Only Desktop Picture on TV

I connect my macbook pro to my tv using the mini dvi connector and vga/svga cable, and all i see on my tv is the desktop picture. How can I watch a movie or actually see everything else from my macbook on my tv?

When you plug in any monitor, by default it acts like a second computer monitor...an extension of your desktop. If it's blank, you probably haven't put anything there yet. I'm sure if you dragged something over to the second monitor, like the DVD Player window, it would not be blank anymore.
If you want the same thing to show on both your MacBook Pro and your TV, you must turn on "mirroring" mode. Do this either in the Displays icon on your menu bar, or using the "Mirror Displays" checkbox in your Displays system preference, Arrangement tab. The Arrangement tab also lets you arrange the monitor icons to match how they are in your room so that dragging a window past the correct edge crosses over to the other monitor (when mirroring is off).

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Managed clients sometimes freeze at logout showing only desktop picture

Hello --
We're running Mac OS X Server 10.4.11 on an Xserve and Mac OS X 10.4.1 on forty PowerMac G5 workstations. All users have network home folders. All managed preferences are at the computer level.
The problem is that occasionally, during the logout process, a user's computer will freeze / hang displaying only the user's desktop picture.
While the computer is in this state, it's not accessible via Apple Remote Desktop. The only way to recover from the freeze is to force the computer to shut down by pressing and holding the power button.
This is the final entry in the system log before the freeze that may be a clue to the problem:
Jan 22 11:40:32 xarts-lab-006-05 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_unmount: afpfs_flushfiles failed 16
I've done some searching online for other clues related to "afpfs_flushfiles" and haven't had much luck. Has anyone else out there experienced this issue? Does anyone know what the "afpfs_flushfiles" task is trying and failing to do?

I have this problem as well. We have several offices, but only one of our offices does it. I have been researching for a while now, but have found very little. We also experience delays and other random errors as well. Have you checked your forward and reverse DNS? Using the Terminal, type sudo changeip -checkhostname and verify that the current hostname and DNS hostname are matching. I installed DNS after I setup my auto-mounting sharepoints, and think maybe that has something to do with my problem. I will be implementing my fixes this weekend. I would recommend more research before using changeip to repair it if your hostnames do not match, as I'm unsure what other changes this may cause. I'm fairly sure I'm going to have to re-promote my Open Directory master, then re-select the user's homes out of WM, as well as rejoin all the client computers to the new OD master because the search base will be changing as well. I may find out that DNS had nothing to do with the problem as well. Good luck, hope this info helps.

Failed reboot or shuntdown - Only Desktop Picture and Arrow Pointer Remains!

The iMac iMac G5 20-inch 2 GHz fails to reboot or shutdown sometines (1 five times or so). After selecting to reboot or shut down, everything closes but the Deskttop picture remains, as well as the mouse arrow pointer, which can be moved with the mouse. Pressing the Control and Eject keys brings up the shutdown window and it is possible to click its buttons, but nothing happens after that. The only way to get out of it is to force shutdown pressing the power button for a few seconds.
How to fix it?
See also this archived thread:
Wont shut down bug with 10.5.4
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1614564?start=0&tstart=0

Does it Safe boot to the Desktop?
Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions.
If the above fails, then it appears to be time for a relatively painless Archive & Install, which gives you a new/old OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space and no Disk corruption, and is relatively quick & painless...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Just be sure to select Preserve Users & Settings.

I have recently update to the OS Maverik and I use a projector with a mini display port adaptor to my MacBook Air, ever since the only thing that projects is my desktop picture. I cannot get it to project my school work that I need to teach my students.

I have recently update to the OS Maverik and I use a projector with a mini display port adaptor to my MacBook Air, ever since the only thing that projects is my desktop picture. I cannot get it to project my school work that I need to teach my students. Help!

Hi Becki514,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The following articles may help you with your projector issue:
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1573
Apple Mini DisplayPort adapters: Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3382
Mac notebooks: How to use your computer in closed clamshell (display closed) mode with an external display
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3131
I hope this information helps ....
Have a great day!
- Judy

10.9.3 on iMac 27", dock displays near middle of screen, desktop picture isn't covering whole desktop. Anyone else having this annoying glitch?

Hello Everyone.
I upgraded an iMac 27" (3.4 Ghz, Intel Core i7, 3TB fusion) from Mac OS X 10.8.6., to Mac OS X 10.9.3 a few days back.
Ever since then, the 2nd user to login on a given day, gets the dock displayed near the middle of the screen. It still interacts OK (e.g. you can launch applications from there), but it is not in it's correct location. The desktop picture (in this case, a shade of solid dark grey), only covers the smaller desktop area (up to where the Dock is). The remaining area of the screen automatically gets a 'light grey' background colour.
So person A logs in, no problem. But when person B comes along (with perosn A still logged in), the user logins, and they get this 'chopped of' version of the screen, with the dock mid-screen. (See screenshot attached).
The users can still click on any dock icons, and the applications will open up. But the dock won't return to it's original home, and refuses to 'jump' back to their proper home (at the bottom of the screen).
I've tried using CSCREEN to change the resolution at startup, via a terminal command and Automator, but that only works on some occasions. Others (like the attached screenshot) boot with the two-colour background, and 'confused' dock. A manual screen resolution change in the Settings area (down and then back up again), resolves the issue for that boot.
I've tried stripping back all non-essential plug-ins, tried removing a variety of start-up items, add-ons etc. I've tried creating a 'test' account, and the same issues appear to this account too.
Is it just me, or are others having problems with a misbehaving dock / screen resolution, in Mac OS X 10.9.3 / on an iMac 27"?
Thank you!
D.

