Hendrixxx

Q: Change desktop creation date

Hi all,

 

I have just migrated to a new Mac, and restored from a Time Machine backup.

 

Somehow, the creation date for my desktop folder has become 1984, and as such, is greyed out in the folder list under users, and is unable to be saved to from, say, MS Word. I can save elsewhere and drop into it, but can't save directly to it from any save dialog in a program.

 

How can I change the desktop creation date? I can't delete it and make a new one "used by OSX...." etc, and nor can I "touch -t [date]", in terminal.

 

Does anyone have any idea please?

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Jun 2, 2016 5:28 PM

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Q: Change desktop creation date

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Duane,

    Duane Duane Jun 2, 2016 6:00 PM in response to Hendrixxx
    Level 10 (124,018 points)
    Jun 2, 2016 6:00 PM in response to Hendrixxx

    Hendrixxx wrote:

     

    ...

     

    Somehow, the creation date for my desktop folder has become 1984, and as such, is greyed out in the folder list under users, ...

    If you are seeing something called /Users/desktop that is NOT your default desktop.

     

    Your proper/default desktop folder is /Users/username/desktop.

  • by Hendrixxx,

    Hendrixxx Hendrixxx Jun 2, 2016 6:07 PM in response to Duane
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 6:07 PM in response to Duane

    Sorry, I misspoke - I am seeing /Users/username/desktop

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 2, 2016 6:34 PM in response to Hendrixxx
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jun 2, 2016 6:34 PM in response to Hendrixxx

    Back up all data before continuing.

    I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. That's what I suggest you use, even if your preferred browser is something else.

    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

    touch -t 198001010000 Desktop

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any one of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

    Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered. You can then quit Terminal.

    Relaunch the Finder.

  • by Hendrixxx,

    Hendrixxx Hendrixxx Jun 2, 2016 6:46 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 6:46 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc,

     

    Thanks. Is there a reason you are trying to change the date to 1980? I tried this already, but with a 2016 date, thus: touch -t 201601010000 /Users/xxxxxxxx/Desktop (x's = username), and it did not work because, I am guessing, "Desktop" is a OS X file. I can change a random folder's creation date in this manner, but not the Desktop folder.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 2, 2016 7:15 PM in response to Hendrixxx
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jun 2, 2016 7:15 PM in response to Hendrixxx

    Please post the output of this command:

    ls -@OTden Desktop
  • by Hendrixxx,

    Hendrixxx Hendrixxx Jun 2, 2016 7:20 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 7:20 PM in response to Linc Davis

    drwx---rwx+ 25 503  20  - 850 Jun  3 13:13:40 2016 Desktop

    0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny delete

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 2, 2016 7:27 PM in response to Hendrixxx
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jun 2, 2016 7:27 PM in response to Hendrixxx

    Those permissions are not correct. Please open your home folder (represented by a house icon in the sidebar of a Finder window) and select the Desktop folder. Open the Info window. Does it show that your user name (rather than "everyone") has read & write privileges?

  • by Hendrixxx,

    Hendrixxx Hendrixxx Jun 2, 2016 7:32 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 7:32 PM in response to Linc Davis

    It does, but only because I changed it in an effort to change the creation date (and then forgot to change it back). Before I changed it, it showed that I had read/write privileges, but that "everyone" had only (I think!) read privileges.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 2, 2016 7:46 PM in response to Hendrixxx
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jun 2, 2016 7:46 PM in response to Hendrixxx

    Please back up all data before proceeding.

    This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership, permissions, and access controls to the default. If you've intentionally set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it, but you do need to follow the instructions below.

    Step 1

    If you have more than one user, and the one in question is not an administrator, then go to Step 2.

    Triple-click anywhere in the following line on this page to select it:

    sudo find ~ $TMPDIR.. -exec chflags -h nosappnd,noschg,nosunlnk,nouappnd,nouchg {} + -exec chown -h $UID {} + -exec chmod +rw {} + -exec chmod -h -N {} + -type d -exec chmod -h +x {} + 2>&-

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any one of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

    You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

    The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear, then quit Terminal.

    Step 2 (optional)

    Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1, if you prefer not to take it, or if it doesn't solve the problem.

    Start up in Recovery mode. You may be prompted to select a language, then the OS X Utilities screen will appear.

    If you use FileVault 2, select Disk Utility, then select the icon of the FileVault startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) It will be nested below another drive icon. Select Unlock from the File menu and enter your login password when prompted. Then quit Disk Utility to be returned to the main screen.

    Select

              Utilities Terminal

    from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open. In that window, type this:

    resetp

    Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

    resetpassword

    Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.

    Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.

    Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.

    Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.

    Select

               Restart

    from the menu bar.

  • by Hendrixxx,

    Hendrixxx Hendrixxx Jun 2, 2016 7:59 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 7:59 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks Linc.

     

    Did that, and (I assume) successfully changed the permissions back to how they should be.

     

    The output of ls -@OTden Desktop is now drwxr-xrwx  25 503  20  - 850 Jun  3 13:13:40 2016 Desktop

     

    However, the creation date of the Desktop folder is still 24 Jan 1984 9:00 PM

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 2, 2016 8:18 PM in response to Hendrixxx
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Jun 2, 2016 8:18 PM in response to Hendrixxx

    And you still can't change the modification date?

  • by Hendrixxx,

    Hendrixxx Hendrixxx Jun 2, 2016 10:16 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 10:16 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Well I couldn't (using the 2016 date) but then I tried with your 1980 date, and it worked!!

     

    I don't understand why, but happy it worked.

     

    Thanks for all your help.

     

    Phil

     

    Edit: I then went back and changed to a 2016 date (uncomfortable having a creation date of 1980 in case it causes other issues) and this worked too, this time.