i cannot access anything on my desktop

Please confirm what iMac you have and that you are actually running an old version of Tiger that has not been updated to 10.4.11.

Also, what exactly is on your desktop that you cannot access? Do you keep a lot of stuff there?

Premissions got messed up on the desktop.

navigate to

/User/your-short-user-name/Desktop

check permission. Do get info on Destop [ right click ] mine are.

clicking on lock icon will let you change

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You may want to run these "standard" fixes if the problem persists.

1) Check the amount of free space on your harddrive. You should have a several gigs free.

2) You should run disk utility

a) verify the disk

b) update your permissions.

3) Try a safe boot.

Shutdown your machine. Hold down the shift key. Poweron. Wait awhile Wait awhile while you harddrive

is being checked.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455

4) You may want to run applejack to clean up your machine.

http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

5) Run hardware diagnostics. It's good for a sanity check.

a lot more ways to fix your Mac.

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html

Basically the wrong place to keep them/

Performance tip: Keep the Desktop clutter-free (empty, if possible)

Mac OS X's Desktop is the de facto location for downloaded files, and for many users, in-progress works that will either be organized later or deleted altogether. The desktop can also be gluttonous, however, becoming a catch-all for files that linger indefinitely.

Unfortunately - aside from the effect of disarray it creates - keeping dozens or hundreds of files on the Desktop can significantly degrade performance. Not necessarily because the system is sluggish with regard to rendering the icons on the desktop and storing them in memory persistently (which may be true in some cases), but more likely because keeping an excessive number of items on the Desktop can cause the windowserver process to generate reams of logfiles, which obviously draws resources away from other system tasks. Each of your icons on your desktop is stored as a window in the window server, not as an alias. The more you have stored, the more strain it puts on the window server. Check your desktop for unnecessary icons and clear them out.

Keeping as few items as possible on the Desktop can prove a surprisingly effective performance boon. Even creating a single folder on your Desktop and placing all current and future clutter inside, then logging out and back in can provide an immediately noticeable speed boost, particularly for the Finder.

Then repair permissions.

Try resetting the SMU:

Resetting the SMU on a G5 iMac:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1767

and on resetting the PMU on a Power Mac G5, G4 and G3 :

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1939?viewlocale=en_US

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436

I assume that you can see your desktop.

Your startup drive could be messed up.

Try a safe boot.

Shutdown your machine. Hold down the shift key. Poweron. Wait awhile Wait awhile while you harddrive

is being checked.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455

Also, some programs are not loaded.

Well, i see two possiblities

1) hd is messed up. Safe boot should have checked.

2) permission problem. We need to access from the terminal or create a new id

Do you have your cd/dvd's?

2...

Try to create a new userid give it admin rights. See if this works. Can then check on old id.

1...

boot from install cd/dvd. Should be able to look at hd. Do not install.

I suspect disk corruptions.

verify & repair your startup drive

To verify & repair you file system on the startup drive, you will need to run disk utility from you installation DVD.

This article will tell you how to get to disk utility. Once in a disk utility, you can go and attempt to recover the disk.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417

To repair your startup drive, you will need to run disk utility from your startup DVD.
Mac OS X 10.4: About the utilities available on the Mac OS X 10.4 Install DVD

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2055

How to run disk utility from your startup DVD.

1. Insert your startup DVD into your reader. Power down your machine. Hold down to the c key. Power on your machine. This will bootup your startup DVD.
2. This will bring you to a panel asking you for your language. Pick your language.

1. You you come to the Install Mac OS panel. Do not install.
2. Click on Utilities menu item. This will give you a pulldown list of utilities.
3. Click on the disk utility.
4. 
5. You are now in disk utility. Pick your disk. Click on repair it should be on the lower right of the panel.
6. Once the repair completes successfully, you should update your permissions.

Hope you have your data backed up.

You may not be running from an administrator account.

This should not cause any problems.

Here is a way to create a new administrator account.

Get the Mac to set up an additional administrative account.

You need to get into single use mode for the steps listed below.

background: This page will tell you how to get into single user mode.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

Start with your computer power off. Hold down command-s. Power on your computer.

Type in the following:

The first two commands will depend on your release of Mac OS X. Look at what is typed out in the console to determine the exact format.

# Type the follow two instructions to access the startup disk in read/write. Press return after each command.

/sbin/fsck -fy

/sbin/mount -uw /

cd /var/db

pwd

#List all files. The l is a lower case L.

ls -a

#The move command acts as a rename command in this format.

mv -i .applesetupdone .applesetupdone.old

reboot

Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

Limnos adds detailed explainations:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8441597#8441597

The above the idea came from a post by JoseAranda at September 9, 2006 3:48 AM

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_reset_my_mac_os_x_admin_root_password.html

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