This is what I had to do when my desktop folder got deleted and I could not drag things to my desktop:
1. Create a new account with admin
2. Log into new account
3. Open two finders
4. In finder one: I located main users home folder, where there was no desktop folder
5. In finder two: locate new user home folder where there is a new desktop folder
6. Drag the desktop folder from finder "two" to finder "one"
7. Log out
8. Log in to main account
9. Find home folder with new desktop folder
10. Get info and unlock folder at bottom right
hi i have a macbook pro OS X Software, i can access the desktop folder and have files in it but i can't actually use the desktop as in i can't drag anything onto it and no icons appear on it..it seems to be locked..
but i went into "get info" for the desktop and i have permission to read/write and it isn't locked..
I'm having the same issue here. I just installed a new 500GB hard drive into my macbookpro. Restored my backup. Everything was looking good and running good... until I tryed to move something on my desktop. I cannot drag any of the icons on my desktop even one inch.
This is what I've tried:
repair permissions
do a getinfo on both the drive and my desktop folder. Both look good.
Right now I'm going to do an archive and reinstall of Leopard.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this
Well, I should have done this before the archive and install (which is still in progress). I have the old Leopard OSX hard drive in an external inclosure. If the archive & install doesn't work, I will hook up the external inclosure and boot off that drive which had been in the machine for 3 years and worked just fine. See if I can spot anything at all.
Another thing I tried previous to the archive & install (still ongoing) is to create another administrator account. Well that new account cannot drag anything on it's desktop either.
Well, the archive and install finished and it fixed my "can't drag icons on the desktop problem (or cut and paste)". Of course now I'll never know the root cause of the problem. Good luck to anyone who might have this problem in the future and finds this note string.