User Reset? Desktop files gone.

I came home to find my desktop blank, and all my files and folders gone and my settings appear to back to intial installation. The power had not gone out.
Is there a way to restore files from the desktop? I've done several searches but found only a few documents and my iTunes library?
Any ideas what could have happened? My dock was reset and everything, but my online settings, email, and hard drive seem intact. After reading some of the posts, it seems my user had been reset on June 1. Any way to get this through disk utility or the archive settings on my home folder?
Sign me baffled....

1. How do I dump the logs? Do I just go to Console and delete them?
Just go to the Logs folders and delete them. Now I would not do that with cache files.
2. Do I need to be using the startup disk when I do that
Not if your Mac can run Target Disk Mode:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
3. Will I ever be able to get my old User back, do you think
If you use Prosoft Data Rescue you may be able to, but you have to be sure not to use your computer until you have a chance to use Prosoft Data Rescue with an External Firewire hard drive at least as large as the drive the user was on. Or if you use one of the disk cataloging tools on my FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
To locate that user. If they aren't found, only Data Rescue or a data recovery specialist would be able to retrieve the user. This is why it is so important to backup your data as my FAQ* explains:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
4. After I dump the logs, how do I reset the network
To reset a dialup network with AOL, all you need to do is quit from AOL's software menu. In some cases modems can get hung, in which case, restarting the machine from the Apple menu is necessary.
AOL is up to version 10.3.7:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10481
* Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Similar Messages

10.5.8 Finder resets to default, desktop files gone!

The Finder on my 2008 Mac pro is really acting up at the moment an I have no idea what's going on.
My desktop has been wiped clean. Nothing there, except the drive icons. I don't keep much on the desktop but there should be a few folders and files that I always keep there for convenience. Also, Finder has reset to default settings - lost my custom Places from the sidebar and opens in icon view, which I never use.
I looked at the actual folder in Finder as well and the files are definitely not there.
What I have been doing:
I ran iDefrag on my files disk (INT HD 1TB) a few days ago (first time). I forgot to turn off Time Machine so they have probably been running at the same time.
Today Time Machine decided to backup everything from scratch, which I attribute to iDefrag switching everything around on my Files disk. Also filled the backup disk so I only have two backups at the moment, both from today.
Other than that, I have mostly been using Adobe Bridge, Photoshop and InDesign CS4 for editing quite big files. Also Firefox for normal web browsing.
Hard drives are reported to be ok. Profile is still the same name. The files are not in the Trash. Everything else is where it should be. System disk is 1/3 full. Files HD (which hasn't been affected AFAICS) 1 TB 1/2 full.
Does anyone know what could be happening to my machine?

I had the same problem and finally discovered that somehow my Desktop folder had become a Package. I could not do anything on the desktop but the apps and the dock etc. were working fine. I went to Go/Home Folder/Desktop/Show Package Contents and everything was there. But nothing appeared on the desktop. I could not open a new folder and anything I tried to drag to the desktop resulted in a permissions error. I tried all of the above fixes and more. The solution? Trash the desktop folder from your Home folder, empty the trash, reboot and start all over again. If you're lucky like I was you will have a Time Machine backup and you can restore a previous Desktop easily. Worked for me!

User preferences,desktop,documents GONE

My bridge software crashed, I closed the app. Computer was not responding so I restarted finder it hung so I had to restart using the power button. When computer restarted I had my login window, user pasword and everything looked normal however when the desktop appeared all my icons files etc were gone. My dashboard looked as it did when I first got the mac. All my documents and pictures are also gone. My applications are still there, my user id is still what it was. I ran repair permissions and repair disk however that did not help.
Please help

I did find were they are. For some reason it looks like the OS recreated my home folder with the same user ID wth 4 sub folders. If I select the hard drice and go to shared folders there is a folder named the same as my home directory and all my stuff is there. What is the best way to recover without corruption. Should I copy it to the new user home folder. Should I rame the existing copy the old user home folder to the same directory as the current home folder exists?
Thx

Desktop file gone!

Loaded Maverick and then I rebooted and nothing is on my desktop, all the files with the exception of Macintosh HD are gone and I can't even drag anything onto the desktop! Yikes! What is going on?????

I resolved this by using Time Machine and getting all the Desktop items back. I am sure it had more to do with me doing something weird with Macfort rather than Maverick. I couldn't drag anything onto the Desktop becausethe Desktop folder was completely gone from my home file, really strange.

