Desktop folders duplicated EVERYTHING - all folders are within every folder!

I had the same problem. I finally decided to try how I view the folders. To get folders so I only see what is in that folder, you can do it by: Click on the "finder" icon at the bottom, click on "desktop" at on the left, then click "as List". You can also double click on a desktop folder, go to View at the top of the screen, and click "as List"

It's the "as column" view that duplicates everything in your desktop folders!

Start with this...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes or more.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

Any change?

The only thing I can think of is you either put an alias to a folder into the new folder, or you actually tried copying the entire contents of a folder into the new folder instead of perhaps actually moving the items. If this is the case, then just deleting the duplicates may be all you need to do. Just be careful though because if an alias is involved or you delete too much, you may lose that data if you don't have a good backup.

Unfortunately we cannot see it first hand. You can try taking it to an Apple Store or AASP for assistance as they will be able to see everything to better understand the situation, but in the end they may still offer the same suggestion as @BDAqua to perform a clean install. Unless you have a good backup from before this mishap, you will want to avoid the traditional methods of restoring from a backup or you will likely end up with the same issue again. You will need to figure out a way to transfer those items from the backup. If you do have a backup from before this mishap, then you should be able to restore from the older backup and be up & running again...although you will need to manually locate & restore any modified files which are only available from the later backup by using the TM app to navigate to those files.

FYI, when making references to other people having the same issue, it is usually a good idea to provide a link so we can check it out and not suggest trying things you've already attempted.

Method 1:

1. From the Finder, select the Go menu at top of the screen, and choose Go to Folder.
2. In the window that opens, enter ~/

and click Go.

Very difficult to tell what is going on, I've never heard of this before that I can recall in 20+ years.

I'd get an external drive & install a fresh OS to it, then see what data you can recover.

Did they hav a cure?

And clicking on the green Desktop folder shows what to the right?