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Can't open anything from my desktop.

Background: I recently installed 10.5.6 on a Power Mac G5, then immediately downloaded the upgrade to 10.5.8. (Had been running Tiger.) The installation of 10.5.6 from the DVD seemed fine, but when I restarted after the 10.5.8 download, I had kernel panic, and ultimately had to archive and reinstall 10.5.6 (twice) and repeat the upgrage to 10.5.8.

All is apparantly well now, except that nothing I put on my desktop will open; not files, not folders, not even the HD icon. I can open everything from other location on the computer, or can drag a file from the desktop to an application that opens it. But I'm finding it inconvenient not to be able to use the desktop as I always have, plus this just can't be right!

Insights, anyone?

Power Mac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Mar 6, 2011 11:10 AM

Reply
22 replies

Mar 6, 2011 11:28 PM in response to Diana Rivera

Welcome....

Probably a good time to boot from your install disc to check the startup disk in case it needs repairing.



Insert your install disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu and launch Disk Utility.
(In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first from the installer menu)
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)

Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your startup disk and click Restart

While you have the Disk Utility window open, look at the bottom of the window. Where you see Capacity and Available. Make sure there is always 15% free space.


If you cannot boot from your install disc, try booting in Safe Mode

What is Safe Mode







Carolyn 🙂

Mar 7, 2011 4:36 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn, thanks for responding. I have already done this, though. My startup disk is fine, and I have plenty of free space.

A new twist to the situation is that this morning a recently created jpg. would open on my desk top maybe 3 out of 5 tries, but only after it had been in the trash! Older similar files wouldn't. This seems like a clue, but right now it's too early in the morning for me to think hard enough to sort it out.

Diana

Mar 7, 2011 9:38 AM in response to Diana Rivera

I seem to be recommending this to everyone today. First verify the drive and repair Permissions from Disk Utility. Then apply the 10.5.8 Combo while you are booted in Safe Boot (hold the shift key down at startup.) After you restart, verify the disk and repair Permissions again.

Note: there is a known Permissions bug in the 10.5.8 Combo. To avoid this issue, when you are finished installing the first time, run the update again from Safe Boot, then repair Permissions booted normally. In other words, run the update twice back to back. Do not repair Permissions in between.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_8_ComboUpdate

Mar 7, 2011 2:02 PM in response to WZZZ

Thank you for the response. So far, no luck. I booted in safe mode and ran the 10.5.8 Combo installation, and then verified the disk and repaired permissions. (Unlike my previous recent attempts to repair permissions, they actually were repaired this time.) But the desktop problem persists.

Now, maybe I'm not reading your recommendations correctly. It appears that there are two. What I've done (above) is consistent with your first instructions, but maybe not with your note about the permissions bug, which says to run back to back updates without repairing permissions in between. Since I had tried repairing the permissions earlier after updating to 10.5.8 (and before rebotting in safe mode) does this mean that I should run the combo installer AGAIN in normal mode, and then AGAIN in safe mode (with no permissions repair in between), and then AGAIN repair the permissions? I'm inclined to think not, since the permissions were successfully repaired after installing the combo in safe mode, but I want to be sure that I'm getting what you are recommending.

Mar 7, 2011 2:30 PM in response to Diana Rivera

Did you try opening anything from the Desktop in Safe Mode?

Could also try booting from the Install DVD and resetting the ACLs and Permissions of the Home Folder.

Choose your Language
Go to the Utilities menu at the top and click Reset Password
Select your HD and account and then click on Reset ACLs and Permissions of the Home Folder with the Reset button.

Mar 7, 2011 3:11 PM in response to Diana Rivera

My recommendation was to install the 10.5.8 Combo twice back to back and then repair Permissions. But, since applying the Combo didn't help with the Desktop problem, I wouldn't at this point bother doing that. It's even possible Apple has since fixed this bug and that it probably wasn't a serious error to begin with. I just thought it would be best to avoid it.

Another thing you could try would be to move these files located in your Home Folder Library in Preferences to the Desktop and restart or log out and back in. I'd try them one at a time to see the effect. If this works, you may have to restore some of your settings afterwards. If this doesn't work, you can just move them back where they were. When they are removed, these files will automatically be recreated with fresh ones. The idea is the current ones may be corrupt.