Hi folks.
I found a solution...Looks like the Dock is the culprit it's self. So, I made an automator app that I fire up automatically at login time. The automator app runs a shell script command:
killall Dock
(make sure you have a capital D on Dock)
The Dock gets closed off, and it then re-opens in the correct spot (bottom of the screen -- not the middle of the screen). Hope this helps someone else!
Enjoy.

Why can i see only one picture in the illustration windows with iTunes 10.5.1?

why can i see only one picture in the illustration windows since iTunes 10.5.1?

Assuming Apple doesn't eviscerate the files of the secondary graphics with another upgrade, there could be a plug in that reads the graphic and runs along side iTunes..we should get someone or Apple to program an alternative If we have to accept this downgrade in iTunes proper.
I've developed a quick workaround, and am still hoping Apple will fix this!
Go To Get Info on the tune you want to see secondary artwork for.
Go To the Artwork tab
Drag the back cover to the desktop, and it will create a new jpg you can open with quick viw or prieview where you can see it large!
you end up with a lot of jpgs on the desktop to discard!

How do I change the desktop picture on *all* windows with Lion?

I'm sure I'm just missing a simple setting, but ... I changed the desktop background to something I found I thought I'd like, using right click/use as desktop background. Didn't like it. Went to System prefs to change it, and selected the Pond Reeds pic that comes preloaded with Lion. Great! Except it only changed it to that in one workspace. All the others still have the background I don't like, and going to each workspace, right clicking and choosing "change desktop picture" just shoots me back to the system prefs workspace and doesn't change anything. What's the right answer (It's an older MacBook Pro, but running Lion, just upgraded to it a few days ago.)

Thank you!!! I knew it must be something simple, that I just haven't had time to figure out yet (the day after I upgraded, my son went into the hospital and had to have heart surgery, so I haven't spent a lot of time getting to know Lion.). Your help is much much appreciated!

My desktop picture on startup reverts to apple pink space and not the photo I selected in preferences.

When I start my iMac the desktop picture is the apple red and pink space thing. In the preferences I have chosen a folder containing pictues and selected to change the pictures every 5 seconds and that works fine but when I shut down or restart the apple red/pink picture comes up so how do I correct this problem?
John128

Thanks I have just rebooted it, but still to no avail, have you got any other suggestions? I've inserted a couple of
images to show you exactly what I mean. As you can see the toolbar at the top there are no buttons on safari or finder, only a couple the rest have disappeared.

Desktop pictures do NOT rotate/change on secondary display

For some peculiar reason, my desktop pictures do NOT change / rotate on my secondary display.
I have a MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2007) running Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and I have dual displays. My primary display (the MBP screen) DOES change / rotate picture every minute, but I want my secondary display to do the same.
It seems that restarting does fix it, but only temporarily. I think it might have to do with plugging/unplugging the secondary display and sometimes if it's working, I disconnect and reconnect the monitor and then the pictures stop rotating.
All my desktop picture settings are correct in System Preferences. I tried unchecking then rechecking the "Change picture:" checkmark, but that doesn't fix anything. I also tried clicking on different folders in the left column of the Pref Pane, then clicking back on my chosen desktop pictures folder.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I discovered that for this particular file if you check the "random order" box under Desktop preferences, then the pictures will rotate like the rest of the photo files in the collection

Desktop pictures won't use all pictures in folder

When I created a folder in iPhoto of the pictures I wanted on my desktop, not all the pictures are used, only 4 of the 8 I put there. I deleted the preferences, logged out and in again, but the same thing happens. Then I deleted the number of pictures, but two of them still don't show up.
Can anyone help solve this problem?
Thanks in advance.
Joanne

Found an answer to my own question. Some pictures I import won't be recognized by iPhoto, but if I do an edit, then iPhoto does acknowledge them. After I slightly cropped each picture, they all show up, both in desktop pictures and screen saver.

