Earlier today my M1 Mac Mini stopped responding. I had to manually shut it down and then restart it. After the restart the three desktop icons I have for the Mac’s SSD, The TimeMachine SSD and a Flash Drive I use for GetBackUp Pro were aligned horizontally (not vertically).
ScreenShot 01
If I change the Desktop settings to:
Use Stacks: OFF
Sort By: None
The drive icons resort and sit on top of each other.
ScreenShot 02
I have run the Onyx utility but that has not resolved the issue. I wonder if the is a Plist or something that has become scrambled.
I have searched for several hours to find a solution but can’t find anything that helps. I have tried all the options/permutations when I [control] + [Mouse Click] on the screen.
Just to confirm, after the manual shutdown and restart, have you done a controlled shutdown and restart? I’ve found that sometimes, ‘fixes’ things.
And you you’ve tried all of the contextual menu options, including “Sort By → Snap to Grid”, correct?
If all else fails, you might want to try DIM (Desktop Icons Manager) which is a third-party utility that can help align icons. I use it and find it useful, especially for changing monitor configurations.
Yes I have tried all the options you mentioned in your first two paragraphs - but nothing worked.
I have just downloaded DIM and tried it but it doesn’t seem to do anything. I can get DIM to hide the icons but I can’t move the icons to a new (vertical) position to have DIM remember the new position.
Do you have any thoughts about how I get DIM to do that?
I did not realize that you cannot move the icons to the new (vertical) position to have DIM then memorize and reposition them when needed. You are correct that in this case, DIM does not help.
I have tried editing the Finder plist file and changing the icon positions. When I re-booted the changes were not applied, the icons were in a horizontal row.
So, I am giving up (it’s not a major issue). Instead I have removed all the icons from the Desktop.
I only needed “Macintosh HD” - I like two-pane file managers and I used the “Macintosh HD” icon to open a second instance of Finder. I can achieve the same by using [command]+[n]. I can also get a proper two-pane file manager like Forklift and just use it (probably the most efficient option).