/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

Mar 7, 2011 5:18 PM in response to WZZZ

Does not change the desktop issue. But I'm grateful you suggested this, because removing the desktop.plist gave me new background options that I like, such as adding the Aurora that I did not have with Tiger (but do have on my laptop running Snow Leopard.) Removing the systemuserver.plist had no effect as far as I can tell.

The problem of not being able to open anything from the desktop is not huge--I can open from the desktop file within the finder, or by dragging files to an application. It's just that it totally bugs me not to have everything working as it should.

Thanks a bunch--if you have any other ideas, I'll try them.

Diana

Mar 7, 2011 7:32 PM in response to Diana Rivera

When you get a second wind, open Terminal in Utilities and type

"killall Finder"

space between the two and no quotation marks

Or Option-Click on the Finder icon in the Dock and select Relaunch.

Note: came across this article for the reset suggestion, which recommends running several commands from Terminal before doing this.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10329971-263.html

If you try any of the sudo commands in Terminal and you have never used sudo before, you will get a warning about using it. This is normal. But beware: you must type in the commands exactly as written, observing all spaces and case. Best to copy and paste. Sudo gives you complete, instant access to the deepest system files and typos can be disastrous. Also, when you enter your password, you won't see anything on the screen. This is also normal. Just hit enter after. The killall Finder command to relaunch the Finder is pretty harmless. I'd try this first.

Message was edited by: WZZZ

Mar 7, 2011 8:01 PM in response to WZZZ

BTW, what are the Permissions on your Home Folder? Select it and do a GetInfo (Cmd-I) Go to Sharing and Permissions.

Also, open a Terminal window and type "ls -l" (that's the letter l after k with a space between the ls and the -l) Important: leave a space after the -l, then open your Macintosh HD icon and drag the Home Folder icon (the little house) inside it into the window and hit enter. Can you copy and paste the results.

Mar 8, 2011 12:59 PM in response to WZZZ

My home folder permissions are Me R&W, unknown R, and everyone R. When checking random files in the home folder, I didn't find anything that doesn't give me access.

I will need to familiarize myself with the very basic steps of how to use Terminal before I will be comfortable working directly with the UNIX system. I have a reasonably good theoretical understanding, but no practical experience on that level. I don't know elementary things about using the application, like do I just type inside a terminal window (and if so do I delete the last login info that's already in the window), or do I select "new command" from the Shell menu and type inside of that window, etc. You might well not have the time to take me on as a project!

Diana

Mar 8, 2011 3:15 PM in response to Diana Rivera

First thing: did you try to relaunch the Finder?

I must say, I am no Unix guru, by any means. I may have to call in bigger guns if necessary, or hope they appear here. Those Permissions, at least from GetInfo, look OK. (Doing some research, "unknown" for the group appears to be something inherited from the Tiger OS you had been running before, and the Archive and Install. I don't know if that might be contributing to your problem or not. Probably not. In Leopard, the group should be "staff.")

The actual Unix Permissions will give much more information. I know Terminal can be intimidating, but it's really very simple to execute basic commands. First thing: the mouse doesn't do anything. The basic keys to use, at least for these commands, are the spacebar, the delete key to, well, delete; but won't be necessary here) and the enter/return key. For other occasions, you can use the up/down arrow keys, as well.

So, to get a closer look at the Permissions on your Home Folder you open Terminal. That's it, you don't have to do anything else. You have an open window now ready to go. Everything you type or paste in will appear just after the $ sign. That's the prompt for a new command. So you copy and paste "ls -l" then use the spacebar to leave a single space after the -l. The command you gave to Terminal is asking Terminal to show Permissions, but Terminal wants to know which Permissions, where ? Next, you open your HD Folder, find the little house icon in Users, and simply drag that into the Terminal window. The Home Folder icon won't be disturbed in the least by doing this. This will automatically create the "path" (the which and where) written in Unix text for the command you have entered. Once you see that text, which will be /Users/yourusername, you simply hit the return/enter key and it will give you the info you asked for.

I won't try to explain how to interpret that information right now.

So far, there is really nothing you can do that will damage your system in any way. You are not asking to change anything. You are just having a look.

