One Fix: Can't launch desktop items, desktop dead, desktop icons not workin

Just reporting a strange thing, hope it helps in a future "search"...
The items on my desktop had become "unclickable". That is, I could dbl-click desktop items and nothing would happen.
The problem? I had set the mouse dbl-click speed to "fastest" setting. (Hours earlier) The system simply wasn't catching the dbl-clicks. Setting the click speed slower solved the issue.
So... Desktop item won't launch or open? Check your mouse settings...
Key words & phrases for search:
desktop item won't launch open
desktop doesn't work
desktop dead
desktop items not working
desktop files not working
dead destop

Hi Chris,
Try reinstalling the drivers that came with the mouse.
Carolyn

Similar Messages

[Solved] wy i can place xfce4 desktop icons in a "grid" only?

hello archers!
im in love with xfce4 DE, but the annoying thing is that i can place the desktop icons only in a invisible "grid" of tiles.
i changed the display manager to gdm, but it didn't help. i tryed changing the WM, but didn't not find out how to do that.
Yes, i dont understand how DE's working internal, cause there are so many parts, as DM, WM, session-manager, and so on, which confuses me.
So how i can place my icons individually on the desktop?
Thanks in advance!!
Last edited by xfce-tux (2011-09-12 21:13:34)

Another way to adjust the desktop grid size settings and more.
Source: http://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfdesktop/tree/README
HIDDEN CUSTOMISATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're using the icon view, and would like to change how the text looks,
you have three things you can change: the opacity (transparency) of the
rounded text background, the color of the rounded text background, and the
color of the text itself.
You'd want to add something like this to your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file:
style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 75
XfdesktopIconView::selected-label-alpha = 100
XfdesktopIconVIew::ellipsize-icon-labels = 1
XfdesktopIconView::shadow-x-offset = 1
XfdesktopIconView::shadow-y-offset = 1
XfdesktopIconView::shadow-color = "#ff0000"
XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-x-offset = 2
XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-y-offset = 2
XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-color = "#00ff00"
XfdesktopIconVIew::cell-spacing = 6
XfdesktopIconView::cell-padding = 6
XfdesktopIconView::cell-text-width-proportion = 2.5
base[NORMAL] = "#00ff00"
base[SELECTED] = "#5050ff"
base[ACTIVE] = "#0000ff"
fg[NORMAL] = "#ff0000"
fg[SELECTED] = "#ff0000"
fg[ACTIVE] = "#ff0000"
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"
The first three entries set the opacity of the rounded text background
(allowed values are from 0 (totally transparent) to 255 (totally opaque),
and whether or not unselected icons get their labels ellipsized
(truncated) to fit on one line. (The 'selected-' version controls the
opacity of icons that have been selected with the mouse.)
The second six entries can be used to enable a text shadow to be painted
with the icon labels. The offsets are in pixels. Setting them to 0 (the
defaults) will disable the shadows entirely. Again, the 'selected-'
versions apply to icons that have been selected with the mouse.
The third four entries set spacing and sizing for individual icons on
the grid. The 'cell-spacing' property specifies the spacing between each
'cell' in the grid of icons. The 'cell-padding' property sets extra
padding placed around each icon+text. The units for these two are in
pixels. The 'cell-text-width-proportion' property specifies the maximum
width of the text label underneat the icon, as a multiplier of the icon
width (so for 30px icons, '2.5' would leave a 75px wide area underneath
for the text).
The fourth three entries set the color of the rounded text background.
* NORMAL sets the color for the regular, unselected state.
* SELECTED sets the color for when the icon is selected, and the desktop has
keyboard/mouse focus.
* ACTIVE sets the color for when the icon is selected, but the desktop does
not have keyboard/mouse focus.
The final three entries set the color of the label text. See above for the
differences between NORMAL, SELECTED, and ACTIVE.