I used to upload any picture to Fbook which was in my Iphoto. Now, I can only upload pictures which are a week old. I'm unable to upload any recent pics to FBook - like pics I uploaded to I photo today. They are in IPhoto, but once I on FB, and want

I used to upload any picture to Fbook which was in my Iphoto. Now, I can only upload pictures from IPhoto which are a week old. I'm unable to upload any recent pics from Iphoto to FBook - like pics I uploaded to I photo today. They are in IPhoto, but once I'm on FB, and want to upload, they aren't available to choose. Help? Thanks! Louise

thanks for replying.
the booting and walking away and then attempting to browse and clean method is what i've been trying to do. it won't let me drag and drop and just freezes up and goes to sleep after 2 minutes. it's a never ending battle with very few results. which is why i questioned the method of just restoring the hd from a time machine backup.
do you think restoring the hd from time machine will resolve the issue with all pics on the desktop? and everything will be as it was from the date i restore it from? sorry, as you can tell, i'm not overly computer savvy.
i have a really old desktop mac...i can try connecting the two...how does one boot a mac in 'target mode'?
as for the iphoto cleaning and organizing issue...that is what i was trying to accomplish with importing them to a folder. was going to browse and clean from there...but somehow imported to desktop which is what's complicating everything. once i get them off the desktop i can work on the iphoto issue...which as i mentioned...i didn't take 45,000 pics...i've just taken about 4,500 over the last few years, and they are being duplicated in iphoto. this was my attempt to clean it out entirely and start over. it will basically be a lot of deleting.
one problem, seems to lead me to more...which is just my luck. :-)
thanks again, for your help.

Desktop picture suddenly changed by itself

I woke up the morning turned on my mac and booted it to find that the desktop picture was the blue galaxy.
When I shut it down last night it was set to the purple nebula as far as I can recall. I havent enabled "change desktop picture every 30 minutes" so I'm very puzzled as to why it has randomly changed itself. The only I did yesterday was install a couple of Apps from the App store. A photo duplicate finder - and an application uninstaller...
I'm almost wondering if I have downloaded a trojan or back door open - ridiculous I know as my security is pretty paranoid and none of my safeguards has reported anything, nor do I get software from non official sources, but I'm at a loss to figure how this has suddenly changed iteslf... I mean computers don't do that... do they?
Anyone who can explain what has happened I will be very grateful.

There's a bug that changes the wallpaper to the default one after each startup. To test this, open System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver, and see if you can open it.
Try deleting the Desktop settings file. Open a Finder window, select Go menu (on the menu bar) > Go to Folder, and type ~/Library/Preferences. Then, delete "com.apple.desktop.plist" and "com.apple.systempreferences.plist", and restart. Finally, change your background

Can't change desktop pictures(error)

When i try to change pictures on my decktop, error comes out.
i can only see the message "Loading images" but i can't click any button.
Please help me to solve this problem.

Hello, sounds like maybe this...
OS X: System Preferences stops responding after viewing Desktop & Screen Saver pane
Products Affected
OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, iPhoto
Symptoms
System Preferences may stop responding if you select an iPhoto Event that is no longer available in iPhoto as the source for your desktop picture.
Resolution
    1.    Quit System Preferences if it's running.    If System Preferences is running but not responding, choose Force Quit from the Apple menu, or right-click its icon on the Dock and choose "Force Quit".
    2.    Open iPhoto.
    3.    Select Events in the Source list (on the left side of the iPhoto window).
    4.    Double-click on any of the events shown. Verify that the name or date of this event is now shown under RECENT in the Source list.
    5.    Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences.
    6.    Click Desktop & Screen Saver, click on Desktop, and verify that you can now select a new desktop picture.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4407?

Feature Request: Cover Flow for Selecting Desktop Picture

Cover Flow is a great way to scan through a set of images within a defined visual real estate. It would be perfect for the Desktop System Preferences, where we users have had to suffer forever with squinting at 72x51pixel images (at 1440x900 resolution) of our desktops. It's nearly impossible at this thumbnail size to tell what image one is looking at, and selecting to view it in the preview at 128x73 pixels is only marginally better. And of course, there's no way I know of to expand the System Preferences window to expand this whole scanario. It's the year 2009 guys; please give us your great Cover Flow to help us choose our Desktop Pictures in a reasonable way.

Hi Scott,
I know this isn't the best place, but Apple doesn't make easily apparent where to submit such requests, and I know its staff do occasionally visit these boards.
As to the appropriateness of the expectation, I have to disagree. I make my living in user interface and usability, and Apple has clearly set the expectation in the user's mind that System Preferences is the primary method for setting all sorts of Finder behaviors, including screensavers and desktop pictures. I see no reason for the user to either accept a substandard main method of setting this preference or have to learn a secondary one simply to avoid the main method.
As to the System Preference not lending itself to Cover Flow, there may be some underlying technology of which I'm unaware, but interface-wise, it seems to fit right into the Preference screen:
http://www.loungelife.com/DesktopSystemPref.jpg

When launching Safari why does my desktop picture change?

This is a strange one. iMac with 10.8.5 and the latest updates.
Set the desktop to "picture 1." When I launch Safari the desktop picture moves to the left and establishes "picture 2" as the background.
Only with Safari. All other apps do not do this.
It is like it is doing "fast user switching" but there is no other user.
Thanks for any suggestions

Took a detour about this but am on site and looked for any pictures in the
~/Library/Safari
None found
Any other suggestions?
Thanks

Only Desktop Picture on TV

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