file. The hard drives and files show up in the Open File windows.
Thank you,
Jon

THANK YOU! I've been having the same problem, and the solution you linked to worked perfectly for me. Somehow, my computer's sharing name had been deleted. Once I put that back in the file sharing preference I was able to reconnect my external drive without all Hades breaking loose.
This problem came on the heels of an aborted attempt to use a new Time Capsule (not ready for prime time) which I had to drive 50 miles to take back and replace with a new WD My Book -and I was afraid I was going to have to repeat the trip to take it back as well.

I had quite a few notes in the 'Notes' app. I suddenly find that all of them, except 3 have disappeared. What could be the reason and how can I get my notes back?

I had quite a few notes in the 'Notes' app. I suddenly find that all of them, except 3 have disappeared. What could be the reason and how can I get my notes back?

Not fully au fait with iCloud. I don't use it. But if you have done a backup to iCloud then this might help. This reply will refresh your post thereby giving others an opportunity to comment. Meanwhile, read up about iCloud in the User Guide. Here's the link to download it - http://support.apple.com/manuals/#ipad

How do I delete images in Finder's "all my Files" when I have the same pictures in a file in Documents? It seems like a lot of duplication. If I delete the individual image it disappears in the folder. Thank You.

How do I delete images in Finder's "all my files" without deleting the images in a separate folder I have in Documents? It seems to be so much duplication. Just set up our new Mac and am not understanding how the files work. Thank you.

All My files is a "search folder"
it isn't real storage location. All files within your home folder are found by the criteria set for the search folder and displayed to you In one place.
If the folder doesn't meet your needs, remove it from the sidebar.

Aim to process all files in folders on desktop to run through photoshop and save in multiple locations

Aim to process all files in folders on desktop to run through photoshop and save in multiple locations
Part one:-
Gather information from desktop to get brand names and week numbers from the folders
Excluding folders on desktop beginning with "2" or "Hot"
Not sure about the list of folders
but I have got this bit to work with
set folderPath to "Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Desktop:DIVA_WK30_PSD" --<<this would be gained from the items on the desktop
set {oldTID, my text item delimiters} to {my text item delimiters, ":"}
set folderName to last text item of folderPath
set my text item delimiters to "_WK"
set FolderEndName to last text item of folderName
set brandName to first text item of folderName
set my text item delimiters to "_PSD"
set weekNumber to first text item of FolderEndName
set my text item delimiters to oldTID
After running this I have enough information to create folders in multiple locations, (i need to know where they are so that photoshop can later save them in those multiple locations
So I need the following folders created
Locally
Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:2011-2012:"WK" + weekNumber
Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:2011-2012:"WK" + weekNumber: brandName
Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:2011-2012:"WK" + weekNumber: brandName: brandName + "_WK" + weekNumber + "_LR" --(Set path for Later)PathA
Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:2011-2012:"WK" + weekNumber: brandName: brandName + "_WK" + weekNumber + "_HR"--(Set path for Later)PathB
Network
Volumes:GEN:Brands:Zoom:Brands - Zoom:Upload Photos:2012:"Week" + weekNumber
Volumes:GEN:Brands:Zoom:Brands - Zoom:Upload Photos:2012:"Week" + weekNumber:brandName + "_WK" + weekNumber + "_LR" --(Set path for Later)PathC
Volumes:GEN:Website_Images --(no need to create folder just set path)PathD
FTP (Still as a normal Volume) So like another Network
Volumes:impulse:"Week" + weekNumber
Volumes:impulse:"Week" + weekNumber:Brand
Volumes:impulse:"Week" + weekNumber:Brand:brandName + "_WK" + weekNumber + "_LR" --(Set path for Later)PathE
Volumes:impulse:"Week" + weekNumber:Brand:brandName + "_WK" + weekNumber + "_HR" --(Set path for Later)PathF
I like to think that is end of Part 1
Part 2
Take the images (PSD's) from those folders relevant to the Brand then possibly run more applescript that opens flattens and then saves it in the locations above.
For example….
An image in folder DIVA_WK30_PSD will then run an applescript in Photoshop, lets call it DivaProcessImages within this we then save to PathA, PathB, PathC, PathD, PathE, PathF the folder path of C should therefore look like this
Volumes:GEN:Brands:Zoom:Brands - Zoom:Upload Photos:2012:Week30:DIVA_WK30_LR and of course save the image as original filename.
Then from the next folder
An image in folder Free_WK30_PSD will then run an applescript in Photoshop, lets call it FreeProcessImages within this we then save to PathA, PathB, PathC, PathD, PathE, PathF the folder path of C should therefore look like this
Volumes:GEN:Brands:Zoom:Brands - Zoom:Upload Photos:2012:Week30:Free_WK30_LR and of course save the image as original filename.
The photoshop applescript i'm hoping will be easier as it should be a clearer step by step process without any if's and but's
Now for the coffee!!

