MOTUnation.com

I don't know what happened, but as of today I can no longer save any file to my desktop. Somehow my file hierarchy no longer shows the desktop. I can see the Desktop folder, but when I open that, it just appears blank.

I also cannot attach a file that is on my desktop to an email...same thing, when I go to choose the location of the file I want to attach, I can see the desktop folder icon, but I click on that and there is nothing inside it.

Anyone have any ideas? Greatly appreciated.

Googled and checked Apple Discussions but don't see anyone with that exact issue.

You might want to run this app:

https://etrecheck.com

It's Apple approved (I initially got the link from Apple Discussions). It might not help, but it might.

I'd set up a new test user (or if you have another user account on the machine) and try logging into that account to see if the problem persists. At least, that would be my first two steps.

I have had that happen now and then from the application I develop, and it freaks me out of course as it's a "show stopper" if reproducible. But then it goes away.

I think maybe sometimes another app that is open, manages to put a "lock" on the Desktop. As the problem has never persisted for me, it hasn't happened for long enough that I have found a solution.

I found a few links with similar symptoms but they seem to be related to HP scanners for some odd reason.

One of my computers does this sometimes.

When you hit Force Quit, does the computer see the Finder at all? If it reads "not responding", force quiting and manually relaunching helps sometimes.

I resolved the problem. Pilot error.

When you go to save something, OR when
you want to attach a file to an email or upload
a file to something like Dropbox, you go to
“Choose” and then you are presented with
a hierarchy of your Mac. For example, when
attaching a file to an email, your browser
prompts you to choose the file, and you then
see a sidebar on the left or right showing your
drive icons AND the desktop..but if you have
the view set to “Favorites” like I did, all you
see are icons for your most frequently used
drives. You wont see the desktop at all.

I changed the view to “All” and the desktop
showed once again.

David Polich wrote:...if you have
the view set to “Favorites” like I did, all you
see are icons for your most frequently used
drives. You wont see the desktop at all.

I changed the view to “All” and the desktop
showed once again.

Which view filter are you referring to, the sidebar in the Finder? I thought you couldn't even see the desktop at all, which is apparently what the HP scanners cause.