Items on desktop disappear

Ever since I upgraded to Lion, when I restart my computer each day the items that were on my desktop are automatically relocated to a folder in my documents folder that is labeled "2011 November" and I have one labeled "2011 October". These are located in a folder named "Desktop". None of these were created by me. Any ideas?

First of all. do not use Norton Disk doctor. Symantec quit developing it for the Mac a long time ago and it is not compatible with 10.4 at all. I cannot stress this enough, Remove it and all traces of it from your drive and burn the CD it came on. Norton is completely useless. Go to Symantec's web site to get the instructions on how to remove all traces of it. Do so at once. Do not delay.
The problem you have cannot be repaired by Disk Utility, Buy a copy of Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro to fix the problem you are having.
The other option you have is to reformat the drive and do a install of the OS and all of your applications and files from a clean backup copy of from the original installation disks. You do have a backup don't you? If not, consider coming up with a backup strategy. The easiest way is to buy an external or internal firewire drive and clone your drive over to it using Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Of course if you do a backup from your corrupted system that you have now you will also copy the corruption so you would want to repair it before doing a clone type copy.
I would, before doing too much more back up all or your important files.
Good luck!!

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DESKTOP DISAPPEARS using Control-Click

When I Control-Click any item on the desktop (to try and get contextual menu), or any item in any open desktop pane, all the icons on the desktop disappear and reappear a few seconds later - like a desktop relaunch. Maybe I changed some settings but I don't think so. Thought it might be FruitMenu app but have tried uninstalling that to fix this with no success. Have rebuilt the disk using DiskWarrior3.0.3 and have done permissions repairs several times. No success.

Hi, I'm answering my own post here as i couldn;t remove it. But for anyone looking for the answer, i found it, thanks to francine on another post:
I went into "/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items" and into "/Library/Contextual Menu Items". I archived the contents of each, dropped the archives onto the desktop (in case I wanted them again) and trashed the copntents of those 2 folders. Restarted and everythign wokred great getting the contextual nmenus up again on Finder items using Control-Click. I then replaced the appropriate archive into the "/Library/Contextual Menu Items", unarchived it (hoping to find the culprit item) and trashed the archive, restarted and again all worked fine again. I then repeated the process with the "/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items" folder and again restarted and again everything worked fine! So found no culprits and the contextual menus work as they always did before the problem.
Hope this helps. PaulWR.

Desktop disappeared

All items on my desktop have disappeared and Finder cannot be located (-10810)

Please confirm you are running Tiger 10.4.10 (why not 10.4.11?), and also please give more details of 'items on desktop'.

Spotlight makes my desktop disappear !! 10.4.11

Hello
I have not upgraded to Leopard, but have been updating to the most recent 10.4.x
I Only use Spotlight to find things when desperate (Cause it always finds things that I haven't asked it to look for)
LAst night I inserted a cd (data disk) and used spotlight to find a file ... searching searching, then all the icons on my desktop disappeared and the finder window disappeared too.
Now i have a really nice clean desktop, no icons. then they appeared after a few seconds of clicking around.
Then I try a dvd data disk, searching for the same file ....searching searching message, and Poof!! all gone again. I click on the desktop, and here and there an icon shows where I click, but nothing comes back completely.
Restart the computer
Disk utility: Verify Disk (Hard drive) ... no problems found. Verify Permissions ... no problems found.
Anyone else having these problems with spotlight?
Thank you
EB

Try deleting Cache files in your Users/home/Library Folder/caches

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.

Desktop disappears after booting.

