[mollywood]

when i try to change my desktop background it wont let me. it simply stays that ugly blue background thats default,and also whenever i restart my computer, the files on my desktop are scatterered everywhere, and also when i go into my picture files or documents, they are also piled ontop of eachother, its annoying to constantly "show view options" and then keep arranging them by name


help me!

[peeb]

How are you trying to change the background?
You know about the System Preferences pane?

[mfbernstein]

Try creating a new user account, and see if the problem happens there too. Likely there's a corrupt preference file somewhere (or possibly a permissions problem) causing this.

[Sherman Homan]

You have a permissions problem that is not letting your preferences 'stick'. What version OS are you running.

[mollywood]

mac os x , i just created a second account and its letting me change the background, now what do i do about my main account?

[Sherman Homan]

Making a new user account isn't going to fix it. You have an incorrect permissions problem. Run Disk Utility, repair Disk Permissions.

[mollywood]

i know its not going to fix it , and thanks!

[mollywood]

ok so i clicked on 'repair disk permissions' and it said it was completed, so i restarted my mac, and everything was still the same? did i do it right?

[Sherman Homan]

Hmmmmm..... Plan B.
Any chance that you renamed your home directory?
When you created your real user account, not the new test account, you gave it a name: "molly". You can change that name anytime you want, no problem. The computer also created a short name which is a UNIX convention that you absolutely should not change. If the short name was created as "mollywood" and you wanted to change it, you can go into your User folder, and change it there. This is bad. It is a gaping hole in the Mac interface, when you change the short name bad things happen.

[mfbernstein]

It may be easier to just copy your data over from the old account into the new one. Copy over a bit at a time though, to make sure the problem doesn't reappear.

[mollywood]

i havent changed my short name, the only way i know how is to go into system preferences and do it there, but I cant, it wont let me, so i havent changed it , my name is molly my short name is molly.

how would i copy my data from the old account into the new one? (im a bit new to macs)

[Sherman Homan]

You won't be able to copy your user info into another user account. If you open your Users folder you will see your account with the house icon and the new account. Double click the new account, and you will see all those Do Not Enter signs!
This will work, but take your time with it, read it through:
Mac OS X: How to change user short name or home directory name
Good luck!

[mollywood]

thank you!
but im pretty sure i havent changed my short name !

so in that link is there a way to transfer my files to my new "molly2" account?