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How to restore a folder that has turned into a package in OS X

May 6, 2009 by Ross McKillop 

Earlier this week I accidentally copied something to my Desktop that caused the Desktop itself to no longer be recognized by OS X as a folder. It turned into a “package” instead. All of the icons on my Desktop disappeared and the link to my Desktop from the Finder’s sidebar no longer worked. Here’s how I fixed the problem.

  1. The first action that got my attention was when I clicked the Desktop link from the PLACES section of the Finder sidebar, and got the error There is no default application to open the specified document “Desktop”.

    2. os x error message

  2. When I tried to access my Desktop in a different manner, by selecting my home folder and then Desktop from there, the Preview: pane displayed my Desktop “kind” as a package instead of displaying the contents of what should have been a folder. By clicking the More info… button…

    3. an os x package that should be a folder
    click to enlarge

  3. … I was presented with the full information for the Desktop. And sure enough, OS X believed it to be a package, not a a folder. It wanted to know what to open “package” files with (the Open with: menu).

    4. desktop as a package information screen

  4. The solution: download and install File Matey. To install, just open the downloaded zip file, and drag File Matey to your Applications folder. Launch it from there, and click the Later button.

    5. file matey opening window

  5. Right away, File Matey will ask you to select an object to analyze and work on. Navigate to the folder that OS X thinks is a package. For me, I had to go to my home folder and select Desktop that way - selecting Desktop from the left shortcut pane resulted in another error.

    6. select an object for file matey to work with

  6. In the Attributes: menu, the Desktop had the Has Bundle bit option selected. Remove that check. Then click Save.

    7. main file matey window

  7. Restart Finder by opening a Terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal) and enter the command: killall Finder

    8. os x terminal restarting finder

  8. Now Finder and OS X once again recognize the Desktop folder as a folder, instead of a package. The shortcut link in the Finder window once again works, and all of the items displayed on my Desktop re-appeared.

    9. finder displaying desktop contents

  9. That’s it! Hope it helps :)

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Filed Under: General Software, OS X, Tutorials

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Comments

2 Responses to “How to restore a folder that has turned into a package in OS X”

  1. Javier on September 30th, 2009 6:26 pm

    Thank You, it was just what i needed!!!

  2. Jean-Denis Muys on October 29th, 2009 6:14 am

    Except that you haven’t found the cause:

    how and why has that bundle bit been turned on?
    why do you think it won’t happen again?

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