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My Finder is all messed up. It drives me insane. Help ?

hamiltonDSi

hamiltonDSi

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2012
1,615
287
Romania
Hey guys,

I just purchased one month ago a 15" Late 2013 Macbook Pro with Retina Display and I love it.
It came with 10.9.2 and I upgraded to 10.9.3 before putting my stuff on it.

There is one BUG that drives me INSANE (my old 13" Macbook on 10.9.3 did not have it) ; After every restart or log out my Finder is all messed up : the window is small and the icons are placed chaotic.

At first, I was ok with it because I rarely restart my computer or log out ; only when I update software or something like that but now I'm testing Yosemite on another partition and I switch between the two OS's like 3 or 4 times a day and every time I boot back into Mavericks I have to rearrange my Finder. My head is going to explode.

Can anyone help me fix this ?

Thank you.

Screenshot 1 : How it looks after a log out or reboot
Screenshot 2 : How I arrange my Finder window & icons.

PS : I'm using the standard "Best for Retina" resolution, so it's not like the OS has to change to another res when loading up the system.
 

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hamiltonDSi said:
anyone ? nope ?
Click to expand...

Try this... open Finder then click the Go menu then Go to folder... then paste this in and enter. Scroll down and find the file com.apple.finder.plist and delete it. Now reboot and go to Finder and set it how you want.

Code: 
~/Library/Preferences

This file contains the Finder settings and sometimes gets corrupted. So by deleting it and restarting a new one is created.
 
Weaselboy said:
Try this... open Finder then click the Go menu then Go to folder... then paste this in and enter. Scroll down and find the file com.apple.finder.plist and delete it. Now reboot and go to Finder and set it how you want.

Code: 
~/Library/Preferences

This file contains the Finder settings and sometimes gets corrupted. So by deleting it and restarting a new one is created.
Click to expand...

It does not work.
I tried it like 3 times. I'm going insane.
 
Looks like you are unable to actually write out your view preferences. Try repairing permissions, repeat until no errors come back then reboot.

Or

I think that the Yosemite install messes around with saved settings as when I switch between mavs and Yosemite my mavericks toolbar becomes solid and not translucent.

Maybe try a nvram/pram reset etc too.
 
You might also try deleting the .DSStore file. That's an invisible file that holds the info about window location, layout, icon view, etc. Sometimes that gets corrupted, too.

Download the free app Onyx :http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx

Then, launch it, enter your password and click the "Maintenance" tab. Check the box for "Appearance of folders content", select the folder you're having a problem with (or leave it blank for the finder), and select whether you want to clear just that or all of the subfolders. If you choose all of the subfolders, it will reset all of your folders to the factory default.

From your images, it's your Applications folder that's messed up, so if that's the only one, select it. Otherwise, if the problem appears in other folders/directories too, select all subfolders.

Then arrange them how you want again, and hopefully this time it will stick.
 
irnchriz said:
Looks like you are unable to actually write out your view preferences. Try repairing permissions, repeat until no errors come back then reboot.

Or

I think that the Yosemite install messes around with saved settings as when I switch between mavs and Yosemite my mavericks toolbar becomes solid and not translucent.

Maybe try a nvram/pram reset etc too.
Click to expand...

The funny thing is that I have the problem since I got my Mac, before Yosemite was released.
The first thing I did was to repair the permissions - no errors - but it does not help me.

I never tried a Nvram / Pram reset.
Will try.
Thanks.
 
hologram said:
You might also try deleting the .DSStore file. That's an invisible file that holds the info about window location, layout, icon view, etc. Sometimes that gets corrupted, too.

Download the free app Onyx :http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx

Then, launch it, enter your password and click the "Maintenance" tab. Check the box for "Appearance of folders content", select the folder you're having a problem with (or leave it blank for the finder), and select whether you want to clear just that or all of the subfolders. If you choose all of the subfolders, it will reset all of your folders to the factory default.

From your images, it's your Applications folder that's messed up, so if that's the only one, select it. Otherwise, if the problem appears in other folders/directories too, select all subfolders.

Then arrange them how you want again, and hopefully this time it will stick.
Click to expand...

First, thank you Hologram for your detailed post.
It kinda work... my icons are not chaotic anymore but the window size still re-sets and the text is bellow apps, not on the right.

Anymore tips ?
 

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hamiltonDSi said:
First, thank you Hologram for your detailed post.
It kinda work... my icons are not chaotic anymore but the window size still re-sets and the text is bellow apps, not on the right.

Anymore tips ?
Click to expand...

If you create a new user and log on and off as that user do you still have the issues?
 
irnchriz said:
If you create a new user and log on and off as that user do you still have the issues?
Click to expand...

Yes, same problem on a new user. The icons are not chaotic but still the window snaps back to the default size and the text is bellow the apps, not on the right.
 
Last edited:
hamiltonDSi said:
Yes, same problem on a new user. The icons are not chaotic but still the window snaps back to the default size and the text is bellow the apps, not on the right.
Click to expand...

That's a bit bizarre, at this point I would be doing a fresh install and then restoring my files tbh.
 
Damn.
I don't have time for that.
I'm at medical school and boy, this semester is a thought one.

I'll live with it another couple of months and when Yosemite GM is released I'll do a fresh install of 10.10 and call it a day.
 
Weaselboy said:
Try this... open Finder then click the Go menu then Go to folder... then paste this in and enter. Scroll down and find the file com.apple.finder.plist and delete it. Now reboot and go to Finder and set it how you want.

Code: 
~/Library/Preferences

This file contains the Finder settings and sometimes gets corrupted. So by deleting it and restarting a new one is created.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately deleting plists and rebuilding them isn't reliable in Mavericks any more. Unless you can delete the plist and reboot in time it what happens is a new plist with the current settings is created from a cache. This isn't to say it's not possible, but the timing is difficult to get right. The process that does this is cfprefsd so you need to kill that before it can write a new file.
 
budgynana said:
Unfortunately deleting plists and rebuilding them isn't reliable in Mavericks any more. Unless you can delete the plist and reboot in time it what happens is a new plist with the current settings is created from a cache. This isn't to say it's not possible, but the timing is difficult to get right. The process that does this is cfprefsd so you need to kill that before it can write a new file.
Click to expand...

I understand, and that is explained in this article. Like you said, you can kill the cfprefsd to stop the cached plist from replacing your deleted one.

The timing is only an issue with Finder since it restarts on its own. Other plists are not created unless the app is launched, so this timing issue does not come up.
 
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