Desktop selection causes icons to move by themselves

[Fedge]

An extremely frustrating bug in finder is making me lose my mind. The problem is this:

I'll select some number of items on my desktop. When I move these items elsewhere (say, another folder) the majority of the icons on my desktop COMPLETELY rearrange themselves. The icons that have moved themselves are now selected.

Not all the icons move, just most of them, and I can't seem to find a pattern to establish what prevents those specific icons from moving.

This bug is infuriating. I spend a lot of time arrange the icons on my desktop just so, only to have my desktop arrangement put in a blender everytime I move icons. Anyone have any solutions?

Note: This problem was happening in 10.4.9, and now also in 10.4.10

 

[wrldwzrd89]

An extremely frustrating bug in finder is making me lose my mind. The problem is this:

I'll select some number of items on my desktop. When I move these items elsewhere (say, another folder) the majority of the icons on my desktop COMPLETELY rearrange themselves. The icons that have moved themselves are now selected.

Not all the icons move, just most of them, and I can't seem to find a pattern to establish what prevents those specific icons from moving.

This bug is infuriating. I spend a lot of time arrange the icons on my desktop just so, only to have my desktop arrangement put in a blender everytime I move icons. Anyone have any solutions?

Note: This problem was happening in 10.4.9, and now also in 10.4.10

Check your view settings for the Desktop. Do you have one of the Arrange by options selected? If you do, deselect it.

 

[Fedge]

Check your view settings for the Desktop. Do you have one of the Arrange by options selected? If you do, deselect it.

No, it's turned off--but good suggestion.

Also, deleting a selection from the desktop causes the same bug. It's driving me mad.

 

[trudys]

Same exact problem!!

An extremely frustrating bug in finder is making me lose my mind. The problem is this:

I'll select some number of items on my desktop. When I move these items elsewhere (say, another folder) the majority of the icons on my desktop COMPLETELY rearrange themselves. The icons that have moved themselves are now selected.

Not all the icons move, just most of them, and I can't seem to find a pattern to establish what prevents those specific icons from moving.

This bug is infuriating. I spend a lot of time arrange the icons on my desktop just so, only to have my desktop arrangement put in a blender everytime I move icons. Anyone have any solutions?

Note: This problem was happening in 10.4.9, and now also in 10.4.10

...............................
I'm totally new to conversing in a forum! Please allow for my confusion!

I've had the exact same problem of "jumping icons" (using OS 10.4.11 and earlier). I've tried everything I can think of! I have no "view" (arrange by) settings chosen in the Finder.

I can only prevent 'rearrangement-chaos' by moving one or two files at a time. (Generally, I have a lot of files on the desktop.) Any selected group of three or more files -- innocently dropped into a desktop folder -- leads to a complete rearrangement of the desktop. I hope some suggestions come soon!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Several things I would recommend both of you investigate:

If there's a preference file in your user Library for the desktop, try moving it elsewhere and logging out then back in for the change to take effect. Also, from the Terminal, try this:

mv ~/Desktop/.DS_Store ~/DS_Store

Log out then back in after pressing Return to execute the command.
Note: This will create a file called DS_Store in your home folder. Its presence is an artifact of executing that command, and it is completely safe to delete it.