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After I upgraded, I now have the following structure to my file system:
Macintosh HD>System>volumes>Macintosh HD>my files
If I try to put the second Macintosh HD in my favorites and click on it I get the first Macintosh HD, and have to go down three layers to get the Macintosh HD with my files.
This is crazy, and I can't believe it is how Monterey is supposed to work.
iMac 27″, macOS 12.1
Can you post a screenshot of what you are describing?
Take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support
To post it click on the add image icon below the text box and navigate to the screenshot and select it
The following describes the changes in startup disk structure so what you are describing may be normal
https://eclecticlight.co/2021/01/09/boot-disk-layout-on-intel-and-m1-macs-high-sierra-to-big-sur/
Macintosh HD Data wasn't on my favorites. Macintosh HD was, and I removed it. Finder preferences were already as you show. What is on my desktop is Macintosh HD, as before. Double clicking on it gives the same thing I showed before, does not show my file structure. I still have to go three levels down to get the other thing labeled Macintosh HD which contains my folders.
I came across something else that may have bearing on this issue. The underlying Unix OS supports a feature known as symbolic links which acts similarly to an alias in Finder. If I understand correctly, it is possible, to redirect references from one directory to another (in such a way that the link works for all programs). As such, it may be possible to create a symbolic link which redirects the user files to the usual location of the Home folder. Further, there may be issues doing so if the actual user files are stored in a root directory due to a macOS feature known as System Integrity Protection.
This approach would require careful consideration and understanding before proceeding. As I see it, it would be a potential temporary measure to enable backup of the user files from their usual location. Once that's accomplished, I would further recommend reinstalling Monterey and restoring the user files with the Migration Assistant.
I also think that it would be useful to review the problem with an Apple technical support senior advisor in the hope that they have encountered this type of problem before.
- Pie Lover
I attach the screen shots asked for. I'm afraid I don't understand the replies. I don't work from Terminal, I use the graphic interface. I am not sure what Barney means by the home folder — I've normally worked from the folder represented by a disk image called Macintosh HD, which then contains the rest of the file structure. Something seems to have changed when I upgraded to Monterey. At this point to get to what used to be my home folder, if I understand your usage correctly, I open Macintosh HD, navigate several levels down to something also called Macintosh HD, open that, and am where I normally start.
It I try to put that in my sidebar and click on it, I am back at the top level Macintosh HD.
I am afraid I may have posted the screenshots several times in the process of replying, or trying to reply, to multiple people.
I think I understand what's going on. First let's remove the Macintosh HD - Data from Favorites (right click volume in Favorites):
Next set Finder Preferences as indicated below:
Your system disk icon (Monterey in my case) should now appear on the desktop.
You should then be able to navigate to your user folder in the normal way. For example:
Hope this helps.
- Pie Lover
It’s not how you are supposed to work.
You access your files from your home folder. You can add aliases to readily used folders in your sidebar.
You can set Finder preferences to open a new window to a desired folder, like home.
if I understand your usage correctly, I open Macintosh HD, navigate several levels down to something also called Macintosh HD, open that, and am where I normally start.
You can do it that way if you like to root around like that.
Or, you can just select your home folder from the SideBar (it isn't there by default, but it can be put there). You can also set Finder preferences to open your Home whenever you open a new finder window.
If you like to click on icons, you can add your Home folder to your Desktop as an Alias (Hold down cmd+option and drag an item to the Desktop).
Or, you can type cmd-shift-h to open a new window with your home folder showing.
Or, you can select Home from the Go menu in Finder.
Or, you can open most of the default folders from the Go menu.
Or, you can add your home folder (or any others you like, to the Dock).
Or, you can add aliases of your favorite folders to your Desktop.
Or, you can add your favorite folders to the SideBar.
It's like all the ways you can cook shrimps.
I have no idea why you ever started from Macintosh HD. Way to far up the hierarchy and there is nothing directly inside of it. Waste of time and clicks.
I assume what you mean by my home folder is what I used to get when I clicked Macintosh HD, the folder with all my folders in it. If I go three levels down I find a folder called Macinsosh HD which behaves as my home folder. If I put it in the side bar as a favorite and click on it I am back at the top level, as if I had clicked on the first Macintosh HD icon. That does seem crazy but it is what happens, as I said in my original post.
I have my finder set to open Macintosh HD. It opens the top level one, and to get to the folder with my folders in it I have to go three levels down.
If I make an alias of the Macintosh HD that actually has my files and click on it, I get the top level Macintosh HD, and have to go three levels down to get the Macintosh HD I want.
If I select Home from the Go menu I get the folder that I named home page, which has the files from my home page on the web.
If I type command shift h I get what I think used to be called my User folder, which contains the Library and various other things.
Would it help if I mention that I have been using Macintoshes since the 1980's? My first Mac had 128K of memory.
As best I can tell, either Monterey radically changed the interface or upgrading to Monterey somehow messed up the file system.
Macintosh HD isn’t your home folder.
What you call your User folder is your home folder—always has been
If Go > Home takes you to your Sites folder, I have no idea how you managed that.
If in the previous OS you were using you stored files directly inside Macintosh HD, that’s not allowed since Catalina. It was never a good practice before. It’s not possible, now. If there are files stored there (really at the root level of the Data volume), move them into your home.
I’ve been using Macs for the same amount of time. I’m not confused by Monterey’s file system because to the user, it hasn’t changed at all, as long as you’ve used it as it was designed to be used.
Since you’ve been storing all your files at the root level of the startup drive instead of in your home folder, it makes sense that you are confused by it.
In Catalina, anything stored at the root level of the startup drive when you upgraded got moved to a “Relocated Items” folder. Based on your description of where you found those files, and of others posting here, it sounds like Apple just moves them to the root level of the Data volume, now.
You can probably continue using that location if you can’t figure out how to get them into your home folder.
I got onto Apple support yesterday evening. After spending an hour or so trying to correct what the advisor (and I) thought was a bug I got switched to another advisor who said her file structure was the same way! Apparently the problem is something weird, at least to me, in the Monterey file structure that changes how it looks from previous versions of the OS. Given that I have to live with it I found a simple kludge to get back more or less what I was used to. I created a folder, filled it with aliases of the folders with my various sorts of files in them, thus making it roughly the functional equivalent of my old Macintosh HD folder.
My apologies to all for wasting your time. I still have no idea why the upgrade to Monterey changed the interface in the way it did.
See below for a list of environment variables in Terminal. My home directory is /Users/admin. See Use environment variables in Terminal on Mac.
- Pie Lover
admin@Mac-mini ~ % env
I see something similar if I show Monterey - Data in Finder (see below).
- Pie Lover
I show the same. No reason to go down that path to access your user.
Open Disk Utilities >> View >> View ALL attached Drives.
Give us a screen shot ( Shift _ Command + 5 ) of what is presented
Use the second to last icon in truly ( Insert Image )
Upgraded to Monterey. File system crazy