Hi,
MattJayC wrote:
Now to the other part, where each folder was created (and those that already existed) how do I set them as varibles?
For example,
set localBrandFolder_High_Res to my getFolderPath(brandName & "_WK" & weekNumber & "_HR", localBrandFolder)
This line was used to create more than one folder as it ran though the folders on the desktop. The next part is I will need to reference them to save files to them.
You can use a records
Examples
if you want the path of localBrandFolder_High_Res of "Diva", if "Diva" is the second folder of the Desktop
You get the path with this : localBrandFolder_High_Res of record 2 of myRecords
if you want the path of localWeekFolder in the first folder of the Desktop
You get the path with this : localWeekFolder of record 1 of myRecords
Here is the script
set myRecords to {}
set dtF to paragraphs of (do shell script "ls -F ~/Desktop | grep '/' | cut -d'/' -f1")
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in dtF
    set this_item to item i of dtF
    if this_item does not start with "2_" and this_item does not start with "Hot" then
        try
            set folderPath to this_item
            set {oldTID, my text item delimiters} to {my text item delimiters, ":"}
            set folderName to last text item of folderPath
            set my text item delimiters to "_WK"
            set FolderEndName to last text item of folderName
            set brandName to first text item of folderName
            set my text item delimiters to "_PSD"
            set weekNumber to first text item of FolderEndName
            set my text item delimiters to oldTID
        end try
        try
            set this_local_folder to "Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:2011-2012"
            set var1 to my getFolderPath("WK" & weekNumber, this_local_folder)
            set var2 to my getFolderPath(brandName, var1)
            set var3 to my getFolderPath(brandName & "_WK" & weekNumber & "_LR", var2)
            set var4 to my getFolderPath(brandName & "_WK" & weekNumber & "_HR", var2)
            --set up names to destination folders and create over Netwrok including an already exisiting folder
            set this_Network_folder to "DCKGEN:Brands:Zoom:Brand - Zoom:Upload Photos:2012:"
            set var5 to my getFolderPath("WK" & weekNumber, this_Network_folder)
            set var6 to my getFolderPath(brandName, var5)
            set var7 to my getFolderPath(brandName & "_WK" & weekNumber & "_LR", var6)
            set website_images to "DCKGEN:Website_Images:"
            --set up names to destination folders and create over Netwrok for FTP collection (based on a mounted drive)
            set this_ftp_folder to "Impulse:"
            set var8 to my getFolderPath("Week" & weekNumber, this_ftp_folder)
            set var9 to my getFolderPath(brandName, var8)
            set var10 to my getFolderPath(brandName & "_WK" & weekNumber & "_LR", var9)
            set var11 to my getFolderPath(brandName & "_WK" & weekNumber & "_HR", var9)
            set end of myRecords to ¬
{localWeekFolder:var1, localBrandFolder:var2, localBrandFolder_Low_Res:var3, localBrandFolder_High_Res:var4, networkWeekFolder:var5, networkBrandFolder:var6, networkBrandFolder_Low_Res:var7, ftpWeekFolder:var8, ftpBrandFolder:var9, ftpBrandFolder_Low_Res:var10, ftpBrandFolder_High_Res:var11}
        end try
    end if
end repeat
localBrandFolder_High_Res of record 2 of myRecords -- get full path of localBrandFolder_High_Res in the second folder of Desktop
on getFolderPath(tName, folderPath)
    tell application "Finder" to tell folder folderPath
        if not (exists folder tName) then
            return (make new folder at it with properties {name:tName}) as string
        else
            return (folder tName) as string
        end if
    end tell
end getFolderPath

FINDER disappears after trying to set file sharing. What to do??

