The Problem
View Options for the Computer window (the one that displays mounted drives and servers, that annoying Network icon too) do not stick. You set the icon size / tell the Finder to arrange icons by Name, but even if you get them to stick right now, they reset to default every time you log out.
The Reason
Relevant keys do not exist in the Finder's preference file, hence there is nowhere for said options to be stored.
The Solution
First, you must be able to quit the Finder. The easiest way to do this is to use
TinkerTool to add a "Quit" item to the Finder menu. If you don't quit the Finder
before editing its preference file, things are liable to go awry.
If you have the Developer Tools installed:
1 - Quit the Finder
2 - Open ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist in Property List Editor (/Developer/Applications)
3 - Expand Root
4 - Expand and select ComputerOptions
5 - Click New Child
- Enter its name as ComputerIconViewArrangeBy
- Its Class as String
- Its Value as dnam
6 - Whilst this new child is selected, click New Sibling
- Enter its name as ComputerIconViewIconSize
- Its Class as Number
- Its Value as 48
7 - Save and close the file
8 - Open the Finder (by clicking its icon in the Dock)
If you don't have the Developer Tools installed / want to use a plain text editor instead:
1 - Quit the Finder
2 - Open ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist in your text editor of choice (I'd use BBEdit, but TextEdit should work fine)
3 - Search for ComputerOptions
4 - Add the following two keys beneath the ComputerBackgroundType key:
Code:
<key>ComputerIconViewArrangeBy</key>
<string>dnam</string>
<key>ComputerIconViewIconSize</key>
<integer>48</integer>
7 - Save and close the file
8 - Open the Finder (by clicking its icon in the Dock)
Notes
Icon size is self-explanatory; simply choose a size in pixels. 48px is the default size in Mac OS X 10.2.x, the one I find most easy to use.
The ways of arranging icons have slightly more obscure codes. Here's what they are and what they mean:
Code:
dnam = Arrange by Name
modd = Arrange by Date Modified
ascd = Arrange by Date Created
phys = Arrange by Size
kind = Arrange by Kind
There are some limitations of using this method to control the Computer window, the most notable of which is that changing the View Options using the appropriate palette (Command-J in the Finder) does not work; your preferences will not stick. At least not all of them; Text size, aka ComputerIconViewTextSize in the preference file, does stick. Icon size and arrange order do not. Showing item info does not stick, whilst the pointless (in this instance) Show icon preview does. Background color does stick, label position does not. And I have no idea why any of this is the case.
I hope this helps those of you who have been having this problem. I didn't suffer it up through 10.2.2, but did upon a clean install of 10.2.4, hence this work around. And I might as well plug my website whilst I'm here;
www.megasad.com.
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