How do I reset macOS Big Sur finder preferences

Something has happened to my finder preferences for items in the Applications folder. (could be caused by the daily wake from sleep crash I get in my 2013 Mac Pro since the installation of Big Sur 11.6.5) All the icons have defaulted to 512x512 in size and I am unable to change them. I can change all the other folders by using the Show View Options and changing the Grid Spacing but I can't change the grid spacing for the Applications folder.


I assume if I can find the preference file for the finder and delete it that would solve the issue but so far I can't seem to find that.


Thanks for the help

Hal

Mac Pro

Posted on Apr 24, 2022 8:17 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 25, 2022 12:20 PM

In the past I have tried to use safe mode on this Mac Pro 2013 and the machine has started up and crashed after many minutes before the log on screen appears, so I have always used recovery mode, which did not help in this case. After your note I tried safe mode again and this time it worked (however there was no message on screen telling me it was safe mode). I logged into my backup account (has no start up items) and was able to change the icon size from 512x512 back to 64x64. Logged out of my backup account into my normal account and discovered Application icons were 64x64 and I could change them. Restarted machine and all was well.


Now on to bigger issues the constant crashing during sleep since macOS 11.6.5 was installed, maybe that will have been fixed with Safe Mode?

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 25, 2022 12:20 PM in response to Jeff_W.

In the past I have tried to use safe mode on this Mac Pro 2013 and the machine has started up and crashed after many minutes before the log on screen appears, so I have always used recovery mode, which did not help in this case. After your note I tried safe mode again and this time it worked (however there was no message on screen telling me it was safe mode). I logged into my backup account (has no start up items) and was able to change the icon size from 512x512 back to 64x64. Logged out of my backup account into my normal account and discovered Application icons were 64x64 and I could change them. Restarted machine and all was well.


Now on to bigger issues the constant crashing during sleep since macOS 11.6.5 was installed, maybe that will have been fixed with Safe Mode?

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How do I reset macOS Big Sur finder preferences

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