Hello, I have a 17 inch Macbook pro and I just upgraded to Leopard, the installation went smoothly and everthing seemed OK, after the install finished the mac restarted and everything went as it should be, it restarted a little slow but I think that was normal. A few seconds (about 30 to 45) after it finished restarting the whole desktop disappeared, I mean the dock, the finder menu and all of my icons in the desktop, it all disappeared except for the wallpaper. I waited for an hour but nothing happened, when I pressed the restart button the restart menu appeared but nothing happened when I clicked restart or turn off. I have no access to menus or aplications and when I click on the desktop nothing happens.
I turned it off by pressing the power button for several seconds and every time it boots the same thing happens, it starts as it should, it even conects to the internet but after a few seconds away goes the desktop.
I managed to restart it in safe mode (pressing shift during boot) and it took a long time but it eventualy booted perfectly, and in safe mode I can use the finder and applications, I ran a repair permissions from safe mode and restarted it but again the same thing happened. I'm pretty sure that some 3rd party application is causing a conflict.
Does anyone have any ideas?, can this be resolved by removing the offending application?, how can I find it? I would really appreciate any suggestions since I dont want to have to format my hard drive. Thank you.

Ohhh, why am I so impatient?, I removed a lot of 3rd party software but could never get the problem fixed, I was able to make a full system backup with time machine running in safe mode so I made an Archive Install, hoping the problem would go away, it didn't.
So, feeling confident about having a full system backup, I made an Erase and Install of Leopard. Everything went smoothly and the OS is great. Just a few hours later you guys replied to this topic talking about Dates to iCal. That's one of the 3rd party programs I did NOT erase, thinking it was harmless. Since I have never had HP zone image or anything like that I'm pretty sure that the problem lies with dates to iCal. It seems to be the only software we all have in common.
My system backup still has Dates to iCal, so in theory I could make a complete system recovery, eliminate Dates to iCal and RECOVER MY SYSTEM AS I HAD IT BEFORE UPGRADING. I already started reinstalling software but there's a LOT to do. Still theres a chance that erasing dates to iCal doesn't work and I find myself in the same place again, I'm not feeling up to reinstalling leopard all over again and dowload and reinstall stuff again unless someone can confirm that Dates to iCal is the culprit.
Please can anyone confirm?, any volunteers?, thanks for your help.

Everything on my desktop disappeared. i tried using the finder to locate specific files and they are missing. Help!

i'm using a macbook pro retina, 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB. operating OSX Yosemite 10.10.1
everything on my desktop disappeared. i've managed to make my HD reappear on my desktop but my files etc are nowhere to be found. i tried using the finder to locate specific files and they are missing. Help! I foolishly filled up my desktop with piles of screen grabs and folders - no doubt that was the cause... what do i do, aside from punish myself for being so stupid?

Could you have logged into another account?
If you go to System Preferences>Users and Accounts what accounts are listed?
To show users at login go to the Login Options of chanck the box that says show list of users.
If they they are gone and you can't find them then restore them from a backup

Desktop disappears when applications are opened

I spent part of this afternoon assigning rules for moving emails to folders in Apple Mail (ver 2.0.7). After restarting, now the desktop disappears everytime I open an application, and I must go back to the dock to move between applications, since only one application's window appears at a time on the desktop (though it is possible to have two windows from the same application open--for example, two pdf files with Adobe Acrobat.)
It's as if the system is operating before the invention of the multifinder, in the bad old days when you had to go back to the finder in order to move between applications. With this problem, the application stays open, but the window of a different application from the current one can only be viewed by returning to the dock and selecting the application. And only one application window can be seen at a time.
Everything was working fine before I spent the day trying to clean up my huge INBOX on Apple mail.
I have already deleted com.apple.finder.plist, and was thinking of trying to reset the PRAM.
Thanks in advance.

I did not notice that I was in full scree mode. Yes that the issue, out of full screen it works like before.
Thanks a lot for the hint.

Mail icon to on iPad desktop disappeared. How can I get it back?

Mail icon to on iPad desktop disappeared. How can I get it back?

Swipe from screen to screen and look for it in folders or on other screens or go to Settings>General>Reset>Reset Home Screen Layout.

Desktop disappeared with files on it

I just attempted to download a screensaver from the official Dark Knight movie website. I was left with an icon that tried to install something and after a failed installation, everything on my desktop disappeared except for my HD. Even in "Places" the desktop fails to show up. What happened and how can I get these files back?

