Can I change the location of the ".media preferences.plist" file?

Hey again!

It looks like it maybe a normally hidden file. If you click anywhere on the Desktop and press Shift Command Period on the keyboard, does it disappear? If so, then the file is meant to be hidden and you can leave the files hidden as they are by default.

Hey again!

i think the larger problem is hidden files re-appearing. I was thinking about deleting the finder.plist > Restarting to test.

Then I found an answer from leroydouglas here:

Hidden File Showing at Boot Up - Apple Community

Which matched my assumption and solved their issue. However this was on an earlier OS version.

I did confirm this plist is still in this location:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist. (You can also open Finder, hold the Option key, press Go, (On the top menu), choose Library and navigate to Preferences. Delete this file and reboot.

This May or may not fix your issue. As to what this plist file belongs to, not sure. Hope this helps out though.

Hey again!

Good to know!

After restarting, is this the only hidden file that re-appears? A good test would be to open a Finder window, click Go on the top menu > Home. If the hidden files are showing, You’ll see a folder called “Library”. Un-hide the files again and it should disappear. Restart your Mac, making sure to check the option to re-open windows. Upon logging in again, is the Library showing again in that window?

It would be good to know if only this hidden file re-appears, or if all hidden files re-appear or not, sounds like this maybe the case.

In any case, I would see what apps are set to open automatically at login:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/open-items-automatically-when-you-log-in-mh15189/mac

I would take a screen shot of the apps you see in there, remove them all, make sure the files are still hidden, restart and see if it returns. If not, then an application or process that was launching automatically was causing this to happen.

This may not be the case, but these are good tests.

Open the file in a text editor to see if there is any clue as to the app that created it. It would be odd for it to be an Apple app.

Thanks!

That looks kind if generic to me, maybe Barney-15E can help translate.

If you right click the file to > Get Info, and expand all the sections in that window, could you take a screen shot of that?

And as before, are ALL the hidden files showing after a reboot? Thanks, that is a little strange, but I’ve see stranger 🙂.

I believe there is an lsof command in Terminal than can be ran to show all the programs or processes using the file.

Hey there!

This file is not meant to be there, unless you purposely put it there.

As long as you keep a backup of your data, it should be fine to just delete the file.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud - Apple Support

Hope that helps!

You recognize the key as “your” key?

Key to what?

A preference list is a dictionary of key:value pairs.

Oh awesome BigStew20...!

We were all on the same page, and it’s always a team effort! Good to hear! I also don’t like unnecessary clutter on my Desktop! Glad to help!