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[HELP] Files on Desktop are not accessible

ulyssesric

ulyssesric

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 7, 2006
250
204
Device, OS version and other background info:
  • MacBook Pro Retina late-2013, Catalina 10.15.1
  • FileVault is not enabled.
  • iCloud Desktop/Document syncing is not enabled.
  • Time Machine backup stored on an external drive; auto-backup is temporarily disabled.
  • Daemons, extensions and login items:
    • Alfred 4
    • BetterTouchTool
    • DropBox
    • Calendar 366
    • Logitech Option
Problem description:

All files under ~/Desktop path are inaccessible by most applications, including Finder:
  • Double click on the file or choose from "File > Open..." within application both fail to open the file. The error message of open dialog claimed "The document XXXX could not be opened."
  • Files can be renamed in Finder, can quick view the content, and can be copied to other directory, but can not be moved out of Desktop or delete.
  • Files in other directory can not be copied or moved to Desktop and applications can not save files to Desktop either; the error message of save dialog claimed "The file 'Desktop' couldn't be opened".
  • Finder can still create new folder on Desktop and it can be opened, but it can't be moved or deleted as well, files from other directory can be moved into these folders, but the moved files will become inaccessible too.
Reboot can temporarily solve this issue, but logout and re-login and this situation will happen again. Create a new account on the same machine and it is not affected by the same problem so far.

Possible cause of problem:

This problem seems to only affect applications that use Launch Service, because other applications that use conventional POSIX file I/O are not affected. All CLI utilities in Terminal can read, create, write and delete all these files, including vi, cp, mv, rm command; pipelined commands like `echo hello > ~/Desktop/hello.txt` are still functional and new files will be created on desktop, but these newly created files can not be opened by TextEdit.app as well.

Other applications like Visual Studio Code can also open and write to the files without problem. It also worth mentioning that web browsers like Safari, Chrome and Firefox can open and read the content, but I'd guess that's because web browsers are specially coded to tolerate read error and partial contents.

FileVault is not enabled; and this is an old model so it's not T2 and file system encryption related issue. Permission is irrelevant because Visual Studio Code can access these affected files normally. Adding applications like TextEdit to full disk access does not help either.

I guess that the problem is related to Launch Service, like a broken database file or something, but I've no idea how to identify the source of trouble. Tried to search related logs in Console.app but don't know where to start.

Temporary measures:

Reboot everyday.


Please help.
 
Have you tried opening Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor, choose View/All Processes in the Menu Bar and see if any processes are highlighted in red?
 
Peadogie said:
Have you tried opening Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor, choose View/All Processes in the Menu Bar and see if any processes are highlighted in red?
Click to expand...

You mean some dead processes had opened and locked ~/Desktop ?

Hmm... never thought of that but it's unlikely the cause. Because not just files or folders in ~/Desktop, but also everything inside the sub-directories. if I create ~/Desktop/abcd/1234.txt in terminal then both that 'abcd' folder and the '1234.txt' file inside will also become unaccessible.

Thanks for responsible. I'll keep an eye on it next time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peadogie
ulyssesric said:
Problem description:

All files under ~/Desktop path are inaccessible by most applications, including Finder:
  • Double click on the file or choose from "File > Open..." within application both fail to open the file. The error message of open dialog claimed "The document XXXX could not be opened."
  • Files can be renamed in Finder, can quick view the content, and can be copied to other directory, but can not be moved out of Desktop or delete.
  • Files in other directory can not be copied or moved to Desktop and applications can not save files to Desktop either; the error message of save dialog claimed "The file 'Desktop' couldn't be opened".
  • Finder can still create new folder on Desktop and it can be opened, but it can't be moved or deleted as well, files from other directory can be moved into these folders, but the moved files will become inaccessible too.
Reboot can temporarily solve this issue, but logout and re-login and this situation will happen again. Create a new account on the same machine and it is not affected by the same problem so far.
Click to expand...
I have been having this issue as well with two Macs since updating to 10.15.1. There are several similar reports on the Apple discussion forums.

Like you, I am able to resolve it temporarily, but the issues reoccurs upon the next logoff or reboot.

I have tried signing out of and back into iCloud, resetting my home folder permissions, and resetting my user password.

I am going to try the 10.15.2 beta. Apple software has been especially buggy this year.

Update: 10.15.2 beta seems to have resolved the issue for me.
 
Last edited:
In terminal what permissions do you see for Desktop and for a file on the desktop?