(And, it may eventually be worth trying the Home Folder ACLs and Permissions reset.)

Mar 8, 2011 3:48 PM in response to WZZZ

EDIT: When you are finished, you can type in "exit" and hit enter, or in this instance, just close the window.

And you know you don't have to use Terminal to relaunch the Finder. But it's a very simple command to try out your basic Terminal skills.

Message was edited by: WZZZ

Mar 9, 2011 5:55 AM in response to WZZZ

Yes, I relaunched the finder. (That had no effect on not being able to open items from the desktop.) Then, I looked at my home permisions in Terminal. They look OK to me, but let me know if you see anything I'm missing. Here are the contents of the window :
Last login: Wed Mar 9 08:17:04 on console
diana-riveras-power-mac-g5-3:~ dianarivera$ ls -l /Users/dianarivera
total 0
drwx---r-x+ 5 dianarivera dianarivera 170 Mar 8 13:44 Desktop
drwx------@ 98 dianarivera dianarivera 3332 Mar 8 13:44 Documents
drwx------ 11 dianarivera dianarivera 374 Mar 8 20:19 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x 23 dianarivera dianarivera 782 Mar 8 20:04 Games
drwx------@ 52 dianarivera dianarivera 1768 Mar 7 09:40 Library
drwx------@ 13 dianarivera dianarivera 442 Apr 3 2010 Movies
drwx------@ 43 dianarivera dianarivera 1462 Jul 3 2009 Music
drwx---r-x+ 8 dianarivera dianarivera 272 Mar 7 08:46 Newsgroups
drwx------@ 237 dianarivera dianarivera 8058 Mar 7 17:09 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 9 dianarivera dianarivera 306 Feb 9 14:19 Work
drwxr-xr-x 20 dianarivera dianarivera 680 Sep 19 2007 web page stuff (mine)
diana-riveras-power-mac-g5-3:~ dianarivera$

Mar 9, 2011 7:15 AM in response to Diana Rivera

OK, I don't know if this is the source of your problem, but there is an ACL (Access Control List) set for Desktop where I don't think there should be one. (That's the + near the end.) And the group, where it should be staff, is showing yourusername "dianarivera" instead (the group is the second listing of "dianarivera.") There may be a few other issues in other items in your Home Folder.

We could try resetting the Permissions and changing the group by using a small easy to use App "BatChmod." But perhaps it may be worth trying to just globally reset the Home Directory Permissions and ACLs to restore to the Leopard defaults to see if this fixes this issue. Not sure of this, but I think the migration and Archive & Install from Tiger may have been the problem. But first, now that you are more comfortable using Terminal, you need to run several commands in Terminal. Here are the directions from that article.

----------------------


To remove ACLs, open the "Terminal" application (located in the "Utilities" folder) and enter the following command:

sudo chmod -RN ~

Then users should run the following command to ensure the files in the home folder have them as the owner by running this command:

sudo chown -R `id -un` ~

NOTE: these commands should be run when users are logged into the affected account.

After supplying a password and allowing these commands to run, users should boot off the Leopard DVD, and after selecting a language, choose "Reset Password" and select the boot drive. Then select the user account that's affected and click the "Reset" button in the "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs" section. After this has run, quit the installer and restart the system.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10329971-263.html

--------------------------

So, open up Terminal and copy and paste (as typos can be disastrous with sudo, don't try typing it in.)

sudo chmod -RN ~

As I said before, you will get a standard warning about using sudo and you will be asked to enter your password, which you won't see echoed on the screen. Then hit enter and wait until you get a new $ sign prompt. Then copy and paste and hit enter.




sudo chown -R `id -un` ~


If you run this second command within five minutes, you will not be asked to enter your password again. Then wait for the new $ sign prompt and type in "exit" and close the window. That's it for Terminal. Then onto the Reset booted from the Install disc from the directions above.

When finished, see how the Desktop is behaving and then run the ls -l command again to see what things look like there now. You boot off the Leopard disc by holding down the c key at startup.

Also, I don't see anything untoward happening by doing this, but it would be a good idea to have a full backup, either a clone or Time Machine, to restore from just in case. (It's always a good idea to have a full backup.)

Can't open anything from my desktop.

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