Q: osx lion - desktop icons rearranged on right of screen after reboot

You are too optimistic "billearl" – this bug appear also in 10.6 and Apple have never release fix for this system.

We'll soon see...

Fix this bull$hit - icons align every once in a while (about every 7 days) on the right - has happened in a late 2008 macbook pro upgraded from snow leopard to lion and a brand new mac mini i7 2.7ghz with lion factory installed - fire the 25 year old douche bag that designed these stupid options.. operating system should be fully controllable.. not this application state saving and reopening windows upon logging back in.. *** is that $hit.. have it customizable and have the customizations work you d1ckheads - snow leopard was a work of art comported to this note board bull$hit..

And yes i did all the sort by.. garbage..

So billearl your information source failed. No Mac OS X 10.7.2 in Oct 11 . But we still don't lose hope and every day checking Software update.

ferite wrote:

 

So billearl your information source failed. No Mac OS X 10.7.2 in Oct 11 . But we still don't lose hope and every day checking Software update.

Well that's what I get for relying on rumour sites . We did get iTunes 10.5 on Oct 11. Mac OS X 10.7.2 "soon".

Hello everybody!

Just checked my inbox and seen all the replies so guess i'll post an update, think i fixed the problem, changed a few of the settings and it hasnt done it for a week or so.

Think the original problem was that it was trying to arrange my desktop by name, like it does with the folders, icons etc in an open window, so from what i can remember i think i just clicked on the desktop went to arrange and changed it to 'snap to grid', i had snap to grid on anyways coz i like to keep things tidy, but think it did something and it hasnt rearranged my desktop yet, i think i went to another Finder window selected some folder that was not my desktop and changed the arrange from 'by name' to 'file type' and back to 'by name', i also try to close all my windows an apps before i shut down, and all is good again.

Good luck

This problem appeared on two of the three Macs that I'm working with after installing OS 10.7. What was strange was that it never appeared on my MacBook Air, rarely on my iMac, but very frequently on my Power Mac.

I tried all sorts of things to fix this, but no matter what I did, the problem always reappeared after a while.

A month or so I did the following in a desperate attempt to fix things, and one or the combination of them seems to have done the trick because the problem hasn't reappeared since:

• I installed OS 10.7.2.
• I repaired the file permissions.
• I removed all items from the desktop and placed them in a folder, restarted the computer, then moved only those documents back on the desktop that I actually needed (about a quarter of the original number).
• I rebooted the computer in safe mode and then again normally.

OS 10.7.2 might help because contains a fix for icon display in Finder windows, cleaning the desktop may have helped because the number of items on the desktops of my different computers corresponded with the frequency with which the problem occurred, and rebooting in safe mode can help because it cleans some caches (and was always a temporary fix for the problem).

As I posted earlier, I had this problem, but ever since I updated to the 10.7.2 version, I haven't had the problem.  It seems it was fixed in 10.7.2.

Kevin

I had the same problem when I upgrade to 10.7 every few days my desktop icons would aline to the right, upgrading to 10.7.1 then to 10.7.2 didn't fix it. After many hours of trying different ideas it ended up being a old version parragon ntsf causing the realignment dumped it and now my Mac back working the way it should

Same problem with Lion as the rest of the folks here. Found my solution at the link below which can be a bit technical for some folks, but it's quite easy (and most importantly seems to be working so far). See the list...

• Use Terminal, UnHidden app or your method of choice to reveal hidden files in OS X

     -  Unhidden app is a free download. Just google it and you'll find it. Don't be stupid and delete files you have no knowledge about.

• Find the .DS_Store file on the desktop

     - this file controls the positioning and size of icons among other Finder view options.

• Trash the .DS_Store file. No need to empty the trash.

     - this file will be recreated by Finder in just a bit

• Use the terminal or UnHidden to hide files again 

• Log out of your user account and log back in

• Repositon your icons

• Reboot

Things should be good!? At least they are for me.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=882026

ICON BUG – DO THIS:

I'm explaining this in a way that even new users will understand – I'm not talking down to experienced geeks.

Set up all your icons where you want them.

1.  Make Finder active (click the desktop)  [Finder is the application that runs your desktop]

2.  In the Finder's Menu, up top, click and HOLD "GO"

3.  While holding GO, press the Option key.  Voila! – an item "Library" pops into the list.  This is an "invisible item" that is only seen with Option pressed.  Choose it.

4  A "Library" folder window will open on your desktop.   Go down the Library list to "Preferences."  Click Preferences

5.  In Preferences, find  –  com.apple.desktop.plist  – and drag it to the trash [If you didn't do the "option trick"  the desktop.plist won't appear.   Leave the Library folder open just to see the next step.

6. The plist contained a path to your desktop picture which, if you had a custom one, will default to the Galaxy if you restart now.  Re-set your screen saver now by switching to any other then right back to it – It will re-appear, and so will another 'com.apple.desktop.plist' document jump into your Library folder.  It has all of your new desktop info.

DONE.  You should be able to restart and everything should be where you left them.

• Summary:  Finder (Desktop) >  Go + Option > Library > Preferences >  com.apple.desktop.plist  >>> Trash

• > Dock  >  System Preferences  >  Set  (Change and reset) your desktop picture.  Done.

Warning (sorry), I've had the problem recur once, and I've been trying to duplicate it . . . nothing yet.  Good luck to us all.

As has been pointed out above, neither deleting the .DS_Store files nor deleting com.apple.desktop.plist accomplishes anything. Upgrading to 10.7.2 seems to do the trick though.

This problem seemed to go away for awhile in 10.7.2, but now that I'm running 10.7.3 on both my iMac and MacBook Air, the problem is happening again.  Every few days or weeks, all the icons end up on the right side of the screen in a grid.

APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!!!

Well, it seems that after all Lion is totally a useless upgrade, except for the gestures.

I have never met so many unsolved problems gathered, since Windows XP and also

combined with an absolute negligence from Apple Support.

I am seriously thinking of downgrading to Snow Leopard until the next, real upgrade

appears.