Can't launch Photoshop items from the desktop

After recently upgrading to Tiger, I can't open an item in Photoshop after double-clicking or dragging onto the Photoshop icon in the dock. I have to go into Photoshop first to open it. What a pain!
I'm sure this is an easy fix, but obviously I don't know it....
H-E-L-P M-E.......
G4 desktop Mac OS X (10.4.8)

First off, sounds to me the Photoshop icon in the dock was made from an alias, and not the actual application. If the alias lost its way to the original file at anytime, that can break the connection on the Dock. Remove Photoshop from the Dock while it is closed and reopen the application directly, and click and hold the Photoshop icon in the Dock, and select the menu item in the Dock for Keep in Dock. That at least should fix it so dragging an item to Photoshop will launch it if Photoshop recognizes the file format.
Note, if your open/save dialog box is open in Photoshop, it won't allow you to open documents from the Finder. Only when a file is already open, or just the application is open with no user clickable dismissable dialogs are open, will files launch from the Finder.
If none of these applies, you may need to change the Open/With settings by control-mouse clicking the said document and select Open With... Navigate to the Photoshop application itself in the file browser that comes up, and check off the checkbox "Always Open With".

How can I replace desktop icon accidentally changed?

Trying to change a new folder icon I've changed the icon of desktop. I'd like to restor the old one. Can anyone help me?

The easiest way is to do it through iTunes. Connect your iPad to your computer, launch iTunes, choose your iPad under "Devices", then click on "Apps" at the top of the main window. You'll see your iPad's layout. Click on the page with the app you want to move, then drag the app to the page you want.
You can also drag the apps around on the iPad itself, but it's a little more of a pain. Hold your finger down on any app until every icon starts to shake. You can now drag and drop any icon to different locations/pages. To drag an app to another page, drag it to the far right or left of thew screen until the page switches - you'll have to do this until you get it to the page you want it on. Press the home button to get out of this mode (the icons will stop shaking).

Can't drag desktop icons & other problems

Hi.. I cannot drag my desktop icons nor items from a folder to DT. When this happened, I lost printing from my Lexmark E120N, my memory chips were listed as 68k and 28 k when they are 1 gig & 2 gig. That seems to have cleared up. I also cannot copy anything nor paste anything. When attempting to use Tech Tool 5, it opens, but is frozen. I ran it from the install disk & it said everything was fine! Any help will be greatly appreciated.... TIA, Jack PS: I repaired permissions also.

HI Jack,
You booted from your Apple install disk and the hard disk "*appears to be ok*? Did you check the S.M.A.R.T status? Here's how.
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
Also, run the Apple Hardware Test
If you can, make sure your important files are backed up.
Carolyn

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.

Can't delete desktop icons

I'm running Vista. I loaded a program and then deleted it. It left two desktop icons. These two can not be deleted in any of the traditional ways. When I try to click on them, it says the link is missing. When I try to drag to recylce bin, it shows a red x. When I try to right click, does not give the option to delete. I rebooted in safe mood but that didn't help to get rid of the icons. I tried to reload the program and then delete but that didn't work either. Any suggestions??

Good info, but I also have one and tried to find mine in the registry -and it is not there- even using a search/find in any form. I cannot even locate it in the command prompt directory of my desktop -or anywhere else except as an icon on the desktop. It does not even have a file extension, and the system cannot recognize it to delete it. I have tried doing so from the command prompt as well as from the regedit and the system just doesn't seem to "see" it, but it still shows an icon on the desktop anyway. It is a generic Explorer desktop icon and is named CANID0X3 from a manual of a Porter-Cable tool that I own. When I deleted the file this was left behind and was somehow placed on my desktop and it has been there ever since despite my best efforts. I even tried re-installing the manual and deleting it again, but the system doesn't see the file to correct it.
Any suggestions? Doing a re-install of Windows is a little drastic to cure this otherwise benign problem. It just bugs the heck out of me that I can't get rid of the dumb thing!
Any suggestions, insights, or considerations would be very much appreciated. Thx.

