My Mac desktop is locked. I can't put files in it!?

Question

when I try to move something to the desktop, a cross apears and says the "desktop folder cant be modified" help!

Answer 1

Hello gbmacsims,

I've never heard of this happening, but maybe you can try this. Double-click on your Macintosh HD icon so that it opens up the Finder. Depending upon what version of the Mac OS X that you have on your computer, you should have your list of quick links in the sidebar, located on the left side of the Finder Window.

Single-click on the Desktop icon. Now use the keyboard and hit the command key (you know, the Apple key, or the one with the cloverleaf design on it) plus the "I" key, or you could go up to the File > Get Info menu command.

This will bring up the little Information window up at the top left. It has all of the information about this file or folder. In the General section, there is a check box called Locked. If that's checked, uncheck it.

Now down on the bottom is a Ownership & Permissions: section. It should have it down as You Can "Read & Write". Below that, under the Details, it should have your name on there in the owner section, mine has my name with a padlock that is locked. So if there's somebody else's name on their and padlocked you may not have permission to change that, or you would have to put in your Administrative password in to change it.

You can also go to the Disk Utility program that is located inside of your Utilities Folder that's in your Applications folder. Disk Utility has a function for repairing permissions. Since the Mac OS has gone Unix, this is the one thing that happens occasionally. If there is any problems with your Macintosh, you may need to simply repair permissions. Many people do this function pretty regularly, especially after loading OS or security upgrades.

I hope that this stuff works OK for you. Best of luck to you.

--Rick