Why can't I access my finder on Lion?

I had the same problem, that if I opened a finder window it disappeared to a "ghost finder window" which will only be seen when I wipe between the desktops. Then I deleted all desktops and were working on one desktop only. and for a long time this did work well. but today suddenly it happend again with the "ghost finder window".... now if I wipe between the widgets and my other open programms I can see the ghost finder window....

ANY SUGGESTIONS? (just hoppe that Apple will do something against in 10.7.3 I pray....)

I'm having the exact same problem - it's causing me a huge headache.

Even restarting doesn't seem to solve it and I can't figure out how to turn off mission control!!

I had the same issue. For me I had the finder assigned to a space to get it to show I had to start removing desktops till I hit the correct one and then it showed again.

I am having this same exact issue. When I swipe between the desktops, I see the Finder windows that I've tried opening, but I cannot for the life of me actually access them!

Yesturday I randomly just started going through and deleting the desktops in Mission Control, and eventually found the Finder windows there, but do I really have to do this every time I shut down and restart my computer??

I have the same probleme , Mac bookpro late 2008.

that was working find all day yesterday..today i keep losing the finder.

restart..same problem.

i fund a temporary solution....

i did right clic the finder icon in the Dock to see the option..

i change the "option / assign to: NONE

and all the finder windows came back.

it work until apple fix it.

Add me to this group. No Finder. As for the Options menu selection when right-clicking Finder on the Dock, I don't have that option on my MacBookPro or on my iMac.

how do you create a finder icon in the Dock.

i just restarted, and seems to be ok now. open folder window appear on my desktop. and there is now a finder icon on the dock. haha.. but no option to assign.

bluetooth still, "not available"...

I have the same problem. Usually there are three windows open on my desktop but after restarting today, they were not visible. Interestingly, they did exist as programs like Default Folder could detect them, and they were visible when right-clicking the Finder icon in the Dock (or from the Window menu when the Finder is active).

The missing windows were fleetingly visible using the gesture (three finger swipe) to go from 'space' to 'space'.

Restarting the machine didn't help, nor did logging in and out, or restarting from the Recovery partition and repairing permissions and repairing the disk.

In the end, I selected each of the missing windows using the Window menu from Finder and Command W to close each invisible window.

I would like this not to happen again.

What Toffucirque said worked for me and got to the root of the problem.

After cleaning up all the open windows everywhere, I chose to assign them to Desktop 12 which is how I had them with Spaces in 10.6, rather than None.

RETTOGO: With the MBP, simple control-click on the Finder icon in the dock, go to Options and then select which method you prefer. It works fine.

The ghost windows were driving me crazy. After reading the suggestions above:

1. I right clicked on the Finder icon in my dock

2. Selected Options, under "Assign to" I had "none"

3. I changed "none" to "All desktops"

4. When I did this the disappearing windows all appeared and I was able to quit them all.

I haven't restarted, but have a feeling the problem is solved. Hopefully.

I did that too; also, I selected Show All Windows.

Unfortunately the problem returns after I have logged out and back in again.

I've found a method now that consistently works when I lose my Finder windows. Although losing the windows is a bit of an annoying bug. It's no longer a problem.

1. Bring up the Dock

2. Hold down the option and command keys and with 2 fingers click on the Finder icon

3. The option to Relaunch comes up. Select it and this clears up the problem everytime.

chrisbkm wrote:

The ghost windows were driving me crazy. After reading the suggestions above:

1. I right clicked on the Finder icon in my dock

2. Selected Options, under "Assign to" I had "none"

3. I changed "none" to "All desktops"

4. When I did this the disappearing windows all appeared and I was able to quit them all.

I haven't restarted, but have a feeling the problem is solved. Hopefully.

this worked for me as well... still no word from apple but after changing the options. Haven't restarted computer yet to see if the settings will stay that way, otherwise I will have to do this every time I restart my iMac.