Finder needs to have its options changed after restart

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Level 1

10 points

Finder needs to have its options changed after restart

Hello,

Several people here have mentioned the problem with Finder windows only being viewable for a second or two when swapping spaces/screens and otherwise being hidden. The fix is to Option-click on the Finder icon in the Dock, select Options and select Assign to Desktop -> None. On my MBP, the Finder is now set to None.

The problem I am having is that after a restart, Finder windows will again do the "now you see me, now you don't" thing until I go into Finder's options in the Dock, change Assign to Desktop to All Desktops and then go back in to the options and change Assign to Desktop to None again.

How can I get the settting under which Finder windows are assigned to no desktops to be persistent through restarts?

Cheers,

hussar

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1), iPad WiFi (32GB); several iPods

Posted on Sep 11, 2011 4:29 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 11, 2011 4:44 AM in response to hussar

Try moving the Finder plist file to the desktop?

Finder > Go and hold down alt/option to reveal the hidden > Library > Preferences > com.apple.finder.plist

Regards,

Colin R.

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Answer 2

hussar Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 11, 2011 5:44 AM in response to Colin Robinson

Nope, that didn't get it. It appears to have just reset my Finder appearance settings. It had no effect on the visibility of the Finder window after a restart. I am assuming now that we can probably rule this out as a Finder settings problem.

I think this might have something to do with forward compatability with old Spaces settings. Maybe the Finder doesn't like that other applications are assigned to specific desktops. I'm going to try setting all my other applications' desktop choices to None and see if that has any effect.

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Answer 3

hussar Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 11, 2011 6:06 AM in response to hussar

Unsetting the other applications' desktop assignments didn't work, nor did unchecking the "Restore windows..." block that come up in the Restart dialog box.

I've run out of ideas.

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Answer 4

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Sep 11, 2011 6:14 AM in response to hussar

Have you tried

i. Reparing disk permisssions in Disk Utility and

ii. Reinstalling Lion from the Recovery Hd (restart with Option or Command-R held down)?

That would be my course of action.

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Answer 5

hussar Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 11, 2011 9:04 AM in response to softwater

Repairing disk permissions did not fix it, and I am unwilling to reinstall Lion to try to fix this.

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Answer 6

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Sep 11, 2011 9:49 AM in response to hussar

Repairing disk permissions did not fix it, and I am unwilling to reinstall Lion to try to fix this.

Fair enough. But out of curiosity, why not?

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Answer 7

hussar Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 15, 2011 11:42 PM in response to softwater

I am concerned that it won't fix the problem and that something else will go wrong during the reinstallation. If I had a DVD and a product code, I'd probably do it, but doing it over the network and having to provide authentication is also off-putting. I'll just learn to live with it, or maybe it will get fixed in a update sometime.

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Answer 8

Sep 16, 2011 12:12 AM in response to hussar

Try moving the com.apple.spaces plist to the desktop.

You are aware that you can create external boot media for Lion and do a reinstallation from there? http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433

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Answer 9

Sep 16, 2011 12:30 AM in response to Daniel Ebeck

Just remembered that the Lion Recovery uses network install too! But you can create a full install media using the main installer package; http://bit.ly/pphvMq

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