Desktop items are not selectable

Question

Level 1

71 points

Desktop items are not selectable

When I press F11 to show my Desktop, nothing on my Desktop is selectable. Furthermore, the items shown on my Desktop do not represent what is actually there. To wit: When I open a new Finder window and select Desktop on the Sidebar, the items displayed in the Finder window are not what is actually displayed physically on the Desktop.

That is to say, my physical Desktop is dead. The only way to fix it is to Cmd OptionEsc and relaunch Finder.

Even though I have icons on my desktop, including my Hard Drives, I cannot select any of them. This has happened a few times, but I can't seem to find out why.

I don't have any third-party enhancement utilities running. I've tried Hiding Others, Hiding Finder, Showing All, etc., to no avail.

I can keep on saving items to the Desktop in my applications but I can only see them in a Finder window, not on the Desktop itself. It's as if the Desktop is frozen, but I do not know what time it is frozen in.

Help.

MacPro, Mac OS X (10.5.3), 4GB RAM

Posted on Jun 11, 2008 9:27 PM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jun 11, 2008 9:30 PM in response to PatrickL

try deleting your finder preference list. that might clear the problem.

delete the file homedirectory/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and relaunch Finder.

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Answer 2

PatrickL Author

Level 1

71 points

Jun 11, 2008 10:09 PM in response to V.K.

I will give that shot. Since it's a non-persisting problem, assume your advice works unless I return to this thread!

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Answer 3

PatrickL Author

Level 1

71 points

Jun 15, 2008 10:02 PM in response to V.K.

Well, after clearing my Finder preferences as suggested, I was besieged by the same issue again today.

Can't click/select any icon on my Desktop: folders, hard drivers, Time Machine, nothing.

The Dock is still responsive, however.

The only fix is to Cmd OptionEsc and relaunch Finder.

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Answer 4

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jun 15, 2008 10:45 PM in response to PatrickL

how many items do you have in your desktop folder? You shouldn't use it for file storage. If you have too many files there, the system will have hard time rendering them and it might lead to the corruption of the finder preference file and to the kind of problems you are having. clean your desktop folder and apply my previous instructions. see if that clears things up.

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Answer 5

PatrickL Author

Level 1

71 points

Jun 16, 2008 8:08 PM in response to V.K.

I have had only 12 items on my Desktop, 4 of which are my hard drive icons (I have three internal drives and a Windows partition).

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Answer 6

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Jun 16, 2008 8:16 PM in response to PatrickL

12 items is not a lot. sorry I don't have any other advice except deleting that plist and relaunching finder again. if the problem comes back, something in your workflow is consistently corrupting finder preferences but i wouldn't know what that is.

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Answer 7

Jun 16, 2008 8:32 PM in response to PatrickL

Does this just happen on the desktop, or in other windows in the Finder as well?

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Answer 8

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jun 17, 2008 2:27 AM in response to PatrickL

Temporarily remove all files from Desktop that you want to keep (not necessary to remove drive icons).
Go to Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist and change the name to "com.apple.desktop.plist(old)" Then, create a new desktop folder. (In other words rename or delete your Desktop folder at the root level of your Home directory.) Log out and back in or restart. Let us know.

-mj

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