In your home directory:

ls -l@d Desktop

drwx------@ 28 me staff 896 Nov 29 19:14 Desktop
com.apple.icloud.desktop

then cd to Desktop and ls -l@

-rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 933631 Oct 11 02:40 Screen Shot 2019-10-11 at 2.40.10 AM.png
com.apple.DTDeviceKit.screenshot.device_id
 
HDFan said:
In terminal what permissions do you see for Desktop and for a file on the desktop?

In your home directory:

ls -l@d Desktop

drwx------@ 28 me staff 896 Nov 29 19:14 Desktop
com.apple.icloud.desktop

then cd to Desktop and ls -l@

-rw-r--r--@ 1 me staff 933631 Oct 11 02:40 Screen Shot 2019-10-11 at 2.40.10 AM.png
com.apple.DTDeviceKit.screenshot.device_id
Click to expand...

I upgraded to 10.15.2 beta, and my permissions are the same as yours. The only difference is that instead of com.apple.icloud.desktop I have com.apple.macl because I am not using iCloud for Desktop and Documents.

I haven't experienced the issue since installing 10.15.2. I was able to reliably reproduce it on 10.15.1.
 
I'm having the same problem. At least I cannot open the files - all of the other tech speak here is going right over my head. The issue only resolves itself when I restart the MacBook Air (2014).... this is a major issue for me since I sometimes need to access files for work immediately and am not able to restart the computer. This is the worst glitch I've ever had with an Apple device.
 
myrtlebee said:
I'm having the same problem. At least I cannot open the files - all of the other tech speak here is going right over my head. The issue only resolves itself when I restart the MacBook Air (2014).... this is a major issue for me since I sometimes need to access files for work immediately and am not able to restart the computer. This is the worst glitch I've ever had with an Apple device.
Click to expand...


Hi there,

I had the same problem and was able to fix it like this.

System Preferences -> Users/Groups
Click the "padlock", enter your password
Click the "+" and add a new user. I called mine "test"
(you can keep it simple and use test as the full name, username and password)
(keep as a regular user, no need to give the "test" user admin rights)

Logout of your current account and login as the new test account.
Check to see if "Drag and Drop" works from applications to the desktop and folders now.
I restarted the system at this point.

Login as the regular user and see if "drag and drop" is working again.
Remove the "test" user account.

Doing the above resolved the problem for me.

Good luck!
-LB
 
labuss said:
Hi there,

I had the same problem and was able to fix it like this.

System Preferences -> Users/Groups
Click the "padlock", enter your password
Click the "+" and add a new user. I called mine "test"
(you can keep it simple and use test as the full name, username and password)
(keep as a regular user, no need to give the "test" user admin rights)

Logout of your current account and login as the new test account.
Check to see if "Drag and Drop" works from applications to the desktop and folders now.
I restarted the system at this point.

Login as the regular user and see if "drag and drop" is working again.
Remove the "test" user account.

Doing the above resolved the problem for me.

Good luck!
-LB
Click to expand...

Thank you! Wouldn't it just wind up occurring again, or was it a permanent fix for you? I already established that if I restart the computer it works again, but then after a while it stops working again.

Also, I already have a second user account on my Mac, so maybe I can just try it with that if removing the "test" account isn't an essential step to making this solution work?

In my situation it's about simply trying to open the files from the desktop and trying to delete them (they won't go in the trash can when it's happening) and not dragging and dropping (haven't tried that, although I image that wouldn't work either).
 
myrtlebee said:
Thank you! Wouldn't it just wind up occurring again, or was it a permanent fix for you? I already established that if I restart the computer it works again, but then after a while it stops working again.

Also, I already have a second user account on my Mac, so maybe I can just try it with that if removing the "test" account isn't an essential step to making this solution work?

In my situation it's about simply trying to open the files from the desktop and trying to delete them (they won't go in the trash can when it's happening) and not dragging and dropping (haven't tried that, although I image that wouldn't work either).
Click to expand...
Hi

I just got home from work and everything still works normally. I believe it is the process of "adding" and configuring a new user account that resolves or mitigates the issue. I will deep dive into the issue over the weekend when I have more time and see if I can come up with a better solution.

Until then, try following what worked for me. You have nothing to lose. :)

Good luck
-LB
 
labuss said:
Hi

I just got home from work and everything still works normally. I believe it is the process of "adding" and configuring a new user account that resolves or mitigates the issue. I will deep dive into the issue over the weekend when I have more time and see if I can come up with a better solution.

Until then, try following what worked for me. You have nothing to lose. :)

Good luck
-LB
Click to expand...


Thank you very much, I may try it this evening.
 
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