Desktop is Gone, Mail and Safari were reset and a host of other problems

So, I opened my iMac G5 today and the first thing I noticed was that some of my widgets were gone, particularly all the ones that didn't come with the OS X installation (meaning the other ones I downloaded from different sites). And then I noticed that I couldn't access any of my mail when I looked at them in Mail. I was given an error message that read something like this: "you cannot view this message. it has not be downloaded from the server. you must go online". So anyway, I decided to shut down and turn my computer on again. And I was shocked to see that my desktop was gone, and my wallpaper had reverted back to the default wallpaper (but I was atleast able to find all the files that used to be on my desktop). And now, Mail has been reset (meaning, when I launch it, it asks me to set up a new account). iChat has been reset the same way as well. And for some very odd reason, my Safari browser has lost it's tabbed browsing ability, and I've lost all my bookmarks. I checked the version, and it says 2.0.4. Did I somehow revert back to on older version of Safari. So far, those are the only problems I've discovered. I'm terribly hesitant to turn my computer off again in fear that I might lose some more files for good.
Anyway, I have an idea of what the culprit might be. I downloaded this program from VEOH.com and decided to uninstall it last night. It came with an "uninstall how to" that asked me to type some stuff in Terminal (I knew I should have just kept that **** program!). This is what it asked me to type:
prompt> sudo /Applications/Veoh.app/Contents/Resources/uninstallveoh.sh
And then Terminal asked for my admin password, and I hit the Return key. Would anyone know, if this is what could be causing me all these problems? I also recently installed Yahoo 3.0 Beta 1. It conflicts with Mail. I can't open Yahoo 3.0 when Mail is running.
Also, I found the bookmarks.plist file for Safari. I'm wondering if I can somehow do something with this file so that I can get my old bookmarks back. Would really appreciate any help!
Ugh! I feel like a such a Windows user right now.

Hi, Barry.
Thanks for the reply! I've found all of my files (the ones that used to be on my old desktop), and I've been able to restore my bookmarks and all my old mail. Also, I just had to recheck "enable tabbed browsing" in Safari Preferences. I think I just figured out what I did wrong: I renamed my "home" folder. I was gonna change it back to it's original name, but I forgot to. Stupid me. So after restarting, I think it just moved all of my files into a new folder which I can still access by going to Macintosh HD >>> Users. All the files are there, including the widgets that I thought were missing. So now, I essentially have 4 folders under users, but I only have 3 user accounts. You think I can restore everything back to normal by just copying all of the old files back into my home folder again? But at any rate, I think I can live with having all my files just living in another folder. I lost my old "music", "pictures" and "movies" icons though (the ones at the left sidebar of the Finder window). Those are the only things I can't seem to find. So I just downloaded new icons.
What's a good brand of external firewire drives? I'm thinking of getting a Maxtor OneTouch III. Would you recommend that?

Desktop files disappeared (advanced user)

