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Monterey upgrade deleted all desktop files

Apple did an automatic update of my computer last night. This morning I found my desktop clean -- not an item on it. The update deleted all my desktop files. I had aliases so I could find things easier, but I also had important documents in folders I wanted easy access to. All deleted!


Luckily, I found them in my trash before I emptied it, and I was able to "put back". But what a close call. I frequently empty my trash when I remove items from SD cards. If I hadn't noticed all my important files in the trash first, they would have been gone for good.


Why would Apple do that? Why would Apple assume that all my desktop files are trash???

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Feb 18, 2022 12:16 PM

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Posted on Feb 18, 2022 12:34 PM

All items were moved to trash, aliases, folders, and documents. The only thing left on my desktop were the hard drive icons, my main hard drive, my external hard drive, and my backup hard drive. All other files were gone, including .pdf, .docx, .kmz, .jpg, .png, .jpeg, and all folders.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 18, 2022 12:34 PM in response to lllaass

All items were moved to trash, aliases, folders, and documents. The only thing left on my desktop were the hard drive icons, my main hard drive, my external hard drive, and my backup hard drive. All other files were gone, including .pdf, .docx, .kmz, .jpg, .png, .jpeg, and all folders.

Feb 18, 2022 12:28 PM in response to muguy

I don't use iCloud much because I don't want to pay for all the data I have. I use other backup systems. No, all my items were in the trash can. I looked there, and there they all were, about 20 items, folders and documents. I selected them all, right clicked, and chose "Put Back", and they all went back to my desktop. Suddenly my desktop looked nice and cluttered, exactly like I had left it before I went to bed, not realizing the automatic backup would occur that night.

Feb 18, 2022 12:37 PM in response to muguy

Oh, and I forgot to say, my computer was updated to Monterey 2.2.1. I'm not sure what it had been, but probably the update just before that, as I tend to update when notified. This update notification started a couple of weeks ago, but I think it happened last night because I didn't put my computer to sleep before I went to bed as I usually do. I thought it might update, but I also thought -- no problem. wrong...

Monterey upgrade deleted all desktop files

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