App icons stuck on desktop

[jnewman67]

I have an iMac 2013 (10.15.7) that I did a Time Machine backup / Migration to a new Macbook Air M2. Migration was flawless, but I realized afterwards that were some apps that needed to be removed, so started doing so by moving them to the trash. Everything in the Application and Utilities folders went fine. The issue is with 2 that were on the desktop - Minecraft and MyHarmony. Trying to delete or move them to the trash prompts me for a password, and results in "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items".

I've opened Get Info, checked to make sure neither were Locked (locked and unlocked them to be sure), I've changed the user/group/everyone permissions to and from Read & Write - nothing via the GUI makes them disappear, and all of it looks correct. They were originally Stacked, but I've unstacked them and disabled Stacking.

I have resorted to scorched earth to try to delete these icons (which are actually directories in the Desktop folder for the user). I have gone to terminal, switched to SU, changed permissions to 777 (and other variations), changed ownership to <user>:staff and tried root:wheel, I have checked for and removed ACLs that were attached to them (group:everyone deny delete), "rm -rf" yields a permission issue - nothing works. I was able to to delete the contents of the folders, and the icons on the desktop have gone to a plain white icon with a slash through them (which I assume means I wiped out the extended info that dictates the icon info), but the remaining main folders will not delete.

To make sure I wasn't bumping into Ventura-specific issues, I went back to the original iMac, and did all of the above as well. I even booted the machine to a bootable 10.13 installer, used Disk Utility to unmount and repair both the main and data volumes - there were complaints but both volumes finish successfully. Running repair on both again had the same effect, but the files still were unremovable - though I did not try while booted to the installer media.

Another interesting tidbit is that they can't be moved around on the desktop either - they snap back to their original location if you try. And neither application is listed in the startup/login items that start up when the user logs in either, so I don't think they are locked up due to a process running somewhere (there's nothing under those folders to run anyway).

Anyone have any thoughts on how to remove these icons? I'm a Windows / Mac / Linux guy, and I've never seen a folder this difficult to delete.

Thanks for any suggestions - hopefully one simple one from someone will fix it

Edit: for typos

 

[pm-r]

another interesting tidbit is that they can't be moved around on the desktop either - they snap back to their original location if you try.

In your Finder, in your View (menu) > Sort by, what is the sort order set to???
It sounds like you want "None" as the selected option.

I don't have a simple suggestion for the rest of your problems... And I don't do OS Ventura. Sorry...



- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

I have an iMac 2013 (10.15.7) that I did a Time Machine backup / Migration to a new Macbook Air M2. Migration was flawless, but I realized afterwards that were some apps that needed to be removed, so started doing so by moving them to the trash. Everything in the Application and Utilities folders went fine. The issue is with 2 that were on the desktop - Minecraft and MyHarmony. Trying to delete or move them to the trash prompts me for a password, and results in "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items".

I've opened Get Info, checked to make sure neither were Locked (locked and unlocked them to be sure), I've changed the user/group/everyone permissions to and from Read & Write - nothing via the GUI makes them disappear, and all of it looks correct. They were originally Stacked, but I've unstacked them and disabled Stacking.

I have resorted to scorched earth to try to delete these icons (which are actually directories in the Desktop folder for the user). I have gone to terminal, switched to SU, changed permissions to 777 (and other variations), changed ownership to <user>:staff and tried root:wheel, I have checked for and removed ACLs that were attached to them (group:everyone deny delete), "rm -rf" yields a permission issue - nothing works. I was able to to delete the contents of the folders, and the icons on the desktop have gone to a plain white icon with a slash through them (which I assume means I wiped out the extended info that dictates the icon info), but the remaining main folders will not delete.

To make sure I wasn't bumping into Ventura-specific issues, I went back to the original iMac, and did all of the above as well. I even booted the machine to a bootable 10.13 installer, used Disk Utility to unmount and repair both the main and data volumes - there were complaints but both volumes finish successfully. Running repair on both again had the same effect, but the files still were unremovable - though I did not try while booted to the installer media.

Another interesting tidbit is that they can't be moved around on the desktop either - they snap back to their original location if you try. And neither application is listed in the startup/login items that start up when the user logs in either, so I don't think they are locked up due to a process running somewhere (there's nothing under those folders to run anyway).

Anyone have any thoughts on how to remove these icons? I'm a Windows / Mac / Linux guy, and I've never seen a folder this difficult to delete.

Thanks for any suggestions - hopefully one simple one from someone will fix it

Edit: for typos

Could it be that they were installed for ALL users? And could it be that they have an uninstaller to remove them? Either of those could cause the symptoms you see. Also, are your sure the actual applications are on the Desktop? Or are they just links to where the applications were? It's unusual to have applications actually installed to the Desktop.

----TL/DR detail---
There are two folders where applications normally are stored. One is at the root of the drive, in /Applications. In that folder are the default system applications, plus applications that are installed for ALL users.

The second location is /Users/<<username>>/Applications, where application a user installs are stored, unless they are installed for ALL users. Those applications can be deleted easily, by the user in whose User folder they appear.

/Applications is on the Macintosh HD volume, is sealed and locked by the OS and is unchangeable by a user. /User/<<username>>/Applications is owned by "username" and things there can be changed/deleted by the "username" account.

Also, it may be that these applications have been moved to the cloud. In Ventura, open Settings, then click on your name at the top, then "iCloud Drive." Now click on the "Options" button beside "Apps syncing...." and make see if the item for "Desktop & Documents Folders" is checked. If it is, what you see on the Desktop is actually stored in iCloud, along with everything in your "Documents" folder. It is a longshot, but if these two apps actually ARE installed to the Desktop, and if that item is checked, they have most likely been moved to iCloud and only a token left behind on your local machine. If it is checked, let us know and we can tell you how to back out of that. Just un-checking can have unplanned consequences, so let us know before you un-check the option.

 

[jnewman67]

thanks for the responses.

as mentioned, these are folders that are located in the /Users/<user>/Desktop folder - they aren't links to anywhere else (used "ls -l" to verify that) and the aren't located in either of the Application folders.

Not sure about the iCloud sync - I'll look into that.

as for the desktop sorting - I'll check that as well, but as they are both in odd locations on the desktop, and there's NOTHING else on the desktop, doesn't seem relevant, but I'll check.

 

[pm-r]

as for the desktop sorting - I'll check that as well, but as they are both in odd locations on the desktop, and there's NOTHING else on the desktop, doesn't seem relevant, but I'll check.

That does make sense now that you mentioned it.

You would probably agree with David Pogue's comment about Mac OS X and it's file permissions shortly after it was released regarding permissions where he said:

Take permissions for example...
And take them as far as you can throw them

I still chuckle and often agree over that one...



- Patrick
=======