Remove windows partition from Desktop

[lexus]

Hi,
I need to remove the windows partition from the desktop but everytime I do it comes back after I restart.


Thanks alot.

[dylan]

Click on the desktop then click Finder > Preferences (command+,). Untick Hard disks

[ManchesterTrix]

Somehow I'm betting he wants to keep the Macintosh HD on the desktop. He can either write a script(or Automator action) to unmount the drive each time, or if the Windows disk is NTFS, he can simply name it .Windows and it won't show up on the Mac Desktop anymore.

[MacRumorUser]

Yeah the .trick is the best policy

[lexus]

Nope it is not ntfs. What script would I use?

[LittleJoe]

If not removed is there at least a way to change the icon? Im a mac noob and I cant seem to get it to change as the partition is read only.

[MacRumorUser]

If not removed is there at least a way to change the icon? Im a mac noob and I cant seem to get it to change as the partition is read only.

You can only partiton in 2 formats.

If your partiton is FAT32 you can read and write and therefore change the icon, name and modify the contents within OS X

If it's 'read only' then it must be in NTFS, so basically boot up windows. Select my computer, click on windows c drive (on the name) and rename to .windows

You cant have your cake and eat it :) It's one or the other.

[lexus]

You can only partiton in 2 formats.

If your partiton is FAT32 you can read and write and therefore change the icon, name and modify the contents within OS X

If it's 'read only' then it must be in NTFS, so basically boot up windows. Select my computer, click on windows c drive (on the name) and rename to .windows

You cant have your cake and eat it :) It's one or the other.
But how would I set it so it does not show up on the desktop but the finder only.

[MacRumorUser]

But how would I set it so it does not show up on the desktop but the finder only.

By doing what I just posted? If its NTFS, rename it in windows to .somthing and it will not show up on mac desktop, but will do in finder.

[lexus]

I told you it is FAT. I do not think I can change it

[TBi]

I told you it is FAT. I do not think I can change it

You can use the convert command in windows to make a fat drive an NTFS drive. Just run in from the command line.

Start->run-> type cmd and press enter
convert /? to figure out how to work it
convert c: /<whatever options you should use>
i think it is

convert c: /FS:NTFS

You'll lose the ability to write to the drive then though. Although it begs the question... is it really bothering you that much?

[lexus]

Yes but I need to be able to write to the drive which is the problem.

[jeremy.king]

Yes but I need to be able to write to the drive which is the problem.

From which OS?

Edit: Why are you bumping, did you try renaming the volume with a period as the first character? MacRumorUser gave you a solution - did you try it?

[LittleJoe]

You can only partiton in 2 formats.

If your partiton is FAT32 you can read and write and therefore change the icon, name and modify the contents within OS X

If it's 'read only' then it must be in NTFS, so basically boot up windows. Select my computer, click on windows c drive (on the name) and rename to .windows

You cant have your cake and eat it :) It's one or the other.

Great... I changed "Local C Drive" to ".windows" in My Computer in XP and it took it off my OS X desktop. Thanks :)

[lexus]

Great... I changed "Local C Drive" to ".windows" in My Computer in XP and it took it off my OS X desktop. Thanks :)
Yes but I need to be able to write to the windoes drive from OS X.

[TBi]

Yes but I need to be able to write to the windoes drive from OS X.

You can still write to it and view it normally if you want. It just won't appear on your desktop. The .notation is *NIX's way of hiding files. Anything with a . in front of it is hidden by default.

[lexus]

You can still write to it and view it normally if you want. It just won't appear on your desktop. The .notation is *NIX's way of hiding files. Anything with a . in front of it is hidden by default.
I will try that and let you know how it goes.

You can still write to it and view it normally if you want. It just won't appear on your desktop. The .notation is *NIX's way of hiding files. Anything with a . in front of it is hidden by default.
No when I rename it to .windows it says I am using an invalid character.

[TBi]

Renaming in windows or osx? It might throw an error in OSX but it shouldn't be an invalid character error. It's just a period like.

Try renaming in windows

[lexus]

No I am trying in windows.

[jeremy.king]

No I am trying in windows.

rename it in OS X as described above (Hint: reread post #7 carefully)

[lexus]

It does not let me rename it in OSX either.

[jeremy.king]

It does not let me rename it in OSX either.

error message?

Take a screenshot of the Get Info screen and post.