Hello,
Main Problem:
While working (though not specifically while I was watching, ie: I was cycling through firefox, acrobat reader, outlook 2010, and microsoft word 2010 without viewing the desktop very often) all of the documents on my desktop disappeared.
Meaning, they were all there (some have been there for months) this morning when I came to work and turned my computer on, and while working (without rebooting or doing anything abnormal) the files disappeared. None of the folders have disappeared nor have
their positions on the desktop changed. The only thing out of the normal routine that I did today was update Adobe Acrobat Reader 9. I don't use X because it conflicts with my printer, though lately it's been acting up anyway so I thought it might be 9 and
did the check for updates(I've had check for updates turned off until now). It updated from something like 9.2.5 to 9.5.1. Other than that it's been a usual day of typing in Word, opening PDFs and printing them out, with a little Outlook 2010, Mozilla Firefox,
and some wordpad.
Some specs:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (no pending windows updates)
ESET Smart Security, active, up to date, and running the entire time. (Full scan returned no problems)
8gigs ram, C drive 500GB, D drive 80GB, E drive 1TB
and other various goodies I'll be glad to divulge if anyone wants to know.
Things that are -not- wrong:
I've been using computers for over 20 years, I built this one from parts as I do with all my computers, yada yada, I'm the "computer guy" at my company I run the network, I setup all the boxes, and take care of all the repairs and problems. Then again I am
not certified or licensed in anything, there is plenty about Windows, and especially Windows 7 that I do not understand. Also, and this is quite unfortunate, I live and work in Japan so my OS is in Japanese. I am fluent to an extent but I cannot navigate some
of the control panel areas without a little trial and error because the chinese characters get a little tricky when you get into too specific of a subject; BUT, I love and have been using ACDSee Classic forever, with it's "show hidden" and "show system" files
options, I have free reign over hidden files and programs from the rest of the people that use this computer who do not know what ACDSee is (safer for them).
Nothing shows up in ACDSee or explorer with show hidden files active in my desktop folder or any other user's desktop (there's only one user but windows makes those "all users" folders anyway) or on the desktop itself. All the folders remain untouched.
Files that were positioned between two folders are missing, meaning I didn't accidentally click and drag the whole desktop into my recycle bin and some how clean the bin without noticing.
Only one file shows up in quick recovery scans of the recycle bin or the desktop, and I'm currently in the process of a deep scan of the entire C drive. (though I didn't delete the files, so why should they?)
Solution?
The only thing I can imagine is that somehow some sector of the desktop got "archived" or sectioned off in some manner. If I can assume the folders within the desktop folder have their own paths (their own separate sectors on the disk, albeit within the desktop
sector) and that the files within the desktop folder all share a common sector (the desktop folder) perhaps that sector got somehow funked with? For example the shortcut to "My Computer" even went missing. All I had left was a recycle bin and 9-10 folders
scattered across the desktop. So is there some way I can look into recovering that specific sector? Some sort of indexing/archiving that might cause this?
I don't have recovery points, nor that recent of backups to recover files such as last nights work or last weeks work, but more important than getting my data back is, [u]What Happened[/u]!? So it doesn't happen again.
It seems there are actually a fair share of people (on this site and MANY others) that have or have had this problem and now fear their desktop as an evil devourer of mid-term papers. In my case as well, weeks of work, in a business environment, definitely
NOT acceptable.
Help!
If anyone has any insight or ideas of what could be causing this that would be great. We need an open discussion on this. Again it does not have to do with Human error (me), nor does it seem to be a virus (the hidden files deal); I have plenty experience with
computers and after scouring the task manager and the hard disk with various tools I cannot find tens of files all from one single location, that were all there just hours ago!.............??? Trying a search or turning desktop icons on something simple like
that has already been done XD no offense, but this is not that simple.
Thanks for any input!

Thanks again Milos.
A. The desktop theme and start menu etc. remain unchanged. Would that stand as proof the profile was not reset?
B. I was directed towards recuva on a different forum as well and gave it a shot. The deep scan (of the desktop and all sub folders) did recover about 4 of my files, but they are older over written versions of the files; some of the more recently created
files don't even show up on the list... I can see stuff that was deleted last year, but not some of my missing files? That what leads me to think it's something to do with file restructuring, or maybe as you're suggesting a profile management problem. The
files just plain aren't considered to be related to the desktop folder anymore.
C. That makes sense. The desktop folder is handled differently than say a root folder on the D:\ drive... I don't save stuff on the desktop at home either... it's just something everyone seems to do for convenience at my office, though I've never seen this
problem before.
D. I sometimes have that too and usually am dealing with PDFs received via outlook 2010, thus am opening them directly with adobe's reader.
E. ?
F. Yes.
G. I will look into that; thank you.
H. Ya the administrative warnings in Windows 7 are quite a pain in my opinion... being told I don't have privilege on my own computer is a little silly... no doubt my fault for not spending the time to reassure my system that it's my fault though. I'm interested
in opening system rights both personally and for work, I will look into that when I find the time.
I also ran scan disk after a reboot (before I went home two hours later than normal the day before yesterday) but it only lasted like 3 seconds and said all is well?? Which I've never seen before, but maybe I forgot to check the "check for bad sectors" box.
So I plan to try and run that again today in as deep a format as possible.... I still assume that is somehow the problem... for the files to not even show up from a program like recuva, it feels like the sector was written off as corrupt somehow or...??
why only one specific folder, exclusive of it's subfolders! XD

Renamed user all my files are gone

Had an employee leave so we renamed the user for the machine rebooted and now the shortcuts for all the programs are gone from the dock and all the files on the desktop are gone..........
HELP.................

