Finder settings disappear with every restart: icons rearranged, background/desktop reset, etc. Why?

Question

Level 2

294 points

Finder settings disappear with every restart: icons rearranged, background/desktop reset, etc. Why?

If I arrange the files/icons on my hard drive in a certain way that I prefer, and then set a desktop background picture, and do various customizations of the Finder, and then restart the computer -- poof, it all goes away after restart, and the icons are now all a different size, arranged in a standard alphabetical/default row, the desktop picture is now gone, etc. etc. This happens every time I restart. Drives me crazy.

What is happening? Why won't any changes that I make to the Finder persist from restart to restart? This has never happened to me before, on any computer, and any version of MacOS.

El Capitan 10.116, on an iMac.

iMac (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Feb 24, 2025 4:57 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 27, 2025 7:49 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

Is there a preferences fault, e.g. with com.apple.finder.plist ? Try deleting that file, then restart, and you will see all those default settings.

Then, make some of the changes that you're seeing disappear, and restart. If your changes are still there, it was the preference file. If not, there's some other cause that I can't help with.

Reply

Quick Links

Finder settings disappear with every restart: icons rearranged, background/desktop reset, etc. Why?