I cant move my desktop icons around at all

So im trying to move the desktop icons around and for some reason the computer wont let me do it. Ive also tried doing it on a flash drive and it wont work either, the only thing I can think of is that maybe its a setting of some kind but ive checked several difrent settings and its not what I need ( displays, desktop, general). Im not sure of what to do know. How can I fix this?

Hello joeyman2
It sounds like you are having issues with permissions. Go over the troubleshooting in the first article to get a better understanding of permissions and how they work. You also may need to reinstall the operating system and the second article will walk you through that and it will still keep the data on your Mac. Make sure if you do that to back up your data to an external hard drive.
Troubleshooting permissions issues in Mac OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2963
OS X Mountain Lion: Reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10763
Regards,
-Norm G.

Similar Messages

Can't move desktop icons around

Hello,
I have a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite, and when I try to move my desktop icons around the desktop they snap back to where they were before I tried to move them. I have tried changing settings and restarting my computer.
Cheers,
Adam

Hi. This doesn't resolve the problem on my end. The icons still can't be re-arranged or moved around. Sure, they will adjust to "Set by Sort", but I still can't drag them around, say from one folder into another. They are fixed to their spot.

Help. I can't move my desktop icons

Why can't I move my desktop icons around?

Take these steps if the cursor changes from an arrow to a white "prohibited" symbol when you try to move an icon on the Desktop.
Sometimes the problem may be solved just by logging out or rebooting. Try that first, if you haven't already done it. Otherwise, continue.
Select the icon of your home folder (a house) in the sidebar of a Finder window and open it. The Desktop folder is one of the subfolders. Select it and open the Info window. In the General section of the window, the Kind will be either Folder or something else, such as Anything.
If the Kind is Folder, uncheck the box marked Locked. Close the Info window and test.
If the Kind is not Folder, make sure the Locked box is not checked and that you have Read & Write privileges in the Sharing & Permissions section. Then close the Info window and do as follows.
Back up all data.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo Desktop
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You should get a new line ending in a dollar sign ($). Quit Terminal.
Relaunch the Finder.
If the problem is now resolved, and if you use iPhoto, continue.
Quit iPhoto if it's running. Launch it while holding down the option key. It will prompt you to select a library. Choose the one you want to use (not the Desktop folder.)

I can't move my desktop icons

I can open them, I am just unable to move them. Any ideas?

Restart your computer.
Please detail ALL you have done so far in the way of troubleshooting? Need this info to avoid the been there done that scenarios.

My ipad has frozen i cant move anything on the screen at all all it says is connect to i tunes

i cannot get into my ipad it seems to have frozen and is stuck on conect to i tunes only but i cant get into anything

Try this - Reset the iPad by holding down on the Sleep and Home buttons at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears - ignore the red slider - let go of the buttons. (This is equivalent to rebooting your computer.) No data/files will be erased.
Frozen or unresponsive iPad
Resolve these most common issues:
    •    Display remains black or blank
    •    Touch screen not responding
    •    Application unexpectedly closes or freezes
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/ipad/
iPad Frozen, not responding, how to fix
http://appletoolbox.com/2012/07/ipad-frozen-not-responding-how-to-fix/
iPad Frozen? How to Force Quit an App, Reset or Restart Your iPad
http://ipadacademy.com/2010/11/ipad-frozen-how-to-force-quit-an-app-reset-or-res tart-your-ipad
Black or Blank Screen on iPad or iPhone
http://appletoolbox.com/2012/10/black-or-blank-screen-on-ipad-or-iphone/
What to Do When Your iPad Won't Turn On
http://ipad.about.com/od/iPad_Troubleshooting/ss/What-To-Do-When-Your-Ipad-Wo-No t-Turn-On.htm
iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3281
Home button not working or unresponsive, fix
http://appletoolbox.com/2013/04/home-button-not-working-or-unresponsive-fix/
Fixing an iPad Home Button
http://tinyurl.com/om6rd6u
iPad: Basic troubleshooting
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3274
 Cheers, Tom

Changing location of desktop icons

I made a news ticker in director 11. I want to place it on
top of the desktop. I am doing it perfectly fine but i want to
change the location of the desktop icons so that no icons come
under my director window. How can I do it through Lingo? Can I
access the computer desktop through Lingo?

Interesting question. You might be able to find something in
buddyAPI, but I don't recall ever seeing a function like that...
or, if you can find a command line utility like NirCmd
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html
then you could use Valentin's Shell Xtra
http://staff.dasdeck.de/valentin/xtras/shell/
to interface with the command line utility to move the desktop
icons around.... here's a similar question asked, but for someone
looking to do it programmatically:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/131690/how-can-i-programmatically-manipulate-windows-de sktop-icon-locations
It's an unusual question at best - I've never seen it asked
before here - so it's going to be likely that the solution will
require custom programming an Xtra or command line utility or
whatever to accomplish it.

Mavericks 10.9.5 Unable to move desktop icon. Sort By = None.

ON version 10.9.5 Mavericks.
This was working but the past few days is no longer.
I am unable to move a desktop icon (i.e. drag it and move it into another folder, etc).
View/Sort BY = None.

Take these steps if the cursor changes from an arrow to a white "prohibited" symbol when you try to move an icon on the Desktop.
Sometimes the problem may be solved just by logging out or restarting the computer. Try that first, if you haven't already done it. Otherwise, continue.
Select the icon of your home folder (a house) in the sidebar of a Finder window and open it. The Desktop folder is one of the subfolders. Select it and open the Info window. In the General section of the window, the Kind will be either Folder or something else, such as Anything.
If the Kind is Folder, uncheck the box marked Locked. Close the Info window and test.
If the Kind is not Folder, make sure the Locked box is not checked and that you have Read & Write privileges in the Sharing & Permissions section. Then close the Info window and do as follows.
Back up all data before continuing.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo Desktop
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You should get a new line ending in a dollar sign ($). Quit Terminal.
Relaunch the Finder.
If the problem is now resolved, and if you use iPhoto, continue.
Quit iPhoto if it's running. Launch it while holding down the option key. It will prompt you to select a library. Choose the one you want to use (not the Desktop folder.)

