getting rid of .DS_STORE file on desktop?

adscan · 15 May 2010 at 08:46

i have a new MacBook and the above file keeps appearing on the desktop, every time i delete it it comes back again.
i have recently been using an external HD on the MB. could this be causing it?

how do i get rid of the file?

Cobertizo · 15 May 2010 at 11:00

Those files are useful/required, so I would just leave those files on your MacBook as they are. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.DS_Store for an overview. If you want to get rid of then from an external drive, then there are utilities/scripts that will do it. And you can change a parameter to stop OS X creating the files on a mounted network volume.

Feek · 15 May 2010 at 11:03

Open a terminal window and type the following (case sensitive):

Code:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles OFF

killall Finder

You've set it to show hidden files somehow, this will correct that.

adscan · 16 May 2010 at 22:25

Feek said:
Open a terminal window and type the following (case sensitive):

Code:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles OFF killall Finder

You've set it to show hidden files somehow, this will correct
that.

how do i hide these files from view?

Feek · 16 May 2010 at 22:37

Open a terminal window and type the following (case sensitive):

Code:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles OFF

killall Finder

adscan · 21 May 2010 at 09:35

i managed to get them hidden but they keep coming back. is there a setting somewhere?

Feek · 21 May 2010 at 09:59

You really shouldn't remove them, they're used by the OS. If they're hidden then I don't see the problem. Have a look at the link Cobertizo posted.

adscan · 22 May 2010 at 20:10

i am not geting rid of them, just dont want to see them. every time i hide them they keep coming back.

Berserker · 22 May 2010 at 20:30

Cobertizo said:
And you can change a parameter to stop OS X creating the files on a mounted network volume.

This interests me. How? I don't care about what OS X does on its own volumes, but I'd rather it didn't do it everywhere else. I regularly have to remove them from my (Linux) server.

Feek · 22 May 2010 at 20:41

Try this, Mark.

Code:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

adscan, have you done the terminal commands posted previously and they're still appearing?

adscan · 24 May 2010 at 08:16

Feek said:
Try this, Mark.

Code:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

adscan, have you done the terminal commands posted previously and they're still appearing?

yes done those commands. work fine and then a few days later they appear again.
very annoying.

picnic · 24 May 2010 at 08:28

Ouch, that seems like Apple's answer to RegEdit

So where's the recommended reading to go learn about these intuitive commands?