Finder Window Prefs not Sticking

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Whenever I reboot my PBG4, I lose the Finder preferences I set for most of my folders.



Is there a preference file that I can delete to reset all my folders to default? That way, maybe I can set them correctly and they'll stay after reboot.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Using the Terminal app, look for a .DS_Store file in each of the offending folders. Remove that file.* There may be a GUI tool to do this, but I'm unaware of one.



    * Detailed instructions:



    'find ~ -name .DS_Store' to get a list of all the .DS_Store files in your file hierarchy.



    'cd <foldername>' to get each of the folders.



    'rm .DS_Store' to remove the file.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Thanks for the tip! It worked like a charm.



    Of course I have many .DS_Store files I would like to remove then. Is there a way I can tell rm to remove all .DS_Store files on a partition?



    Thanks again for your help.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    Yes, you should have many .DS_Store files, but you probably don't want to remove them all. The .DS_Store file contains the "View options" for its parent folder. So, by removing them all, you'd wipe all your folder settings back to the default.



    This could be a good or bad thing.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Brad,



    Right now for many windows, all the icons are mashed into one corner and I have to CMD-J to bring up window prefs and reset to global (which resets to being all mashed up again after reboot).



    In the directories that I've removed the .DS_Store file and reset the view to global, the changes have stuck.



    So, I really wouldn't mind just wiping out all those files and starting fresh with each folder all over again, if the changes will actually stick this time. This has been a major peeve for me.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    I am curious as to how the files got stuck to begin with. Do you ever use root or any other user that has global access? Using root in the Finder can cause problems with .DS_Store files exactly as you described.



    Anyhow, I believe this command should kill off all the .DS_Store files. You should wait for someone else to double-check my work, though, as it's been a while since I worked in the terminal. If I made a mistake here, it could wipe your whole drive clean.



    sudo find / -name .DS_Store -exec rm {} \\;



    Use at your own risk!



    [ 07-23-2002: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
  • Reply 6 of 12
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    I don't want to try this out unless an other *NIX expert had a look at it..
  • Reply 7 of 12
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    look here

    <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=001095"; target="_blank">Unix Geek Needed</a>
  • Reply 8 of 12
    eyedeaeyedea Posts: 20member
    Did anybody find a solution for this yet? I'm having the same problems in a few of my folders, that I have to Command+J to fix them (for example when I click the "Computer" icon up top).



    Anyway, if something fixed this problem I would love to know.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Brad and Kickaha know what they're talking about. Do what they said and you should be set. The first post by Kickaha is really all you need unless you want to get rid of a bunch of .DS_Store files at once.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    This system amnesia has been bothering me as well. Thank goodness only on the lowest level of my main hard drive.



    When I tried to delete the offending .DS_Store I got an error message that I didn't have permission. So I used "sudo rm .DS_Store", was prompted for my admin password and got a paternalistic lecture from Darwin about respecting other users' privacy. LOL!



    Everything works like a charm now. But fixing thigs at the command line I felt like I was on a (beige) Windows box. Scary. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



    Escher
  • Reply 11 of 12
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    [quote]Originally posted by Escher:

    <strong>So I used "sudo rm .DS_Store", was prompted for my admin password and got a paternalistic lecture from Darwin about respecting other users' privacy. LOL! </strong><hr></blockquote>



    You get asked for your admin password every time, but you only get the condescending message once.



    [quote]<strong>Everything works like a charm now. But fixing thigs at the command line I felt like I was on a (beige) Windows box. Scary. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



    Escher</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Naw, it's like an SAT question...



    DOS is to Unix, as Windows is to:



    a) MacOS X b) MacOS X c) MacOS X d) MacOS X
  • Reply 12 of 12
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    [quote]Originally posted by Kickaha:

    <strong>



    Naw, it's like an SAT question...



    DOS is to Unix, as Windows is to:



    a) MacOS X b) MacOS X c) MacOS X d) MacOS X</strong><hr></blockquote>



    e, None of the above.
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