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Desktop icons move after waking from sleep following an update

Desktop icons move around (change place) after waking from sleep, following an update to 27.0.1

2 replies

This one usually has three possible causes, and the order matters:


1. Check the Desktop sorting first. Right-click (Control-click) an empty spot on the Desktop. If Sort By is set to Name, Date, or anything other than None, Finder re-sorts your icons every time it rescans the Desktop, which happens on wake. Set Sort By to None, arrange the icons how you want them, and in Show View Options you can turn on Snap to Grid if you want them held in a tidy grid.


2. If Sort By is already None, the file where Finder stores icon positions is probably damaged, and updates are a common way that happens. In Terminal run: rm ~/Desktop/.DS_Store and then killall Finder. Arrange the icons once more and let it sleep and wake. The positions should now stick, because Finder rebuilt that file cleanly.


3. On a Mac mini there is a third classic cause: if the display wakes up briefly at a lower resolution (this happens a lot over HDMI), the Desktop grid shrinks for a moment and Finder compresses the icons to fit, then they stay moved. If the first two do not fix it, try a different cable or port for the monitor, USB-C or DisplayPort instead of HDMI is usually more reliable here.

Thank You, nr 3 was the problem


/Jens