Desktop Icons: Reset Positions?

I usually have 2 monitors connected to my mac, with icons on both. Today, I had to unplug one, and all the icons from the 2nd monitor appeared on the 1st. Now when I re-connect the 2nd monitor, the icons are all still on the 1st monitor, and the icons that were previously on the 2nd monitor are not in their original positions anymore. Is there any way to put them back? Thanks.

My experience has been that once something moves desktop icons around, they'll stay where they got put (with the exception of icons for disks or hard drives) unless you move them again.
Back in the days of OS 9 and earlier there were small utility apps available which could be set to record the locations of icons at a specific instant in time, and could then return them to those places later on after they got moved. Handy in the case of some games which ran in full screen, but changed the resolution dramatically, leaving the desktop icons crammed into the upper left quadrant.
I haven't seen such mentioned for OSX, though to be honest I haven't looked for such. Even so, the utility would have to have already been run so it could record what was where before asking it to restore positions.

Win 10 - Desktop Icons Issue

Hi! Today I clean-installed windows 10, but I am facing an issue(?): Basically, I can't move my desktop icons to the last/bottom row, I mean just above the taskbar (possible thing in windows 8/8.1) I am going crazy for this! :\

ajt wrote:
Multiple people have reported this problem. I talked to Lenovo Tech Support today and the person told me he had never heard of this problem and that they do not monitor the Forums for systemic issues like this. Frankly, this person seemed clueless on many fronts so I am not sure either of those things are valid. It was an extremely frustrating telephone call.
In any case, I would like to rollback to the original version of the ATI drivers as well as "Presentation Director" to see if this fixes the problem. Does anyone have or know where to get the previous version(s) so I can test to see if it also has this problem?
Thanks
What is the problem that you're having? Desktop Icons Issue isn't really enough information to go on.
Which T series system do you have, and what operating system are you running?
Re tech support not monitoring the forum, there are a few Lenovo employees roaming around in here helping out on a volunteer basis, but this is not an official support channel. Instead, this is designed to be a user-to-user support and discussion forum.
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español Русскоязычное Сообщество
Jane
2015 X1 Carbon, ThinkPad Slate, T410s, X301, X200 Tablet, T60p, HP TouchPad, iPad Air 2, iPhone 5S, IdeaTab A2107A, Yoga Tablet, Yoga 3 Pro
I am not a Lenovo Employee.
I AM one of those crazy ThinkPad zealots!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"!

Windows 8.1 Moving Desktop Icons Problem

I just installed Windows 8.1 and I'm very happy with it. There is just one problem I have and I hope you can help me resolve it.
I can't move my desktop icons. Windows is newly installed and I don't have any third-party software that could mess up everything. I searched across the web for different solution but none of these work. I tried to install all the updates but that didn't
change anything. They said I should try pressing Escape button three times. I pressed Escape three times, but that also didn't work. Then somebody said that possibly the Esc button on keyboard may be stuck. But this problem continued even after I plugged out
my keyboard!
I can't think of another solution to try so I hope you can help me.
EDIT: I'm really sorry, I saw Win 8.1 Visualization, but it says
Virtualization :S I don't know what to do.

boot in safe mode
If you are able to arrange the desktop icons in safe mode, I would suggest you to perform clean boot.
Refer to the link to perform clean boot.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
start as normal after troubleshooting
Hope this resolves the issue.

I Mac G5 desktop icons

I cannot seem to move my desktop Icons? Can anyone help?

Right or control click a clear space on your Desktop. Select Show View Options from the drop down menu.
Click the pop up menu next to: Sort by
Deselect: Snap to Grid

Icons on desktop and selections on all menus changed to AAAAAAAA

If I click on the icons the correct name of the file appears, but if I click anywhere else on the desktop the AAAAA's reappear. All of the desktop icons do this. The number of A's varies with each desktop icon. Also, all of the choices on the menu bar across the top of the screen have changed to AAAAAA. The selection choices for the items all have AAAAA. If I use the restore software cd as the start up disk, the menu bar is normal. I have done disk repair, still have the problem.
The programs and files all work correctly.
Any ideas?

[Why did all of my files and more switch to a AAAA name|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9216233#9216233]
[Menu fonts all turn into boxed capital "A"s|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4395251&#4395251]

Why am I unable to move icons around on desktop? How do I release these?

Why am I unable to move icons around on desktop? How do I release these?

In Finder "View > Show View Options > Arrange By " there you will find choices as to how your desktop arranges itself or not.

MOZILLA NEW, I WANT TO MOVE ICONS AROUND ON DESKTOP

used to be able to move desktop icons, for programs, around on the desktop. HOW to move them now?

Just in case you are blocked from your desktop by Firefox's display mode:
* You can switch out of full screen mode using the F11 function key. (This key toggle full screen mode on and off.)
* If the minimize, restore/maximize, and close buttons are not visible on the title bar, you could try pressing Alt+spacebar to use the control menu for the window.

In Mac OS X 10.5 I see a black frame around the selected desktop icon

Today when i select a desktop icon a black frame forms around that icon. It does not go away by clicking on the desktop. if i click on another icon, the frame moves to that icon. i have never seen this before. is it a problem?
Message was edited by: Peggie

Open the Universal Access pane of System Preferences, click on Seeing, and turn VoiceOver off.
(45821)

I cant move my desktop icons around at all

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for