Can't access desktop icons

Hello,
I'm having an intermittent problem with the desktop icons on my MacBook Pro. Occasionally, the desktop icons become inaccessible. I'll hover over them with the mouse and can't click on them. I'll also sometimes add a document to the desktop and it doesn't show up. Both of these problems can be solved by clicking on the "desktop icon view" and changing the size of the icons briefly. I hate having to do this so often. Can anyone help with this?
Thank you!
Erin

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
One thing to try would be to repair your disk. You will have to boot from your install disc and navigate to Disk Utility on the install disc. The select your hard drive by brand name and go to the First Aid Tab and click on the "Repair Disk" button. Repeat until there is nothing left to repair.
If you get errors you cannot repair, then you will need a more powerful utility such as Disk Warrior to repair your drive.
You could also try creating a new user account and see if the problem is there in it.
You could also try reinstalling the OS, but don't do this until any errors reported by Disk Utility are repaired.
Good luck!

Can i hide desktop icons?

is it possible to have no icons on the desktop showing.
for example, in windows i just right click on the desktop, arrange icons by, and then click show desktop icons. which either hides/shows the desktop icons.
is it possible to do something similar with mac?

hiya,
when i put a '.' in front of the file name, it comes up with a message saying "...these names are reserved for the system".
if i can help it, i don't want to install a programme, just so i can use one of its features i.e. hiding desktop icons.
the reason i want to hide my desktop icons is so i can just see my wallpaper.
is there no simple, say for example, turn on/off desktop icons? or something along those lines?
thanks.

Can't put desktop icons on second monitor

I have two monitors but the Leopard Finder won't let me put desktop icons on the second one. Windows I drag onto it fine, but if I try to drag a desktop icon over there, it immediately snaps back to my main monitor. View option for Desktop is "Arrange by: None" so this shouldn't be happening!

Never mind... restarting fixed the problem.

Can't click desktop icons

Sometimes after sleep all the desktop icons (disks, folders, documents, etc...) are unresponsive and the only way to fix it is to restart. This doesn't happen on my other machines. Anyone else experience this issue and know a possible fix?

Thanks for the reply - I should've been more specific:
This is a new machine. Even though it's the previous generation it was purchased only a few months ago. It doesn't require a hard restart - apps function fine and it'll allow a soft restart. It's just the desktop icons that are unresponsive. If this is just a little quirk it's no big deal, but I'd love to figure this out in case it turns into a larger issue. I'll also go ahead and run Diskwarrior.

BT Desktop Icons not working

Suddenly, for no apparent reason four BT icons on my desktop have stopped working i.e. "My BT", "BT Broadband Life", "BT Email & Search" and "BT Yahoo Online". "BT Desktop Help" does work OK. When I double click on any of the inoperative ones I get an error message saying "Launch HM.EXE - Entry point not found. The procedure entry point IsDefaultBrowserIE could not be located in the dynamic link library BTCommon.dll". I have tried downloading and reinstalling the BT Yahoo version of IE8, and running the BT Infinity setup CD again, but it makes no difference. What's gone wrong and how do I fix it?

Sweeney_Todd wrote: [snip]
What's gone wrong and how do I fix it?
The software for some reason isnt talking to each other anymore. Sometimes an update to BT DTHelp can throw other software into a dysfunctional mode.
I ceased trying to understand the former a long time ago, just before I got rid of the lot. If you dont want to liberate your PC from this lot, a clean sweep and a re-install, careful to remove any profiles that might have been created for them in the PC's Registry. CCleaner download via google from file hippo might help, but not 100%.
You need a browser, of that there is no doubt.Are the rest proportionate to the amount of time you will need to fix this?
The other Q is how much do you need the rest as desktop icons? So you could spend a lot of time trying to fix this, or just bin the lot and have a happy life. Try another browser besides IE, say Firefox/Chrome.
AQ.
"Welcome to Royston Vasey - You'll never leave."

