Unhide Folder

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Level 4

1,282 points

Unhide Folder

I have a folder that seems to have "hidden" itself. I used TinkerTool to show hidden files, and I can see it. But in a file browser (such as an Import box), the folder is still not showing up. I cannot seem to access the folder through an alias in the latter case. How can I "unhide" the folder permanently?

iMac 8,1 stock—OS .VI.II • iPod Touch 1,1—OS 3.1.2, D-link DIR-625 router • iLife 09 • iWork 09 • XCode 3.2.1 (64-bit)

Posted on Feb 15, 2010 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,995 points

Feb 15, 2010 2:32 PM in response to musicwind95

In the Terminal, do this:

chflags nohidden filepath

...where filepath is the path to the file. To automatically enter the file path portion of the command, just type the rest and then drag the file onto the Terminal window.

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Answer 2

Feb 15, 2010 2:36 PM in response to musicwind95

How to unhide it depends on just how it's hidden. OS X can hide files in several ways - either by its file name beginning with a period or by being "flagged."

If it begins with a period, you can unhide (i.e. change it's name to being without a period) it with the following command in Terminal:

+mv /path/to/file/.name /path/to/file/newname+

If the file is flagged to be hidden, you can unhide it with the following command in Terminal:

+chflags nohidden /path/to/file/name+

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Answer 3

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 15, 2010 2:48 PM in response to musicwind95

The hidden item is a folder; the name does not begin with a period. I tried the +chflags nohidden+ command, and then quit and relaunched Finder, but that didn't do anything. Any other suggestions?

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Answer 4

Feb 15, 2010 2:56 PM in response to musicwind95

Please check the folder's properties using Terminal and post back with the results.

Open Terminal. Use the following command:

+ls -la /path/to/foldername+

The results will look something like "drwxr-xr-x 2 username groupname, etc...."

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Answer 5

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 16, 2010 3:35 PM in response to Jason Agress

I'm getting the permissions for each item individually...I don't see the permissions for the folder itself unless it happens to be buried somewhere in the middle of the listing...I checked the beginning and the end.

Here's what I see for the first few files:

-rwxrwxrwx 1 Username staff 1566203 Jan 20 2008 Filename
-rwxrwxrwx 1 Username staff 29722463 Jan 20 2008 Filename
drwxr-xr-x 651 Username staff 22134 Jan 27 15:45 . (Yes, that is a filename with one period)
drwxrwxr-x 27 Username staff 986 Feb 16 17:38 .. (Filename with two periods)
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Username staff 21508 Jan 27 16:02 .DS_Store
drwxrwxrwx 185 Username staff 6290 Aug 9 2009 Filename

From what I can see, permissions for most files are drwrwrwx or -rwxrwrwx

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Answer 6

Feb 16, 2010 3:39 PM in response to musicwind95

I'm sorry....my mistake. Instead of specifying the path to the folder, specify the path to the folder/directory that the folder is IN. (i.e. If it's on the Desktop, it'd be ~/Desktop) Then post back the properties of the folder in question (which will be listed).

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Answer 7

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 16, 2010 5:32 PM in response to Jason Agress

For the folder it shows

drwxr-xr-x 651 Username staff 22134 Jan 27 15:45 +Folder name+

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Answer 8

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Feb 16, 2010 7:21 PM in response to musicwind95

please run


ls -ladeO@ /path/to/folder

and post the results.

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Answer 9

Feb 16, 2010 7:45 PM in response to musicwind95

I had hoped that I would notice something out of the ordinary in those results. But unfortunately I do not. Sorry...

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Answer 10

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 17, 2010 5:38 AM in response to V.K.

When I copied & pasted the command, I get

drwxr-xr-x 651 Username staff - 22134 Jan 27 15:45 +Folder name+

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Answer 11

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Feb 17, 2010 8:56 AM in response to musicwind95

hmm, according to this command the folder should be visible. it has no flags or extended attributes of any sort that could mess it up. try restarting the computer. also, run "verify disk" on the drive with that folder. file system errors can do strange things. if there are no errors then something may be wrong with the .DS_store files either for this folder or for the ambient folder. close all finder windows and run


rm /path/to/folder/.DS_Store /path/to/folder/../.DS_Store; killall Finder

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Answer 12

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 17, 2010 2:11 PM in response to V.K.

Thanks; I'll do that when I get a chance and post back with results.

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Answer 13

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 18, 2010 3:01 PM in response to musicwind95

Tried all three; no changes. Anything else?

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Answer 14

V.K.

Level 9

56,174 points

Feb 18, 2010 8:44 PM in response to musicwind95

the only suggestion i have is to move the contents of that folder to a temp folder, nuke this one and recreate it from scratch. this is not a system folder of some sort, is it?

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Answer 15

musicwind95 Author

Level 4

1,282 points

Feb 19, 2010 8:36 AM in response to V.K.

No, it's not a system folder. That worked.

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