Files On Desk Top Gone

[Phil W]

I downloaded and ran the latest update for Sierra and now all my files I had on the desk top is gone! I cannot find them anywhere. Anyone know how to rectify this?

 

[casperes1996]

I downloaded and ran the latest update for Sierra and now all my files I had on the desk top is gone! I cannot find them anywhere. Anyone know how to rectify this?

Try this:
Open Terminal window
Write commands:
"cd Desktop"
"ls -a"

Report back if any of your files are printed in the Terminal window

 

[Phil W]

Says command not found.

 

[Nermal]

Which command? Both of those (cd and ls) are part of the "core" system and should always work.

 

[Phil W]

The Is command is the one its saying not found...

 

[gwang73]

you're using ls -a, as in lowercase LS?

 

[gwang73]

Also check spaces? Maybe it switched spaces accidentally.

 

[Phil W]

OK ran the LS -A and got the following:

. Documents

.. Downloads

.CFUserTextEncoding Library

.DS_Store Movies

.Trash Music

.bash_history Pictures

.bash_sessions Public

.config WORDsearchUserData

.cups iCloud Drive (Archive)

.local iCloud Drive (Archive) - 1

.skychart iCloud Drive (Archive) - 2

.ssh iCloud Drive (Archive) - 3

Desktop iCloud Drive (Archive) - 4

I did not get anything when I ran the CD DESKTOP

 

[Nermal]

It's not "CD DESKTOP", it's "cd Desktop". Try it again. When you do it, the prompt should change from this:

computername:~ username$

To this:

computername: Desktop username$

 

[Phil W]

It's not "CD DESKTOP", it's "cd Desktop". Try it again. When you do it, the prompt should change from this:

computername:~ username$

To this:

computernameesktop username$

I got this:

Phillips-iMacesktop firstlastname was here.

 

[Nermal]

Hmm. We can actually bypass the cd command altogether with this:

ls -a Desktop

 

[Phil W]

Well does anyone know how I can fix it? I wished I had never upgraded from Mavericks Sierra has been nothing trouble.

And I just noticed Desktop is missing in the Finder.

 

[casperes1996]

Well does anyone know how I can fix it? I wished I had never upgraded from Mavericks Sierra has been nothing trouble.

And I just noticed Desktop is missing in the Finder.

So, the order of the commands I listed is important. You ran cd Desktop and ls on two different sessions, which means you didn't get the expected output. Please open a Terminal window, and without quitting it, run the commands again:

"cd Desktop
ls -a"

or as someone else said, just do "ls -a Desktop"

Without knowing if the files are hidden or gone, we cannot help. Sierra moves the Desktop folder to iCloud if you so want it, and that's why you won't find it where you're used to in the User account in the Finder, but it still exists. As per your previous Terminal output, your desktop absolutely still exists, however, instead of asking Terminal what's in your desktop folder, you asked what's "above it".

 

[Phil W]

Is that an I or an L ?

I got this:

. .. .localized


[Process completed]

 

[gwang73]

'L' as in 'ls -a Desktop' and see if any of the files are shown there.

Do you remember if you turned on iCloud Drive for Desktop & Documents folders when you upgraded to Sierra? You can check in Settings-->iCloud-->iCloud Drive-->Options and see if 'Desktop & Documents Folders' is checked or not. If it is checked, check your iCloud account via webbrowser and click on iCloud Drive and see if your files are there and download them back again.

Also, make sure you are on the right Spaces desktop by pressing the mission control key (F3) and see if there are multiple desktops there and check each one.

 

[casperes1996]

Also, make sure you are on the right Spaces desktop by pressing the mission control key (F3) and see if there are multiple desktops there and check each one.

Shouldn't desktop files always be visible on all Spaces?

. .. .localized

This being the only output is rather peculiar. When you upgrade to iCloud Desktop, the files you previously had on your desktop should be put inside a folder on your new Desktop. Try searching with Spotlight for one of the files you had on your Desktop, and if it appears, Command+Enter on it, to go to its folder. That way we can find out where they've gone if they still exist – What files did you have on the desktop, and do you have a backup with Time Machine or similar?

 

[gwang73]

Shouldn't desktop files always be visible on all Spaces?

Not sure. I don't keep any files on my Desktop.
Good suggestion with trying Spotlight Search.

 

[casperes1996]

Not sure. I don't keep any files on my Desktop.

Well, I can tell you that with all my experience there's no way to pick and choose which Space holds the desktop files. They all just do