Hard drive icons move position after machine wakes up.
It does not matter what position I put them (upper right corner aligned, not aligned, etc., left side, right side, top or bottom). Each morning they appear somewhere else.
The hard drive icons (internal and external) are the only ones moved. All folders and files are where I left them.
Started with Sonoma update.
Mac mini, macOS 14.0
I have just switched from a Macbook Pro M1 to a Macbook Air M3 Sonoma 14.4.1 and the problem has come up again following another Sonoma update.
Rt click Desktop and select Show View Options. Set the Grid Spacing and Text Size you want. Then arrange the desktop icons the way you want within the confines of the grid spacing you have set. Then click Clean Up. They will probably move but with still be in the grid spacing you have set and will all be neatly lined up. At this point you can select a whole column (or two) and move it to where you want it. Don’t click Clean Up again or you’ll go round in circles. I then found that after Shut Down and Restart they all stayed put.
Why can’t Apple sort this simple problem out? Another of those commonplace small issues that drive us all nuts.
Good luck,
Stewart
hellenfromchicago wrote:
Hard drive icons move position after machine wakes up.
It does not matter what position I put them (upper right corner aligned, not aligned, etc., left side, right side, top or bottom). Each morning they appear somewhere else.
The hard drive icons (internal and external) are the only ones moved. All folders and files are where I left them.
Started with Sonoma update.
yes there are some issue here in Sonoma...
To be proactive you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple
You can try all sort of things
turn off the new Desktop Widgets Use widgets on your Mac desktop
turn off the new Stage Manager Organize your Mac desktop with Stage Manager
Control Click the Desktop> make changes and compare your results Change Desktop & Dock settings on Mac
Keep your Mac up to date
The current stable release of Sonoma including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 14.1.1
Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support
Right click the desktop and click ‘cleanup’. Not ‘clean up by.’ This just seems to put them in seried ranks but they stay there.
Same issue: new Mac Studio, Sonoma 14.4. Icons for external drives are rearranged whenever Mac wakes from sleep. Worst offender is icon for Time Machine.
Tried all the hacks mentioned in this thread but no success.
I sent a bug report to Apple via Product Feedback. It is my understanding that Apple does read them so if you're having this issue too, please file a report. Apple -- Product Feedback
Until there's a reliable fix, I decided to not show the icons on the desktop; just list them in the Finder sidebar. It's not convenient but at least I don't have to rearrange the desktop every time I sit down to work.
Once you have your grid size and icon size established, click on "Snap to Grid". Then as Muffmania suggested, clicking on "Cleanup" apparently freezes the icons in place.
Once arranged you need to leave the snap to grid on.
hellenfromchicago wrote:
Widgets and Stage Manager are both off.
?
Control Click the Desktop> make changes and compare your results.
Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)
or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/
Outside the USA—Contact Apple for support and service by phone
See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world.
Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support
Not sure what is the suggestion here.
To change to snap to grid and change back? If so, that does not work. As soon as if sorted by none, the problem persists.
There are hundreds of people having this problem (see several threads like this https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254955150). I already tried everything described there.
Same thing - brand new Mac Studio and the internal (which SHOULD be in the upper RH corner of the desktop by default - a Mac standard for 40 years) - gets dumped into the lower RH corner after the Mac sleeps. Put it back - and it just does it again after sleep.
This does not work as stated before.
Of course what this does is to reorder all your files - so be aware, do not try it! otherwise you will need to spend a long time trying to get your arrangement back, as I had to. And still does not work. The exterior hard drives come to another position after the night anyway.
Hi Hellen,
it works for me. I did not put 'snap to grid' on but that does appear to be what ‘Cleanup’ has done. Widgets and Stage Manager are off. It’s only my 3 external HDs that get moved.
I have a row of folders along the top and 2 columns of icons on the right. I put my 3 external HDs along the top right and after Cleanup they have all stayed where I put them. None of the files has been corrupted or moved.
I cannot believe how consistently annoying and troublesome Mac can be. Updating every new OS version promptly has caused me no end of trouble. I principally use the Mac for music production using Cubase (which endlessly crashed.)
My considered advice would be not to update a new OS until they fix all the bugs. But how do you know what they are and when they are fixed? You don’t know what it is you don’t know.
If I’d known 2 years ago what I know now I would have stayed with Windows!
Cheers,
Stewart
I already tried all sort of things. I was hoping someone have found the right solution to this issue that is still happening in 14.1.1
Widgets and Stage Manager are both off.
Good to know you understand the problem. I can't believe that there is still no answer and still happening in 14.1.2.
Getting same problem on my new Mac Studio. Have tried solutions below with no joy. Also dock keep moving back to main display even though set to second screen.
Sonoma is moving hard drive icons after sleep