‘Finder’ dies when I try to use the GET INFO approach and set a folder to be shared. Finder seems to disappear as soon as I place a check mark in the sharing box. It does not even appear in the FORCE QUIT screen. The computer then is in a state of suspended animation, so I shut off the power. This is a repeatable failure mode.
I used Disk Utility to ‘Repair Permissions” a few times and received some arcane messages when this process was complete … warnings that the following SUID files had been modified and will not be repaired;
- System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/afpLoad
- usr/bin/setregion
- System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner
- System/Library/Printers/IOMs/LPRIOM.plugin/Contents/MacOS/LPRIOMHelper
I don’t know what to make of these messages. This stuff may not even be associated with this problem ...
Anyone have any suggestions about how to proceed ??
DICK

Today I found another way to crash Finder while trying to set file sharing. Yesterday morning I made Finder disappear, putting my computer in suspended animation, by using the following process; Right click on a folder, GET INFO.>GENERAL>SHARED FOLDER. This caused a crash. I posted a query about this but have received no reply.
This afternoon I tried another approach; SYSTEM PREFERENCES>SHARING>FILE SHARING, then I dragged a folder into the Shared Folders window and dropped it. The folder did not appear in the window. Finder disappeared and my computer was frozen, as before.
So now two approaches lead to the same result; crashed Finder and no shared folder. I’m open to any suggestion about how to cure this problem.
DICK

Collapse all Folders in Finder

Is there a way to collapse /all/ folders in Finder instead of hunting them down and closing all of them one by one?
Thanks.

Hotwheels22 wrote:
is there a way to collapse or uncollapse all folders in finder?
I really still do not understand this question. Presumably you are not referring to List View (which is what I associate with collapse/expand). Icon View will open/close folders; List View will expand/collapse directory trees; Column View will scroll through path hierarchies; which one are you trying to do?
Do you mean you want to open multiple folders while in Icon View? If so, select the folders you want and hit ⌘+↓. All of them will open as long as they are all from the same Finder window. Afterwards, for you to close all Finder windows except one, you'd need to use one of the two AppleScripts I linked earlier.
Maybe you are asking for a method to double-click one folder and have it and all its subfolders open up in their own Finder windows (essentially, you want to open all nested folders with one click)? I think you'd need to build an AppleScript for that. The OS will not have such a function built in because the depth of some directory trees could easily freeze a computer.
i have a ton of documents and it is really inconvenient to have to open /all/ the folder to find things.
If you assigned non-generic names to your folders and documents, you should be able to use Spotlight and Smart Folders to get to your files. For example, since I name my project files with the format DateProject_DocumentVersion, it's easy for me to create a Smart Folder that shows me all finalized/approved parts lists from a project I did two years ago, regardless of where they're located in my archives. It's even easier if you also use Spotlight Comments and/or color labels.
then when i get them open it is a total pita going and collapsing all of them. i guess i can close out of the finder window altogether but i'd like to stay in the same window and keep working.
Did you try either one of the two AppleScripts I linked earlier? They allow you to close all Finder windows except the active one. Finder doesn't have a built-in, default option to close all windows except the active one.
btw, i'd also like to do the equivalent for windows on the desktop so i can get to the desktop quickly. right now I have to move them over or minimize them one by one...
i guess getting familiar with expose or witch may do this?
Exposé can temporarily displace (not hide) all windows to show just the Desktop. ⌥⌘H will hide all other applications except the active one (or if you wish to specify which particular application stays unhidden, ⌥⌘+click the app's icon on the Dock). To actually hide (not close) all visible windows, you'll need to run an AppleScript ➚.
also can i ask you if there is a way for me to post a video of screenshots to this site? i have an issue that would be helped by doing this...
You'd need to upload to a video host, like YouTube, and then paste the link over here.

When I login, all of my desktop items are gone, the "Finder" icon is bouncing and a message asking to restore windows is blinking but unresponsive. I can't exit out of it. What do I do? I've tried force quitting, and it doesn't get rid of it.

When I login, all of my desktop items are gone, the "Finder" icon is bouncing and a message asking to restore windows is blinking but unresponsive. I can't exit out of it. What do I do? I've tried force quitting, and it doesn't get rid of this message. When I login to my husband's account, this message does not appear.

