.DS_Store Question

Rory Manton · Sep 18, 2009

I have this thing on my BoG and it is bugging the hell out of me.

as long as it runs in the background I have no problem with it but it keeps popping up on my desk top ,something I don't want so

1, can I get rid of it completely and totally from he computer and how and

2, if not 1, how can I stop it popping up on my desktop?

Folder washer does not seam to cope. It almost seams like you have to get rid of it all at once or it won't go at all!

Much like bindweed in the garden.

Thanks all

GGJstudios · Sep 18, 2009

Please pardon my question, but is English your first language? Your post makes no sense.

jzuena · Sep 18, 2009

Rory Manton said:
I have this thing on my BoG and it is bugging the hell out of me.

as long as it runs in the background I have no problem with it but it keeps popping up on my desk top ,something I don't want so

1, can I get rid of it completely and totally from he computer and how and

2, if not 1, how can I stop it popping up on my desktop?

Folder washer does not seam to cope. It almost seams like you have to get rid of it all at once or it won't go at all!

Much like bindweed in the garden.

Thanks all

Maybe its early, but I can't think of what the BoG acronym stands for, and how it relates to .DS_Store files. Are you seeing these files on a local drive show up on your OSX desktop? On a network drive show up on a non-OSX desktop?

Rory Manton · Sep 18, 2009

A fine question from an American ( as you seam to be in America)!!

Sorry It was ,perhaps not the clearest of posts , so for my Colonial friend I have explained it all below.

I have this thing (.DS-Store) on my BoG (Box of Gubbings= computer) it is bugging (annoying) the hell (going down instead of up!)out of me.

As long as it runs in the background I have no problem with it but it keeps popping up (appearing) on my desktop (screen) ,something I don't want,so

1, can I get rid of it completely and totally from the computer and , if not 1,

2, how can I stop it popping up on my desktop?

Folder Washer ( a program that is supposed to remove it file by file) does not seam to cope. It almost seams like you have to get rid of it all at once or it won't go at all!

Much like bindweed( a common ,in England, garden weed that spreads if great care is not taken to get every little piece out of the soil when digging) in the garden.

Thanks all

NO offence meant to anybody. I tend to type without thinking if anybody else can understand.

GGJstudios · Sep 18, 2009

Thanks for the interpretation! "BoG", "Folder washer" and "bindweed in the garden" really threw me, as well as the idea that the .DS-Store "runs in the background" or "popping up" on your desktop. (Also, it's "seems" (appears) not "seams" (where fabric is joined by stitching), but that's a minor point).

The .DS-Store doesn't run in the background. It doesn't run at all. It contains information about a folder and is usually hidden. It appears you have hidden files being displayed in Finder. To correct this, enter these two commands in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder

old-wiz · Sep 18, 2009

IIRC the .DS_store is involved with the trash. There's no way to get rid of it; it is a folder or file within ever OSX folder. You only see it if you have it set to show hidden files. If you delete it it will pop back up.

Rory Manton · Sep 18, 2009

GGJstudios you are a star!

Sorted, the icon no longer pops up on the screen.

Thanks.

Zortrium · Sep 18, 2009

old-wiz said:
IIRC the .DS_store is involved with the trash. There's no way to get rid of it; it is a folder or file within ever OSX folder. You only see it if you have it set to show hidden files. If you delete it it will pop back up.

I think the .DS_store's only function is storing information about how icons are displayed in the Finder -- deleting them should be harmless, although it may reset some display stuff. New folders in which you haven't moved anything around or changed display settings won't have .DS_store files at all. Seeing as you presumably move stuff around on your desktop a lot, however, keeping it from regenerating there would be rather difficult.

sanPietro98 · Sep 18, 2009

Gubbings

A mass of wires, plugs ,sockets and other "unidentifiable "things held together in a loose package ( computer)that serves no use what so ever other than to confuse poor idiots like me!

I had to look this up. So for other colonials like me, here's the definition. Personally, I like this word!

i.shaun · Sep 18, 2009

as far as I know DS_Store is kind of like the "Thumbs.db" in Windows folders that contains information about file thumbnails.

jzuena · Sep 18, 2009

Rory Manton said:
GGJstudios you are a star!

Sorted, the icon no longer pops up on the screen.

Thanks.

BoG was the only one I couldn't figure out

I was going to put a similar solution, but thought I'd look like a fool ("look the fool" for you non-colonials) if that wasn't what you were really asking about. Then I got caught up in work and didn't get back to the thread until now.

If the files are only showing up on network drives, especially on drives you also use with other operating systems, you can also use:
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true
to tell OS X not to create the files at all, so that you won't see %2eDS_Store files under Linux and Windows. Unfortunately, the command doesn't work for me.

At least we can all agree that Apple's BoGs are made of aluminum and are a very nice color

Zortrium said:
I think the .DS_store's only function is storing information about how icons are displayed in the Finder -- deleting them should be harmless, although it may reset some display stuff. New folders in which you haven't moved anything around or changed display settings won't have .DS_store files at all. Seeing as you presumably move stuff around on your desktop a lot, however, keeping it from regenerating there would be rather difficult.

I have a cron job that deletes them on my Linux file server every night. It just puts the icons back to a standard layout and any icon picture changes go back to the app's default.

Makosuke · Sep 18, 2009

jzuena said:
I have a cron job that deletes them on my Linux file server every night. It just puts the icons back to a standard layout and any icon picture changes go back to the app's default.

Just in case you never ran across this, if the Mac clients accessing your server are all under your control and you never want them creating .DS_Store files on network volumes, there is a terminal-accessible setting to tell the OS never to create them.

The article says 10.4, but I'm pretty sure this works under later OS releases as well.

jzuena · Sep 19, 2009

Makosuke said:
Just in case you never ran across this, if the Mac clients accessing your server are all under your control and you never want them creating .DS_Store files on network volumes, there is a terminal-accessible setting to tell the OS never to create them.

The article says 10.4, but I'm pretty sure this works under later OS releases as well.

I think that's the same one I posted. It didn't work for me before, but I haven't tried it again since moving to Snow Leopard to see if I can get it to work. For the most part I don't care about them, but I do have a USB drive that I backup files to on a weekly basis from my Linux server (sort of a poor man's Time Machine through cron) and these files show up like a sore thumb while in Linux.

Makosuke · Sep 19, 2009

jzuena said:
I think that's the same one I posted.

Argh, I'm either blind or thick (British version of the term!).

For what it's worth, I just tested this under Snow Leopard, and it definitely works, at least when connected to my SL-based home server. I didn't even have to log out, though I did quit and relaunch Finder and re-mount the network volume.

jzuena · Sep 19, 2009

Makosuke said:
Argh, I'm either blind or thick (British version of the term!).

For what it's worth, I just tested this under Snow Leopard, and it definitely works, at least when connected to my SL-based home server. I didn't even have to log out, though I did quit and relaunch Finder and re-mount the network volume.

Cool. I just ran it again on my main SL mini. I am wondering if it has worked all along by not creating the .DS_Store file immediately, but did create one if I moved files around in the finder on a network share. I'll see what happens now under SL.

Makosuke · Sep 19, 2009

This is just a guess, but maybe you were getting .DS_Store files after copying entire folders to a network share? While that flag will prevent the Finder from creating them, I'm pretty sure if you copy a local folder that already contains one it will go along for the ride.

Just a guess--I haven't experimented enough to know exactly what the behavior is.

Rory Manton · Sep 19, 2009

Sorry if I offended anybody with my "colonial" post, NO offence was meant.

BTW you lot have lost me from the 7th post!

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