Right Click on Desktop

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Level 1

19 points

Right Click on Desktop

Since this morning I have noticed a strange trouble. I can't right click on my Desktop and I can't see any files and any mounted volumes on it. However, through Finder I can access the Desktop and I can see files on it and in the Finder sidebar I can see the mounted volumes and access them as well. But it doesn't show on the Desktop. When I'm inside some applications, I can always right click and see options available. Can anyone suggest what could be the reason and how can I fix it? I remember before I could always see something on my Desktop and right clicking would give me some options.

I'm really ****** off with ML ****. It seems to have so many bugs on rMBP and Apple engineers are just sleeping over and not fixing anything. Every week OS X hangs and I'm forced to restart the computer. And I don't want to say anything about safari which ***** so much.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion, 2.6 GHz, 8 GB RAM

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 3:10 AM

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Answer 1

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Jan 25, 2013 4:10 AM in response to Tissot11

Do you use a program called PathFinder by any chance?

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Answer 2

Tissot11 Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 25, 2013 4:17 AM in response to softwater

No I don't use it. But few days back I had installed TotalFinder app for trial and uninstalled it after a day. Do you think it might have caused any trouble? If yes then how could it be fixed?

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Answer 3

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Jan 25, 2013 4:25 AM in response to Tissot11

Yes, I suspect so. I had problems with that program, too.

First thing I'd try is uninstall it. Then restart the mac.

If that doesn't work, see if this helps. Open Terminal.app, copy and paste the following into the Terminal window:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true; killall Finder

and press 'return' on your keyboard.

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Answer 4

Tissot11 Author

Level 1

19 points

Jan 25, 2013 4:31 AM in response to softwater

Thanks this works! I had uninstalled it before but aparently something still remained on the system.

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Answer 5

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Jan 25, 2013 4:33 AM in response to Tissot11

Well, it sets a preference to put a sort of 'fake' desktop on top of your normal desktop. So long as the program's installed, your desktop works normally. However, when you uninstall the app it doesn't reset the preference back to default, and of course the real Finder can't interpret the 'false' desktop. The command I gave you resets the preference back to normal.

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