To answer your question, is there a way to change the sidebar to permanently turn it off? Yes, absolutely, but there is no “checkbox” to do so. Setting the top most parent folder to have the sidebar turned off, should make all other windows spawned from it have no sidebar.

I have had my sidebar off since I updated installed 10.6 and it has remained that way for the most part. Sometimes I want to see the sidebar so I turn it on.

However, I also am aware that is not the answer you are looking for, as it will not solve your problem. This is why previously, I asked so many questions. Answers to those questions will be the only way I know to solve the problem you are experiencing.

Something, either Disk Utility, a maintenance app, application, or other tool is modifying, deleting, or otherwise altering the .DS_Store file which holds the preference to define the way a window is opened.

The only method I can think of to solve this would be to run a command that recursively goes to every folder on your hard drive, and sets the executable bit on the .DS_Store file to off. For folders that you have never visited, there will be no .DS_Store file, so a template one would have to be put in place, also with no execute rights.

That is a little heavy handed, and any future changes to your window probably would not stick, you have essentially locked the windows settings. I think it would be easier to find out what it is that is changing the value of your .DS_Store files, and either stop using that tool/app, or work with the developer/report a bug.

This is usually caused by the user making changes to permissions, or an application that is made poorly changing permissions to your files.

If you watch the log window in the repair permissions area, what files are being noted as having incorrect permissions? My goal would be to find out what is changing those permissions. Once you do that, you can file a bug report with the developer of that applications, or stop using that applications.

Repair permissions is not some form of routine maintenance that should be done on any type of schedule. It is more something that should be reserved for when you are having problems. Even then, it may not be the best way. Repair permissions can only even alter files that have a receipt that instructs Repair Permissions as to what the permissions should be. Not all files and folders have a receipt, perhaps 5% of your files do.

The state of the sidebar is controlled by an invisible file stored in the folder itself named .DS_Store. You can’t see this file, because it’s name begins with a dot. I suspect that when you repair permissions, that .DS_Store file is being altered.

It is also possible it is coincidental, and that some other application or utility is modifying the .DS_Store file. There are several utilities that have been pegged as maintenance tools, which will clean out log files, repair permissions, hide files, show files, and make other alterations to the system. Most of these routines are not needed, and can cause more harm than good. Are you running any of these applications as part of your maintenance routine?

What happens that causes you to use Repair Permissions?

Look for this panel in the Finder Preferences. I bet you just need to check off the box next to your computer name.

is there any way I can get it back?

Thanks,

Emily

I believe what has happened is you have clicked the small “chicklet” in the upper right corner of a Finder window in Mac OS X. If you click it once more, it will expand out the left sidebar that lists your folders, and the quick search options.

Here is a quick video I made that shows you the behavior in action, and what it looks like before, as well as after.

These are hard problems to troubleshoot. If you have a spare mac and they both have firewire, you can boot them into what is called FireWire Target Mode, which will allow you to get your data back.

Aside from that, if you are not a more advanced user, you are going to be stuck with backing up your data, and reformatting, then reinstalling. This is a relatively simple process.

Insert the DVD that came with your Mac, restart, and hold down the “C” key, this will launch you into the Mac OS X installer. From there, select from the menu’s disk utility. In disk utility, you can make a backup image of your main drive to a secondary backup device as a precaution.

Once that is done, quit Disk Utility, and run the normal archive and install, and you should be back up and running.

There is probably a very simple way to solve this without going through all this, though without having hands on access to the machine, it will be very hard to diagnose and get you in going in the right direction.

Sorry I could not be of more help.

If you login to the her account, can you navigate to your user folder, and open any of the folders, such as Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Movies etc?

If you can, you have a permissions problem with your account. First I would try running repair permissions from Disk Utility. If that does not solve it, You will have to either set the permissions correctly to your account, or create a new admin account, and migrate your data over.

The permissions of every folder in your home folder, if you click once on the folder, and press command-I should be set to
You: Read/Write
everyone: No Access

If not, you will have to select each folder, and set the permissions correctly, and also set the “Apply to Enclosed Items” from the “Gear” icon.

Anyways, how do I disable this feature for multi users. I don’t care if they have the function on their account, but i certainly want my privacy for my own account.

It’s like having a peep hole in your bathroom, you can’t take a sh*t without any privacy!

Thanks again for all your help.

@Bob, yes, ln -s (symbolic link) is going to do the same, in OS X territory, they are nearly identical to a alias, sans a resource fork or two I suppose.

Look into hard links, read up on them closely, as they are an entirely new ball of wax, one that is treated different on OS X, allowing hard links to point to directories, which is not allowed on most OS’s. This is done for the core concept of how Time Machine works to allow you semi rotational backups.

Time Machine fails a little as 1 byte in a 100MB file still means moving 100MB – 1byte of data, but the theory is still the same.

A hard link should be seen as a totally independent file, solving your trouble, but be careful, learn what the columns in `ls` mean, so you know how many links there are to a source file.

This is well beyond the scope of this site Just do your research, and you should be fine.

What are the ways to work around this – I don’t have a problem using the Terminal. If it’s too complicated to explain, can you point me to a URL that discusses the issue?

Thanks very much for your help!

An even worse explanation, but to illustrate a point… Say a file/folder sits on disc at position 48, and an alias points to the file/folder at position 48. If you rename the alias, it will still point to the file at position 48.

Assume position 48 is your Downloads folder. When you put the alias in your sidebar, it is resolved back to position 48, which then uncovers the real file/folder name.

At that point, the sidebar choses to use the destination file/folder name, and not that of the alias.

There may be a few ways to work around this that are a tad complicated and would need jumping into the terminal.

To answer your question, it is not the Downloads folder specifically, it is that the sidebar will resolve any alias back to the source, and use that name.

From what I understand, while confusing, this is expected behavior.

The reason I wanted to do this was to create several similar names in the list of Places for the Downloads folders of several different computers.

What is so special about the name “Downloads” and why do aliases to it get treated so weirdly?

Thanks…

-Bob

I then unmonted the remote volume, clicked on the folder I made in the sidebar, and it mounted up the volume, taking me right to the contents of the remote share.

This also survived a reboot as well.

Can you explain in more detail just what it is that is not working for you, and what it is that the specific problem is?

I think maybe you are losing the icon in your sidebar, when the remote share goes away. If that is the case, I can not replicate it. I could suggest you mount the remote share, go into your accounts area of system preferences, and add the remote share as a login item. This will mount the remote share every time you login. With it mounted, it will always be there, and your sidebar links should always work.

You could also try using the actual folder to drag into your sidebar, and not an alias of a folder, perhaps that is the issue.

Comment by chris 08.21.08 @ 3:37
Comment by Gary 08.24.08 @ 9:22 am