Oh my Lord, what a mess! I downloaded the screensaver, unzipped and ran it.... My downloads go a folder on the root level of my drive called Downloads. After running the installer my Downloads folder was converted to a package called "tdk-screensaver-a03.saver" which is suppose to open with System Prefs! If I go to System Prefs->Screensavers I'm informed the Screensaver is broken and won't work. I suspect the same thing happened to you. Here's what you will need to do:
1. Restart your computer. It will create a new Desktop, if it hasn't done so already. There will be nothing in the Desktop folder.
2. Assuming you had files on your original Desktop you will need to get them out of the old Desktop, which has been renamed and changed to a package.
3. Open your home folder and right click or Control click on the "tdk-screensaver-a03.saver" icon and select "Show Package Contents"--a new window will open with the contents of your Desktop in it. Select your files and drag them to your Desktop. Trash the bogus "tdk-screensaver-a03.saver" and anything else you see related to the awful screensaver.
4. Go to your home ~/Library folder, open it and look for a folder with the weird name of "NY" with lots of little accent marks. Trash it.
5. If you have Time Machine, use it to restore the following files to their pre-disaster state:
"/Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/com.apple.preference.desktopscreeneffect.pl ist"
"/Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist"
"/Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.screensaver.0017f20dca84.p list"
The numbers at the end of the last file will likely be different.
I think everything should be back normal.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

My desktop disappears sometimes

Hello !
I have a recurrent problem on my MBPro 15" i7 w/ Mac OS X 10.7
Sometimes, my desktop disappears. I only can see a grey screen, the same grey as in the login window :
When the desktop has this bug, Mission Control also doesn't work. I only can see this same grey screen...
What can be the problem ?

reinstall lion,maybe it wasnt installed correctly
u shud install lion after formatting mac wid snow leopard n then install lion

Cannot create new folders on desktop. Cannot drag new items onto desktop. Desktop in Finder opens with Terminal. Not sure if this has anything to do with upgrading to Mavericks but I need help if anyone has ideas. Thank you.

I can no longer create new folders on my desktop. The option to do that is now light gray on the drop down menu and can't be selected.
I cannot drag new items onto desktop any longer either.
The Desktop in Finder opens with Terminal.
Folders and items on Desktop open and work normally.
Not sure if this has anything to do with upgrading to Mavericks but I need help if anyone has ideas.
Thank you.

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 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.)

Mail.app multiple acct all items in inbox disappeared without a trace

Mail.app with multiple acct all items in inbox disappeared without a trace
iCould account
gmail account
exchange account
In all accounts, the Inbox contents totally disappeared, gone without a trace. Inbox shows 0MB used for each account. The trash had stuff in it but it didn't have the inbox items. Get Account Info shows all the other folders have items but nothing the side of the inbox. What was werid was my mac was running slow even with an SSD things were crawling. I noticed mail Activity window was processing but thought it standard processing, updating inbox etc.

Well thank goodness for time machine. I was in mail app and clicked on time machine I was able to recover 2 inboxes, one with ~3400 and other with ~1800 messages. However, time machine is now stuck for over 12 hours on 30,682 messages. I was able to go back to a few days ago, it loaded all the messages. I was then able to select all of them (I pressed cmd-a) and in a few hours it was then able to process the select all and show me the restore button much like the other two small mail boxes. But its been stuck at the "Click Restore to recover the 30682 selected messages" screen. The 12+ hours its been busy hammering away at the disk and CPU. From what I can see, it may just be trying to process it all. The previous two smaller restores worked so I'm hoping this one works too.

Help! Everthing on the Desktop Disappeared

I ran the Java & Security updates tonight, upon the reboot, everything on the desktop disappeared. I can only see them by browsing the hard drive.

I ran disk verify in disk utility and everything came back... weird!

A folder on my desktop disappeared and is not the trash, HELP

A folder on my desktop disappeared and is not in the trash, PLEASE HELP

I tried that and found one of the documents but it says it has been damaged or motified

Items on desktop disappear

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