Adelchi,
Recover from renaming your Home folder by Dr. Smoke will help you resolve your problem.
;~)

Downloading a file from App Server to User's Desktop

Hi All,
I know that there are many threads on file upload and download :-)
I have tried to browse through most of them and could not find my solution.
The requirement is to place a file in the unix app server directory and allow the user to download it using a link, to the user's desktop. In case you think that this has already been answered in an old thread, kindly give me the pointer. Any sample code for doing this, would be great.
I know how to upload a file from desktop to table/app server. I know how to download a file from a BLOB column in database.
Thanks,
Amit

You would not be able to use file upload or download beans, as they interact with the database and not the filesystem.
You would need to write a simple file reader routing in plain java.
Tapash

Desktop files are gone

My brother is working on a powerbook g4 and the problem is all of the desktop files are gone. They are not in the trash. They have just disappeared. It reminds me of when a profile gets corrupt in Windows. Does anyone have any tips on recovering the files? He has tried techtools pro be it locks up on recovering the Documents folder.
Thanks in Advance
Thom

Check this out:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

OS X Tiger Computer Reset with File Loss

Hello. I am posting this on behalf of a friend:
The computer (a last generation 12" PowerBook) has been working fine for some time with no problems to speak of. Mail was open and files emails were visible. However, when clicking on them they returned an error message similar to "Not connected to server" even though they were stored locally. Quitting mail and restarting it did nothing. Eventually the computer was restarted.
After restart, no icons existed on desktop, dock was completely reset to factory icons as well. When opening finder, the Desktop, Applications, Documents, etc folders no longer had their normal icons, but instead just normal folder icons. All system and applications preferences have been reset, including trackpad preferences, Mail settings, address book data, and Safari preferences and bookmarks. More disturbingly, all data in Movies, Pictures, and Music are gone. Data in Documents folder remains. None of the data previously on the desktop is to be found, whether it's going through the home folder to the desktop folder, etc.
Spotlight searches turn up none of the missing files. Nor does a search through terminal.
Subsequent restarts do nothing to fix the problem. Computer had been functioning perfectly up until the above events, and the computer had not been making any clicking noises, unusual sounds, etc.
Can anyone suggest anything to help, any way to roll back, reset the file system structure, etc. Clearly, the user is incredibly distressed and nothing we've found explains either why this happened or how to correct it. Thank you, in advance, for any help.

Sorry gang... Took it to a GeniusBar, they re-installed Tiger, and it worked...
Turned out what had happened was the user renamed her home folder, and so when she restarted it couldn't find it...
Why the OS would let you (even as an admin) rename the home folder without even prompting you to ask if you're trying to change your user name is beyond me.
I'll leave this here in case it happens to anyone else. Cheers.

How to recover missing desktop files?

While in Adobe Bridge, my friend accidently dragged his User folder to the Shared User folder (the graphics pen sorta grabbed it withouthim noticing). He tried to drag it back out of Shared, but it said it couldn't be modified. So he rebooted, and it started up with his own user being as if new, with none of his files or prefs. So then he tried dragging his desktop, docs folders, etc back from Shared to where they belonged in his user. That worked for everything except the Desktop. When he tried to copy that,it asked if he wanted to replace the existing (blank) desktop with the one from the shared folder, which showed all his desktop files. But when he okayed it, the resulting desktop was blank. He doesn't know if he accidently overwrote in the wrong direction (he doesn't think so), or if something else happened. He's a photographer and had hundreds of edited image files in folders on the desktop- so all his recent work since a back up a few weeks ago is gone. Spotlight cannot find any of them by name, nor any other desktop files but the new blank one. so the files are at least not visible, if not gone. Here's the thing: if you run Terminal and look at the desktop file, it shows 2,064 items... which might be his files (?). But i have no idea how to get at them. Nothing shows in the Desktop trash hidden file. Is there anything short of expensive recovery software that might find these files, which are probably not overwritten yet? (he's being careful not to use the drive so that they don't get overwritten)

Trying to diagnose something like this third hand probably isn't very effective. But when you open Terminal you are "in" your home directory. If you then issue this command:
cd Desktop
and hit return you will then be "in" your Desktop folder. If you then issue the list command:
ls -al
you will get a list of all the files and folders that are in the Desktop folder. If he sees everything, then the stuff is there. He could try creating a new folder in his home folder, call it something like fromDesktop, and then issue this command (this assumes he is still "in" the Desktop folder):
mv * ~/fromDesktop
This will move everything from the Desktop folder into the fromDesktop folder. A list command will verify things:
ls -al ~/fromDesktop
If all his stuff is listed, but he still can't see it in its new location using the Finder, then it could be that somehow the invisible bit got set.
And for Finder's sake, tell him to stop saving all that stuff to the Desktop! Put stuff in folders in his home folder. I've seen cases where excessive numbers of files dropped on the Desktop brought the Finder to its knees for many hours. Every single thing on the Desktop is treated as a window by the Finder, and having a ton of stuff there is needlessly slowing things down. And he should be backing up every night, not every couple of weeks. There are many programs available that will do this automatically. If he is in business he should be using one. Not to mention burning separate CDs of things for every client.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Hello I am on a macbook pro (retina IOS 9) i have installed xcodes and command line tools but codeblocks does not compile, terminal gives this message /Users/MacPc/Desktop/Untitled1: Permission denied      any one has a solution

Hello I am on a macbook pro (retina IOS 9) i have installed xcodes and command line tools but codeblocks does not compile, terminal gives this message /Users/MacPc/Desktop/Untitled1: Permission denied      any one has a solution?? please...

