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Sonoma doesn't remember external drive icon positions on desktop

E

edjusted

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
112
39
Prior to Sonoma, Finder always remembered my last drive icon positions on the desktop. I'm on a MacBook.

It didn't matter if I had an external monitor connected, no monitors, or even two monitors...Finder would remember the last saved icon positions on reboot.

With Sonoma, it *never* remembers their positions. *Most* of my other documents, folders, etc., *are* still in the same position as before, even even that can be iffy sometimes if I have icons on a 2nd monitor.

Is anyone else having these problems? Is there a fix/workaround?
 
Same issue here, started after update to Sonoma, SMB drives icon location not remembered after reboot. No issues with ventura and previous OS.
 
External drive ICONs in Sonoma change position after waking or restarting on my Mac Mini i7 2018 and Mac Mini M2 2023. Apple Support feigned ignorance on the bug.
 
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I had a MacBook Pro 14" "go dead" on me during a software update last week.
It was running Monterey.

I took it to the local Apple Store genius bar.
They revived it, BUT... it came back to me with Sonoma on it.

I wasn't happy about that, but, well, ok... a Mac that boots (even if it's Sonoma) is better than one that just stays "dark" when you try to power it on.

But I, too, noticed this quirk about the position of the internal drive icon on the desktop.

I found that (after restoring my data using setup assistant) each time I rebooted, the internal drive icon got "moved". I normally keep it in the upper-right-hand corner, but it would move "downward and out" after rebooting.

How to fix this?

I found a workaround, sounds strange, but it seems to work:
I moved icons that were "close to it" (close to the upper-right-hand corner) "away" a little bit.
In other words, move them away from the icon for the internal drive.

NOW the drive icon stays pretty much where I want it.

I have no explanation as to WHY this works, but again... seems to do it, for me.

Could other users try this, and report back with your findings?
 
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unfortunately this didn't work on my mini m1 - hdmi out to a 55" 4k tv/monitor
sonoma introduced stage manager - it (on or off) seems to interfere with ext hd icon placement...
 
I managed to get things more under control by decreasing the Grid Spacing in Finder view options. Even though I don't use any of the automatic snap-to-grid features, I guess something in Sonoma *is*.
 
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I use Desktop Icon Manager (by Gregory Parker - www.parker9.com) to memorise my drive icons' manual positions where I like to keep them all grouped (top right on a second monitor). After booting into Sonoma, DIM can automatically launch if added to System Settings/General/Login Items and move your drive icons to your desired positions.

The app can also auto-quit after executing 'Automatically Restore Icon Positions'. The default quit time is 5 seconds but you can set this to another interval with an undocumented fix. In Terminal, type: defaults write com.parker9.DIM-4 quitCount x (where 'x' is any integer multiplied by 0.2 seconds eg. 5 = 1 sec / 20 = 5 sec. You can even set it to zero but this gives you little time to add or remove the 'tick' in front of 'and then Quit', which you need to quickly untick if you wish to again manually move icons and (re-)Memorize their new positions.
 
Last edited:
edjusted said:
I managed to get things more under control by decreasing the Grid Spacing in Finder view options. Even though I don't use any of the automatic snap-to-grid features, I guess something in Sonoma *is*.
Click to expand...
I just recently upgraded from Ventura to Sonoma 14.4 and have the same problem with my internal and external disk icons always moving after Mac wakes from sleep or is restarted.
I tried your suggestion several times, decreasing the Grid Spacing more and more, but it did not resolve the issue.
Does anybody else have any other suggestion that I could try?
This is so annoying.
I had reported it to Apple support, was told it's a known issue, but they don't have a solution yet. It might get fixed in an OS update, but the rep could not tell me for sure.
 
The decrease-the-Grid-Spacing trick worked for me. Disk icons now remain where I place them.
 
Can you tell me at what bar you are from the left? I set mine now to the third bar from the left, but it still moved my drive icons around.
But now they are at a slightly different place, and the also differently arranged.
The strange thing is, I have 3 external disk, each having 2 volumes. I keep the icons of each volume next to each other on the top right corner. The internal disk is at the right "row" of disks.
After the Mac wakes again, the left row of external disks remains in place, but the right row moves to other places.
 
Thanks for your information.
I tried the same, even tried additional icon sizes and grid spacing, but so far none of it has solved my issue.
I really hope that Apple is finally providing a fix.
I probably open another ticket with them, just that they know this is very annoying and needs to be fixed.
 
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