[lexus]

Use cannot use a name that begins with a dot ".", because those names are reserved for the system. Please chose another name.

That is the text I get.

Anyone????

[TBi]

You might have to use the magic command line. If you are uncomfortable with it then i guess you'll have to live with the icon on your desktop. As i said in an earlier reply, is it really that bad?

[MacRumorUser]

You might have to use the magic command line. If you are uncomfortable with it then i guess you'll have to live with the icon on your desktop. As i said in an earlier reply, is it really that bad?

Yeah just change the icon to somthing more aesthetically pleasing on your desktop and learn to live with it would be the easiest solution.

[lexus]

How would I change the icon?

[MacRumorUser]

How would I change the icon?

Choose an new icon.

www.interfacelift.com

find an icon and download to your desktop. Open the folder containing the new icons. Select te icon you want vy clicking on it one till its highlighted. Then go into EDIT on top bar and choose copy.

Now click/select on the windows hardrive icon and ctrl+click on it and choose "get info"

when that little window opens you will see the drive's details and a little icon on the top left resembling your drive. Click on this and you will see a blue halo appears around it.

Now simply go back to EDIT and select PASTE

The drive icon will now change to the one you copied. If it doesnt do it straight away, reboot or logout/login and see if its changed.

[lexus]

How would I change it so it is not always in capitals

[Kingsly]

You might have to use the magic command line.
And how would I go about doing this?

I tried using 'mv' in terminal... no dice duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ mv /WINDOWS%20HD /.Windows HD
usage: mv [-f | -i | -n] [-v] source target
mv [-f | -i | -n] [-v] source ... directory

[jeremy.king]

I tried using 'mv' in terminal... no dice

Bad syntax...Also your location would be wrong, as I am pretty sure all mounts go in /Volumes

Try
mv /Volumes/WINDOWS\ HD /Volumes/.Windows\ HD

[Kingsly]

Bad syntax...Also your location would be wrong, as I am pretty sure all mounts go in /Volumes

Try
mv /Volumes/WINDOWS\ HD /Volumes/.Windows\ HD
Umm... duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ mv /Volumes/WINDOWS\ HD /Volumes/.Windows\ HD
mv: rename /Volumes/WINDOWS HD to /Volumes/.Windows HD: No such file or directory
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$

[jeremy.king]

Umm... duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ mv /Volumes/WINDOWS\ HD /Volumes/.Windows\ HD
mv: rename /Volumes/WINDOWS HD to /Volumes/.Windows HD: No such file or directory
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$


Guess you could try with the %20 in the name...or better yet post the results of

ls -l /Volumes

PS. don't forget that whenever a command gives you trouble, just man <command> in Terminal

[Kingsly]

Guess you could try with the %20 in the name...or better yet post the results of

ls -l /Volumes

PS. don't forget that whenever a command gives you trouble, just man <command> in Terminal
Enjoy.
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ ls -l /Volumes
total 24
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 Jun 10 17:08 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxrwxrwx 1 duncan duncan 8192 Jun 10 18:18 Windows HD 1


PS, what does man <command> do?

[lexus]

How would I change it so it is not always in capitals
Anyone?

[ManchesterTrix]

Anyone?

Convert it to an NTFS partition and lose the ability to write files from the Mac side.

[jeremy.king]

Enjoy.
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ ls -l /Volumes
total 24
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1 Jun 10 17:08 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxrwxrwx 1 duncan duncan 8192 Jun 10 18:18 Windows HD 1


PS, what does man <command> do?

Your volume name is "Windows HD 1" so you would use that as the first argument for the mv command

mv /Volumes/Windows\ HD\ 1 /Volumes/.Windows\ HD

Renaming it here doesn't seem to rename it in Finder, however. Looks like the diskutil command will need to be used instead. After using the diskutil command, Logout and Login to see the renamed Volume disappear from your desktop.

As for the man command, just try it

man ls
man mv
man diskutil
man ifconfig
etc...etc...

Now thats enough Terminal help I am going to offer. There are plenty of resources in your local bookstore and online, so I encourage you guys to do some research.

[Kingsly]

Your volume name is "Windows HD 1" so you would use that as the first argument for the mv command

mv /Volumes/Windows\ HD\ 1 /Volumes/.Windows\ HD

Renaming it here doesn't seem to rename it in Finder, however. Looks like the diskutil command will need to be used instead. After using the diskutil command, Logout and Login to see the renamed Volume disappear from your desktop.

