usr folder now visible in Finder

run the following terminal command

sudo chflags hidden /usr

you'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see). that's normal.

Apparently the invisible bit has been reset. It's harmless to have it displayed, but if you want to reset it then see the following:

It's a bit of a confusion in Leopard. Start by downloading Pacifist at VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Open Pacifist.

Insert your Leopard DVD into the optical drive. Select Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu and enter:

/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/

Click on the Go button. Locate the OSInstall.pkg file and drag it to the Pacifist window. Click on the Resources tab in the Pacifist list window. Open the Scripts folder and locate the hidden_MacOS9 file and click on the Extract to icon in the Pacifist toolbar. I would extract it the the /usr/sbin/ directory. Now Open the Tools folder and locate the SetHidden command. Select it and click on the Extract to icon in the Pacifist toolbar. Extract it also to the /usr/sbin/ directory.

Now you can quit Pacifist. Open the Terminal app in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter the following and press RETURN after each command line:

cd /usr/sbin
sudo ./SetHidden / hidden_MacOS9

Enter your password which will not be echoed.

I did a fresh install of OS X 10.5.7 using the install DVD that came with my mid-2009 MacBook Pro. After installation, folders that should be hidden were visible on the root level of my startup disk. These included folders like usr, bin, etc., but also aliases to folders var, tmp, and etc.

I used the instructions provided by Kappy, which removed the folders folders usr, bin, and so forth from view. However, the aliases to var, tmp, and etc. remain in view at the disk root level. How do I "hide" these aliases? I assume it's not OK to just delete them.

Use the command V.K. posted, substituting the various alias names for usr.

hi;

i've noticed that hidden folders like bin, tmp, var, etc are showing in the root drive and another thing that i notice on those folder they have arrows in the corners. aren't those arrow the symbols for alias (shortcut)? and if so could those folders be deleted and not affect hard drive?

bravogato

Don't remove them. Just hide them, whether they're aliases or not.

This is not working for the aliases in /:

/etc -> /private/etc
/tmp -> /private/tmp
/var -> /private/var

I've typed the same command as the one which worked for the non-symlinks:

sudo chflags hidden file/folder

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
John

Start your own thread, since posting to a closed one won't get most people to look at it.

Whoops! Didn't event think of that... I just looked at the date and saw that it seemed recent enough to piggy back on it.

I found a slight 'workaround' here: http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/toovisible.html

Not what I really wanted to do, but it works well enough for me.

-John

There you go.

not working for me.

Please help