Back up all data before proceeding.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership, permissions, and access controls to the default. If you've intentionally set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it, but you do need to follow the instructions below.
Step 1
If you have more than one user, and the one in question is not an administrator, then go to Step 2.
Triple-click anywhere in the following line on this page to select it:
sudo find ~ $TMPDIR.. -exec chflags -h nouchg,nouappnd,noschg,nosappnd {} + -exec chown -h $UID {} + -exec chmod +rw {} + -exec chmod -h -N {} + -type d -exec chmod -h +x {} + 2>&-
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1, if you prefer not to take it, or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
          Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open. In that window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
           ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

DESKTOP FILES DISAPPEARED

The Power Mac G5 that I use at work crashed Friday. It's running system 10.5.8. When it booted back up all the files on the desktop were gone, except the HD icon & the exterior HD icon. I had a working file full of designed ads and projects for the month... the end of the month I copy the month's work on to the exterior hard drive. I keep looking but can't find the files, any suggestions?... any kind of recovery software?

Have you run a Spotlight search for those files?
You should NOT keep important files on the Desktop, that is not what it is for.
Mac OS X's Desktop is the de facto location for downloaded files, and for many users, in-progress works that will either be organized later or deleted altogether. The desktop can also be gluttonous, however, becoming a catch-all for files that linger indefinitely.
Unfortunately - aside from the effect of disarray it creates - keeping dozens or hundreds of files on the Desktop can significantly degrade performance. Not necessarily because the system is sluggish with regard to rendering the icons on the desktop and storing them in memory persistently (which may be true in some cases), but more likely because keeping an excessive number of items on the Desktop can cause the windowserver process to generate reams of logfiles, which obviously draws resources away from other system tasks. Each of your icons on your desktop is stored as a window in the window server, not as an alias. The more you have stored, the more strain it puts on the window server. Check your desktop for unnecessary icons and clear them out.
Keeping as few items as possible on the Desktop can prove a surprisingly effective performance boon. Even creating a single folder on your Desktop and placing all current and future clutter inside, then logging out and back in can provide an immediately noticeable speed boost, particularly for the Finder.
And it is why Apple invented 'Stacks' for Leopard.
Here is Apple's take on the subject:
http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/immaculate_desktop.html

An index of my desktop files appears in firefox. why is it there? does this mean my personal files are accessible from the internet? how can i make sure this goes away and stops?

i am seeing and index of my personal files on firefox. what is this? why is it there? how can i make it go away? does this mean my desktop files are on the internet? can someone explain clearly and simply (i am not tech saavy at all) thank you

This issue can be caused by an old bitmap version of the Helvetica or Geneva font or (bitmap) fonts that Firefox can't display in that size.
Firefox can't display some old bitmap fonts in a larger size and displays gibberish instead.
You can test that by zooming out (View > Zoom > Zoom Out, Ctrl -) to make the text smaller.
Uninstall (remove) all variants of that not working font to make Firefox use another font or see if you can find a True type version that doesn't show the problem.
There have also been fonts with a Chinese name reported that identify themselves as Helvetica, so check that as well.
Use this test to see if the Helvetica font is causing it (Copy & Paste the code in the location bar and press Enter):
<pre><nowiki>data:text/html,
Helvetica abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
Helvetica Neue abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
</nowiki></pre>
You should reset the network.http prefs that show user set on the about:config page. 
Not all websites support http pipelining and if they do not then you can have issues with images or other problems.
See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Images_or_animations_do_not_load#First_steps

After update to ios 7 , my numbers app cannot sync with iCloud .all my previous files gone.why?

After I update to ios7 , numbers app not working well,it cannot sync my previous iCloud documents done in ios6.1.3 .all my previous file gone, I try to uninstall numbers app and reinstall back, but no luck. I try to use safari on my desktop to go iCloud.com to back up my file but I found that I cannot login to numbers , it always jump back to ask me key in username and password..
Please help...

samrae88 wrote:
This issue seriously needs resolved or I will be leaving apple and iphone services for a windows phone.
In that case, GOODBYE!
FYI, these are user to user technical support forums. No one cares if you stay or leave, so leave.

User Reset? Desktop files gone.

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