all desktop folders and files disappeared

I had the same trouble. By chance I opened the Finder folder using the icon on the "Dock" and all files and folders were there. Then I went to "View" on the toolbar (with the Finder window selected), choose "Show view options" and everything was back. However, that small sign of downloading from iCloud was placed beside every folder and document. I hope it helps.

Are you sure you are logged into the correct account? If that's ok , then run Repair Permissions on your Home folder. A repair Permissions with Disk Utility does not touch anything in your Home folder.

Boot to your Recovery partition holding command + R keys from the Utilities menu Launch Terminal . In Terminal, type: resetpassword Then press Return. (Note: You will not be resetting password)

Choose the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop down below select your Home folder. At the bottom of the window Restore Home Directory Permissions and ACLs. Then, click the reset button. When the prompt returns to the command line, you can quit out of Terminal.

Hi,

Just in case, check the hard disk to see if it repairs are necessary.

Launch Disk Utility located in HD > Applications > Utilities

Select MacintoshHD on the left then select the First Aid tab click Run.

If all your files are missing

You may have logged in as a different user, such as Guest. Please open the Users & Groups pane in System Preferences. Your name should be at the top of the user list, under Current User. See also this support article.

If files are missing from one folder

Please change the Finder view mode; for example, from icon view to list view, or vice versa.

If files are present, but seem outdated

You may have started up from a different volume (disk.) Please open the Startup Disk preference pane and check the selection.

If none of the above applies, see below.

This procedure will delete certain temporary and cache files. The files are automatically generated and don't contain any of your data. Occasionally they can become corrupt and cause problems such as yours.

Please back up all data.

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

/var/folders

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Open

from the contextual menu.* A folder with the odd name "folders" should open.

Inside "folders" are several subfolders, each with a two-character name. Drag all the subfolders except the one named "zz" to the Trash. Don't delete the subfolder named "zz". You'll be prompted for your administrator login credentials.

Restart the computer and empty the Trash.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

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