MacBook Air Desktop Gets Rearranged

Question

MacBook Air Desktop Gets Rearranged

Hi,

I have a MacBook Air with M1 chip and MacOS Monterey v12.6.1.

Periodically after a restart my desktop is completely different. Icons I've arranged in folders are now empty and the icons are all over the place. The folders they were in are still there but they're empty. This is the 3rd time this has happened and its a real pain to put everything back as it was. Is there any way to A) fix this and b) prevent that from happening?

Thanks!

MacBook Air Apple Silicon

Posted on Nov 9, 2022 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 11, 2022 1:18 PM in response to SenseAmidstMadness

Hello SenseAmidstMadness,

Thanks for your post to Apple Support Communities. This is an interesting issue and one we'd like to work on with you. We have some questions to help narrow down what's going on.

Do you recall any changes to your system before noticing the change with your desktop icons?
Are the moved icons only files or are they app shortcuts as well?
Does there seem to be a pattern to what changes? Ex. specific file types
Are you logged in to a Guest user profile at any time?
How often would you say this occurs?

We have some suggestions on testing, but it will depend upon when you think the issue will trigger. We'd first recommend seeing if this occurs while you are booted to safe mode.

How to use safe mode on your Mac

We look forward to hearing back from you.

Take care.

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Answer 2

Nov 15, 2022 4:56 PM in response to Soosie_J215

Hi -

1) The only changes I've made have been the MacOS updates. I haven't installed any new programs but there have been a few updates there.

2) It's only app icons. They get removed from folders and seemingly placed at random.

3) No, no discernable pattern. Everything gets taken out of their folders and moved around.

4) I never log on as guest, inly under my Admin account.

3) This is the third time it's happened in about a year.

Booting in Safe Mode puts things back as they were. No idea why that worked but thanks!

Thanks!

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MacBook Air Desktop Gets Rearranged

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