Desktop icons not showing up for T60's and T61's

We are having an issue with nearly half (we have a few hundred at out company) of our T60’s and T61’s where they do not show the desktop icons at boot up. If they start the task manager and run explorer then everything pops up like normal. But they will have to repeat this process every time they boot up. We also tried having them turn off the wireless radio via the slider switch but that did not help.
One fix we found was to go C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data and copy the IconCache.db found there over the users IconCache. This fixes the issue for 99% of the people who have this problem, but there are a few that continue to boot up to no desktop items.
The only other fix we have found was to put explorer.exe in the start up folder. This brings up a pop up of their My Documents at start up that they have to close but is much easier than going through the task manager to run explorer.
We also have many T43’s and many Lenovo desktops from M-81, M-82, and M-88’s. none of the desktops show this problem and we have not had this issue with any of the 43’s.
The software packages are essentially the same for all of our systems. The only difference being is that the desktops do not have VPN.
Windows XP sp2
MS Office 2003 standard
IE 6
Adobe Reader 8.1
Lotus Notes 8.1
Sametime 8.0
Cisco VPN 4.6
RealVNC 4
Symantec Antivirus 10.1.5
We run all MS updates and keep the laptops fully patched with Lenovo updates, the only updates we do not use is the ThinkVantage access connections. We install all other system updates in the critical and recommended section.
Some basic hard ware specs of the systems involved:
T61
Processor:        Intel Centrino Core Duo T8100 2.1GHz
Display:            NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
RAM:               3GB
Disk Drive:       WDC WD1200BEVS
BIOS:              LENOVO 7LETB2WW (2.12), 2/20/2008
T60
Processor:        Intel Centrino Core Duo T2500 2.0GHz
Display:            ATI Mobility Radeon X1400
RAM:               2GB
Disk Drive:       ST9120822AS
BIOS:              LENOVO 79ETE1WW (2.21), 2/5/2008
T43
Processor:        Intel Pentium M 1.86GHz
Display:            ATI Mobility Radeon X300
RAM:               1GB
Disk Drive:       HTS541080G9AT00
BIOS:              IBM 1YET62WW (1.27), 5/18/2006
M88
Processor:        Intel Pentium D 3.0Mh
Display:            Intel Q965/Q963 Express Chipset
RAM:               1GB
Disk Drive:       WDC WD800JD
BIOS:              LENOVO 2JKT37AUS, 7/12/2007

Good news: I found a solution. Kind of bad news: it's an extremely awkward behaviour –*but at least it works.
Start iTunes, remove all your voice memos from your library (back them up if you need them), quit iTunes. Restart Finder. Done. I hope that helps!

Desktop Icons Not Appearing

I recently update to 10.6, and have the 10.6.1 update as well. Every now and then, when I turn on my macbook, the desktop will be blank. Sometimes I have to restart and sometimes they will just pop up a few minutes later. I have the Macintosh HD icon and a few various excel icons. Any thoughts?

There seems to be a bug with Finder where some aspect of disconnecting a MBP from an external display will cause the desktop to crash. Symptoms include:
All desktop icons disappear but files on the desktop can still be accessed by browsing through Finder.
Desktop background image cycling (if enabled) does not occur.
You can bring up the desktop shortcut menu (i.e. by right clicking)
I've noticed people complaining of similar problems in the following forum topics:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10733288&#10733288
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10414480&#10414480
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10524664&#10524664
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10407191&#10407191
The workaround is to relaunch Finder using the "Force Quit" application, at which point the desktop works normally again. However I'd really like a proper fix to this bug. If anyone's heard about one, please post about it here.

XFCE, desktop icons not refreshing

Yesterday I tried to create 2 icons on my desktop but they didn't show up, today though when I start my computer the icons I created does exist. But now I can't delete the icons, well XFCE does say the icon doesn't exist if I try to delete it a second time. Why isn't XFCE refreshing my desktop icons? or is it suppose to refresh them only on login/logout?

Do you have "fam" installed and started ?
# /etc/rc.d/fam start
Last edited by esters (2008-01-26 13:36:22)

One Fix: Can't launch desktop items, desktop dead, desktop icons not workin

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for