As for the man command, just try it

man ls
man mv
man diskutil
man ifconfig
etc...etc...

Now thats enough Terminal help I am going to offer. There are plenty of resources in your local bookstore and online, so I encourage you guys to do some research.
Thanks, I'll try it now.


EDIT: Im getting really, really upset at Terminal. I'm probsbly just overlooking something really simple... but its getting on my nerves. I have googled around to no avail. Help me obi-wan, you're my only hope.

First, I followed you're mv command.
Nothing happened, except finder no longer lets me rename the partition.
Logged out and in.
Went into diskutil. Here's what I get:
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: type name size identifier
0: GUID_partition_scheme *111.8 GB disk0
1: EFI 200.0 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 103.0 GB disk0s2
3: Microsoft Basic Data WINDOWS HD 8.5 GB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: type name size identifier
0: CD_partition_scheme *727.5 MB disk1
1: CD_ROM_Mode_1 BIA_EIB 633.1 MB disk1s0
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$ diskutil rename /volumes/WINDOWS%20HD .Windows%20HD
Disk Utility Tool
Usage: diskutil rename [Mount Point|Disk Identifier|Device Node] newName
Rename a volume (only works for HFS(+) or UFS disks).
Ownership of the specified volume may be required.
Example: diskutil rename /Volumes/SomeDisk SomeNewName
duncan-obryans-computer:~ duncan$


Log out and in... Windows HD is still there.

I suppose I could try something like
diskutil rename /dev/disk0/disk0s3 .Windows%20HD but I am afraid of cooking my HDD.

I am a looser. :o

[balamw]

I suppose I could try something like
diskutil rename /dev/disk0/disk0s3 .Windows%20HD but I am afraid of cooking my HDD.
That won't work. Anything in the /dev folder is really just the OSes window into the hardware, so disk0s3 is just the third partition on disk0, and it doesn't change anything in the way that the UI sees things. It'll see the logical/mounted name which is the one in /Volumes.

EDIT: Sorry I read "mv" instead of diskutil. Ignore my comment.

B

[Kingsly]

That won't work. Anything in the /dev folder is really just the OSes window into the hardware, so disk0s3 is just the third partition on disk0, and it doesn't change anything in the way that the UI sees things. It'll see the logical/mounted name which is the one in /Volumes.

EDIT: Sorry I read "mv" instead of diskutil. Ignore my comment.

B
In that case, is it possible that it would work?

[ivnds]

weird you're having so much trouble, I even did it from Parallels!, booted up > my computer > rename > .windows > Done.

[brkirch]

Assuming that your Windows Boot Camp partition is labeled WINDOWS HD, try this:
1. In Mac OS X, open Applications > AppleScript > Script Editor
2. Copy and paste the following into the Script Editor window:
try
do shell script "/usr/sbin/diskutil unmount /Volumes/WINDOWS\\ HD"
end try
3. Select Save from the File menu.
4. Select Application Bundle as the file format. Make sure that Startup Screen and Stay Open are NOT checked.
5. Save anywhere you want, with any name you want.
6. Open System Preferences.
7. Click on Accounts.
8. Select the Login Items tab.
9. Click the + button.
10. Locate the application you saved from Script Editor.

[davidg4781]

Why not just uncheck the hard drive thing, like someone mentioned int he very beginning??

That's what I did. It clears up my desktop and if I ever need to get into the hard drive, I can just click on finder and click the hard drive I need. Same 2 clicks, just with a second in between. Is life that fast paced that you can't wait the extra second?

[pavelbure]

someone did a necro post. thanks to you who did it, i am a new mac user and wanted to do this.

[ivnds]

Why not just uncheck the hard drive thing, like someone mentioned int he very beginning??

That's what I did. It clears up my desktop and if I ever need to get into the hard drive, I can just click on finder and click the hard drive I need. Same 2 clicks, just with a second in between. Is life that fast paced that you can't wait the extra second?

For me it has to do with the fact that i need more than one finder window at a time, i can click the finder icon 5 times and im only getting one, so i need my HD on the desktop simply for that purpose.

Leopard addresses this, you can ctrl click on the finder icon and the option for a new windows appears. In 2 months I can uncheck that option.