Finder Amnesia

[204353]

Hello all,

This little bug has been driving me nuts for ages now. Attached you'll see two images. The first, 'Applications Folder', is how I want my Applications Folder to look whenever I access it directly (i.e. from the Go menu in the Finder Menu Bar, or from an alias or from the Dock by right-clicking, Open "Applications").

Finder used to remember this appearance perfectly. I can't remember exactly when this started, but now whenever Finder is restarted (killall Finder or a reboot) it completely forgets the settings for the Applications folder and opens it as shown in the second image, 'Finder Bug'. That's the far right of the screen, by the way. Not only does it forget the size and position of the folder's window, it also resets the grid spacing to the default value.

It only does it for this folder...

I've already tried removing the .DS_Store file many times, so it's not an issue with that file. I've also run clean-up scripts and repaired permissions.

It's bugs like this that still make me long for Tiger.

 

[mcavjame]

Have you selected the folder in finder then done the following:
View menu>View Options

Check the "Always open in Icon View"

 

[204353]

Have you selected the folder in finder then done the following:
View menu>View Options

Check the "Always open in Icon View"

On the left: before
On the right: after

It completely forgets the Show View Options settings whenever Finder is restarted.

 

[mcavjame]

try trashing the plist file for finder: home folder>Library>Preferences>com.apple.finder.plist

This will trash a messed up preference file and force finder to create a new one the next time you access it. If you have lots of customization, you will need to redo it. If it is just the application folder, it won't be too bad.

 

[ihabime]

Which DS_Store did you delete?

From what I recall, some information about window size and position is actually stored in the DS_Store of the parent folder and not the DS_Store of the folder itself.

In the case of the Applications folder, try deleting the DS_Store from the root of your HD, be careful you'll have to use your admin password to delete it and it might be better to move and rename it just in case.

 

[204353]

Which DS_Store did you delete?

From what I recall, some information about window size and position is actually stored in the DS_Store of the parent folder and not the DS_Store of the folder itself.

In the case of the Applications folder, try deleting the DS_Store from the root of your HD, be careful you'll have to use your admin password to delete it and it might be better to move and rename it just in case.

Yay! It worked!

Thank you very much. Deleting the .DS_Store file from the HD root folder reset all the window settings, but I only needed to redo the defaults and then the Apps folder. Now I know what to do if it happens again.