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Greg Hansen Author

Level 1

118 points

Desktop files gone after Sequoia update.

I updated to Sequoia 15.0 a few days ago. Everything has worked fine. Until yesterday when all of my files on the desktop disappeared.

I have searched and searched and found a lot of things about iCloud connection and the files backed up there.

I never had this feature turned on before, so my first question is did the update turn it on?

After working on it for hours, disconnecting iCloud, logging back in, numerous times, I finally got the files to show up but they all had the download icon next to them to redownload the files to my desktop.

I downloaded about half of them.

Now this morning without any changes, all of the files are gone again.

If I show hidden files, I can see all of the docs on my desktop, but it shows all the hidden system files as well.

And it appears they are all still loaded on my MacBook since they don't have the download icon.

It seems to me it is something to do with the files being hidden, since they appear to still be on my MacBook, than them being removed to iCloud.

Can anyone help out? Thanks!

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Sep 24, 2024 8:02 AM

Top-ranking reply

Andy Matthews

Level 1

26 points

Posted on Sep 28, 2024 4:57 AM

After going through a lengthy support call with Parallels which ended up deleting the Parallels app I managed to resolve this with an Apple Support agent. The solution for me was shown below:

Please do the following:

1. Open Terminal and enter:

sudo chflags -R nohidden ~/Desktop

Hit return to run the command.
When prompted, please enter your admin password
Hit return to accept the password and run the command
When complete the files on the Desktop will be unhidden.

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30 replies

Greg Hansen Author

Level 1

118 points

Oct 11, 2024 8:32 AM in response to Greg Hansen

Well guess what??? Just updated Sequoia to 15.0.1 and all my desktop files are gone again.

Checked iCloud sync and it is NOT on.

I do have parallels but I have not run it in a while.

I tried the command line fix above and it worked. Hope it holds.

WTF Apple!!!???

Oct 11, 2024 1:32 PM in response to Greg Hansen

Recent Parallels update didn't fix but wondering if Parallels know about the issue. Still all over the place with me (15.0.1). Was fine this morning when I logged in and then they all disappeared. Not sure what I was doing so can't tie it down.

Goggsy

Level 1

10 points

Oct 17, 2024 6:08 AM in response to Andy Matthews

I also have done this and my desktop re-appeared, However, when I re-started my Mac Book, the desktop disappeared again. I have checked all teh start up settings and this should not happen. Any ideas?

Oct 18, 2024 11:56 AM in response to Greg Hansen

Don't think it's only a Parallels thing. I have a Mah Jong game which hid all the files as soon as I opened it, although it only happened once, and happens at other random times. Think there might be some other or additional cause.

AlWeir

Level 4

2,954 points

Sep 24, 2024 8:15 AM in response to Greg Hansen

Check in /Users/yourname/Library/Mobile Documents/com-appie~CloudDocs for them

Sep 24, 2024 3:07 PM in response to tb262

Thanks worked for me too. Still rather ridiculous for the update to do that but the work around worked thankfully.

Sep 27, 2024 6:33 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Mine is not related to iCloud drive.

Oct 4, 2024 1:38 PM in response to Andy Matthews

Only one teensy problem with this solution. We end up seeing files like thumbs.db and desktop.ini which need to be hidden again.

Oct 9, 2024 12:23 PM in response to Andy Matthews

This worked! Thanks

Greg Hansen Author

Level 1

118 points

Oct 11, 2024 8:31 AM in response to Andy Matthews

This worked for me after the 15.0.1 update!

We'll see what happens now.

Thanks

Oct 17, 2024 11:54 PM in response to Greg Hansen

My icons do disappear even on a sleep-awake basis. A real nightmare.

And still, I haven't found the toggles for Paralles!

Greg Hansen Author

Level 1

118 points

Oct 19, 2024 12:07 PM in response to Greg Hansen

Seems to be getting worse. Every morning when I wake up the computer, the desktop is gone. Have to run the terminal command to get it all back.

Anyone else find anything out???

This is ridiculous.

Oct 19, 2024 12:35 PM in response to Greg Hansen

Confirmed it's more than Parallels. Opened Da Vinci Resolve this morning and watched all my desktop icons get hidden. Sigh. Come on Apple - sort this.

Oct 24, 2024 12:05 PM in response to nickr01

Going to give this a go. Good spotting:-)

Oct 28, 2024 3:43 AM in response to nickr01

Lovely, that's the correct answer to put on top!!

Thanks buddy,

Desktop files gone after Sequoia update.