Strange folder on desktop after Big Sur 11.3 update

Hey KI7PBG,

I’m late to the party but experienced this from an earlier update and an Apple Support Specialist let me know it is most likely from shared drive type services common with Amazon or Google. The info below will be helpful for you to understand where it came from at least. If you do not have a PDF explaining it I would contact Apple Support before opening files or applications you don’t recognize.

"About the Relocated Items folder:

While creating the two separate volumes during the upgrade process, files and data that couldn’t be moved to their new location are placed in a Relocated Items folder. The Relocated Items folder is in the Shared folder within the User folder (/Users/Shared/Relocated Items) and available though a shortcut on the Desktop. The Relocated Items folder includes a PDF document with more details about these files."

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina - Apple Support

I hope this is helpful for you,

-Scott (he, him)

There is no issue at all. This is a Unix System and have lots of configuration files. Every update contain modifications in this files. Some won't needed anymore or some files been updated or added to work in the new update/Upgraded System.

These are System_default configuration files that you usually not see except you're an expert.

If you have do any modifications to this files as mentioned in the pdf file you can compare this files like @homaxto has written few lines above or use a graphical tool like Beyond Compare to Compare this files. You can add the missing lines in the new configuration file if need . But again, this files are system defaults. Usually you don't need to modify them.

Remove the "Relocated Items" System works well with no issues.

If you don’t know what it is, you can just delete it.

The update modified the file and moved the old one there in case you had changed it. If you had, you would recognize it and know to change the new file. Since you don’t recognize it, you can just delete it.

KI7PBG wrote:

So i have a strange folder on my desktop after latest update called Relocated Items, but darn if i know what this is , inside is a folder configuration with another folder called private and then another one inside private called ETC with a document i cant open called group.system_default that says There is no application set to open the document leaving me not even knowing what this is . any help appreciated thanks much.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Reference:

If you see a Relocated Items folder on your Mac after... - Apple Support

You can safely delete your 'strange' folder on the Desktop, it is simply an alias generated by the upgrade. If it has no use to you then delete it.

You can always go to the source if you having any reason to review the the config files etc. From Finder>Go>Go To Folder> copy and paste:

/Users/Shared/Relocated Items

Hi,

I had this same issue, I right clicked the file and opened with textedit. Needless to say it was full of text I didn't understand!

I then chatted to a apple specialist online. They said I could right click the desktop folder and go to the original folder in finder and then I deleted as I didn't need this!

I hope this helps.

You are certainly not alone with seeing this type of folder after 11.3 update of Big Sur.

Jay

For the file about which the original poster is asking, it's actually the other way around. The explanatory PDF says:

Configuration files with the suffix "system_default" were edited or customised but the changes were allowed to remain installed. The system_default version of the file is provided to demonstrate what the Apple-supplied version of this file would look like. It is recommended you compare the two and evaluate whether you wish to integrate any changes Apple may have made to the default version.

I have never knowingly modified /private/etc/group, but my Relocated Items includes group.system_default for me to compare. The latter contains one additional line:

_trustd:*:282:_trustd

Since my computer appears to be working normally, I've held off from overwriting /private/etc/group with the default version.

I just want to send a summary post since it seems this thread is getting some attention again.

My original answer will give you contacts on when these “storage folder started.

User medwds was helpful in explains what an .ipdf is. If you want to see the other languages just command click (right click) the file and select “Show Package Contents."

User damimic23 was very helpful by providing the boiler-plate language from the explanation PDF.

I only want to add a bit about the two different possibilities since it seems many are misunderstanding this.

The two different outcomes:

1. "These configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app. The modifications may be incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organized in subfolders named for their original locations."
2. "Configuration files with the suffix "system_default" were edited or customized, but the changes were allowed to remain installed. The system_default version of the file is provided to demonstrate what the Apple supplied version of this file would look like. It is recommended that you compare the two and evaluate whether you wish to integrate any changes Apple may have made to the default version."

So, if your configuration files in the Relocated Items Folder end with .system_default you are only looking at an example doc. If you delete the folder or these items all you are deleting is an example Apple provided so you can compare what custom configurations went into place.

To compare you will need to access the private folder of your macOS. To access this folder follow these steps:

1. Open a Finder window
2. Select “Go” from the menu at the top of your screen
3. Select “Go to Folder…” from the list
4. Type “/private/etc” without the quotation marks then select Go.

Finder will open the private folder etc which contain the documents macOS is actually referencing while running operations.

In my case this is the comparison revealed:

1. I am missing the listing "_appstore:*:33:33::0:0:Mac App Store Service:/var/db/appstore:/usr/bin/false"
2. I have an additional "_nsurlstoraged:*:243:243::0:0:NSURLStorage Daemon:/var/empty:/usr/bin/false"
3. I am missing everything below the wwwproxy... one.

I have no idea what this means for my system so I am contacting Apple Support. If anyone knows, feel free to reply letting me know.

I hope this helps.

1111AppleUser wrote:

When you research this question about the Relocated Items folder that appear on Big Sur desktops, after explaining how and why the file gets there, some responders on-line indicate that it is ok to delete this file. Looking through the answers in these discussions, there seems to be no information about deleting the file. Can or should you delete this file? Is it detrimental in anyway to delete this file? Is it possible to get some answers that indicate wether or not the Relocated Items folder can be deleted?

? Not sure how else to say it— It was put there as a courtesy in the upgrade process.

Delete it. It is simply an alias to a folder that you do not need on the Desktop.

To be clear—it is NOT detrimental in anyway to delete this file.

Open the Relocated Items folder then open What are Relocated Items.pdf. This file tells you what it is.

In my case they are not the same... The default contains this one extra line:

_trustd:*:282:_trustd

Which, of course led me to google and then to this:

• https://www.howtogeek.com/331343/what-is-trustd-and-why-is-it-running-on-my-mac/0
• TL/DR: "trustd, is a part of macOS itself, and has been since 10.12 Sierra. It is a daemon, which means it’s a process that runs in the background performing critical system tasks. To be specific, trustd manages and checks certificates."

Just delete the relocated folder. All will still work.

The header of the file tells you what it is which is a dump of the Open Directory users.

The File would only be used if you had to log in via Single User Mode. Even then, those entries would have no impact on what you log into single user mode to do. And, it seems that you can’t log into Single User Mode anymore,

That is why Apple didn’t bother to change the file. The file will probably be recreated by Open Directory at some point.

Can or should you delete this file?

Yes, yes if you bother to do so. (I did to remove some unnecessary old clutter).

Is it detrimental in anyway to delete this file?

No.

Is it possible to get some answers that indicate w[h]ether or not the Relocated Items folder can be deleted?

Yes.

Looks like you just go to Users/Shared/Relocated and delete the "Relocated" folder. I just did it, no issues.