Looking for a smoother manual transfer. Where are the user's desktop settings located in the library? Icon locations, size, and sort preferences. Dock and desktop wallpaper settings are found in Application Support but I have not found where the rest of the settings are stored.
For the folder itself, they are not in the Library at all. They are stored in the .DS_Store file inside each folder. The .DS_Store may not exist in every folder as it is only created when you change the settings for that folder.
For the actual Desktop, com.apple.finder.plist (~/Library/Preferences/) has settings for the Desktop View. I don't store anything on my Desktop, so I don't know if the icon positions are recorded in that file. Open the file in a text editor and see if that is where they are stored.
While in the Desktop go to the View ➙ Show View Options menu:
Desktop Settings location in Libary