Hey sunnyday7!
Here is an article that can help you address this issue:
OS X: How to quit an unresponsive application using Force Quit
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3411
Additional Information
OS X automatically relaunches the Finder when it is quit. If the Finder is unresponsive, use Force Quit to relaunch it. Select Finder in the Force Quit Window or Dock, then click Relaunch.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden

Yosemite collapse all folders in finder

Hello Dear Sirs,
since i installed Yosemite when i open one folder of my external hard drive all folders ins side that folder are expanded and there is a too large file list which makes my system slow and i can't find the option to switch to the classic view. I don't want that all folders shown up expanded. Please help me fixing and solving.
Kindly Regards.

Hello Dear Sirs,
since i installed Yosemite when i open one folder of my external hard drive all folders ins side that folder are expanded and there is a too large file list which makes my system slow and i can't find the option to switch to the classic view. I don't want that all folders shown up expanded. Please help me fixing and solving.
Kindly Regards.

How can I set a customized view in finder set as standard for ALL folders?

As I have a large number of folders, I need a specific view in finder: symbol view, sort by program and name. I tried to use this settings as standard for ALL folders, but using the 'set as standard' button does only work for the folder I am in, but not for ALL folders. I even tried to use this settings on the hard disk level in finder, but what ever I tried, it never applies to all folders. The problem occurs on each of my devices and on Yosemite OS 10.10.1. as well as Mavericks 10.9.5. Any ideas on how I can make the 'standard' work on all folders?

As Vinod says, unique key validator would be fine.
However, In Gabriel's blog:
Performing a unique key validation for an attribute that is declared to be unique in the database requires a round trip to the database. This is quite expensive and there is a fast and easy way to work around it.Is false on several fronts:
1). it's not expensive - it's actually cheaper than the alternative
2). Unique key validator can require many trips to the DB to validate - it must check all other rows in the EO to ensure there is no duplicate, and all of those rows must be fetched into the middle tier to do the validation: this is expensive.
The "cheapest" way to do this: unique constraint in the DB
John

How do I find the files in all folders named Camera 1?

Is there a way to search and find all of the video files in a certaint folder name? For example: I have many folders in different directories labled as Camera 1. I would like to be able to search for the files in all folders named Camera 1, but exclude any similar file types that might exist in other folders such as Camera 2, Camera 3, etc... Is there any way to do this?

You should be able to sort by file name, file size, or last modified date by clicking the column heading. If the column headings are gone or you do not have all those details, there might be a way to reset your FireFTP settings but I've never researched it.

What is the name of the folders which are your backup of Itunes library? I am recovering from a virus, have no workable desktop in Win XP, but can search and find files and folders. I would like to move these backup files to a new computer

what is the name of the folders which are the backup of Itunes library? I am recovering from a virus, have no workable desktop in Win XP, but can search and find files and folders. I would like to move these backup files to a new computer, authorize it and sync with Iphone 3Gs and Ipod 5th gen.
I

I second the whole iTunes folder approach.
If for some reason you have split the media folder from the library files then the media folder needs to restored to the same path it used to have while the library files can be copied into the music folder of your new profile.
If in dobut, backup up the entire Documents and Settings folder before wiping the infected drive, but be selective about what you restore as many viruses drop active components capable of reinfecting the compuer in the temp folders and internet caches. It is much easier to backup more than you need than to discover after the fact that you no longer have access to some vital project you'd been storing in a folder on the desktop.
tt2

Mirror e-mail and all folders on a desktop and a laptop

I use my latptop for traveling which is about every three weeks. I need all the e-mails from my desktop on my laptop. With apple mail all the e-mails I recevied show up on both. But once I put an e-mail in a folder, then it no longer shows up on the other computer. Any suggestions for mirroring all folders and their contents on both computers.

You’re welcome.
Assuming you have enough space allocated to your .Mac mail account on the server to do it, you must choose the .Mac server as the location when creating your custom mailboxes instead of creating them as “On My Mac” mailboxes, then move there the messages that you want to keep synchronized between computers. Mail Help’s “Creating a mailbox” article explains how to do this.

Finder disappeared, all folders on desktop disappeared

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for