OSX High Sierra - Files and Folders show as empty/invisible in Finder, but are still there
I am running the latest version of High Sierra.
Both my user Library/Application Support and main Library/Application Support are completely empty when opened in Finder (see screenshot).
I was asked to delete a configuration file for an app I use which was misbehaving (a security-related app–a VPN app), and discovered that I cannot view files in these directories.
Yet, when I reinstalled the app, its configuration was still in place, meaning most likely that those folders DO still have their contents (which I have seen before) but they are being hidden from me.
Also I might add two things:
1) When this started happening two days ago, not only was that one folder empty in Finder (but not in Terminal), but since then, NO new files/folders created show up in Finder, and
2) If I kill Finder, and restart it, some of the new files show up. But it all started with that one folder; other pre-existing files and folders were not invisible-ized.
How can I fix this, and is it a hack? I am trying to run a VPN, after all.
The results of running cd ~/Library and `\ls -alt', as requested (and run as root, just for the sake of it).
root:/Users/myuser/Library |#\ls -alt
total 32
drwx------+ 561 myuser staff 17952 Nov 19 00:00 Preferences
drwxr-xr-x 40 myuser staff 1280 Nov 18 23:59 Safari
drwx------@ 43 myuser staff 1376 Nov 18 23:59 Cookies
drwxr-xr-x 30 myuser staff 960 Nov 18 23:58 SyncedPreferences
drwx------+ 7 myuser staff 224 Nov 18 23:51 Spelling
drwxr-xr-x 11 myuser staff 352 Nov 18 23:45 Assistant
drwx------+ 119 myuser staff 3808 Nov 18 23:40 Application Support
drwxr-xr-x 13 myuser staff 416 Nov 18 23:40 Keychains
drwx------+ 103 myuser staff 3296 Nov 18 23:39 Caches
drwxr-xr-x 5 myuser staff 160 Nov 18 23:34 Parallels
drwx------@ 49 myuser staff 1568 Nov 18 23:34 Saved Application State
drwxr-xr-x 10 myuser staff 320 Nov 18 00:14 Passes
drwxr-xr-x@ 66 myuser staff 2112 Nov 17 15:20 Mobile Documents
drwxr-xr-x@ 21 myuser staff 672 Nov 15 23:58 Suggestions
drwxr-xr-x 4 myuser staff 128 Nov 15 17:07 Google
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Nov 14 12:50 CoreFollowUp
drwx------ 10 myuser staff 320 Nov 12 09:51 IdentityServices
drwxr-xr-x 25 myuser staff 800 Nov 12 09:50 Calendars
drwx------+ 122 myuser staff 3904 Nov 12 09:50 Logs
drwxr-xr-x@ 101 myuser staff 3232 Nov 12 09:33 ..
drwxr-xr-x 207 myuser staff 6624 Nov 8 10:01 Application Scripts
drwx------ 239 myuser staff 7648 Nov 8 10:01 Containers
drwx------ 23 myuser staff 736 Nov 8 10:01 Group Containers
drwxr-xr-x 2 myuser staff 64 Nov 7 18:45 PhotoshopCrashes
drwxr-xr-x 6 myuser staff 192 Oct 21 14:56 Keyboard
drwx------ 20 myuser staff 640 Oct 18 22:18 WebKit
drwxrwxrwx 4 myuser staff 128 Oct 15 01:25 Tokyo Dawn Labs
drwx------@ 90 myuser staff 2880 Oct 11 02:09 .
-rw-r--r-- 1 myuser staff 67 Oct 11 02:09 StickiesDatabase
drwx------+ 4 myuser staff 128 Sep 30 02:42 PreferencePanes
-rw-r--r--@ 1 myuser staff 6148 Sep 30 02:42 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Sep 27 15:49 com.apple.internal.ck
drwx------+ 5 myuser staff 160 Sep 27 13:57 Printers
drwx------@ 6 myuser staff 192 Sep 27 03:49 Mail
drwxr-xr-x@ 2 myuser staff 64 Sep 27 03:18 SafariSafeBrowsing
drwxr-xr-x 4 myuser staff 128 Sep 27 01:53 Metadata
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Sep 27 01:50 FileProvider
drwx------ 7 myuser staff 224 Sep 27 01:50 Messages
drwx------ 8 myuser staff 256 Sep 27 01:50 Accounts
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Sep 27 01:50 Family
drwxr-xr-x 24 myuser staff 768 Sep 6 15:40 SafariTechnologyPreview
drwx------ 5 myuser staff 160 Sep 1 19:01 Autosave Information
drwxr-xr-x 4 myuser staff 128 Sep 1 18:56 Scripts
drwx------+ 10 myuser staff 320 Aug 27 04:51 FontCollections
drwx------+ 19 myuser staff 608 Aug 23 22:06 Fonts
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Aug 10 11:44 Dropbox
drwxr-xr-x 9 myuser staff 288 Aug 10 11:44 LaunchAgents
drwxr-xr-x 20 myuser staff 640 Jul 13 13:08 iTunes
drwxr-xr-x 18 myuser staff 576 Jul 10 16:18 LanguageModeling
drwxr-xr-x 2 myuser staff 64 Jul 7 16:46 QuickLook
drwx------ 5 myuser staff 160 Oct 25 2016 Personas
drwxr-xr-x 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 23 2016 PDF Services
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 23 2016 Speech
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 23 2016 Workflows
drwxr-xr-x 5 myuser staff 160 Oct 18 2016 KeyboardServices
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 18 2016 Maps
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 18 2016 CallServices
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 18 2016 Sharing
drwx------+ 3 myuser staff 96 Mar 22 2016 Internet Plug-Ins
drwxr-xr-x 6 myuser staff 192 Mar 13 2016 Address Book Plug-Ins
-rw-r--r-- 1 myuser staff 528 Jan 5 2016 ._bundleInfo
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Dec 26 2015 Polyverse
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Nov 23 2015 HipChat
drwx------ 3 myuser staff 96 Nov 15 2015 Saved Searches
drwxr-xr-x 5 myuser staff 160 Nov 2 2015 PubSub
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Nov 2 2015 CoreData
-rw-r--r-- 1 myuser staff 0 Nov 1 2015 .localized
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Jul 6 2015 A1AUDIO.de
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Jun 6 2015 Frameworks
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Jun 6 2015 Java
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Jun 6 2015 Python
drwx------+ 8 myuser staff 256 Jan 14 2015 Audio
drwxr-xr-x 4 myuser staff 128 Jan 9 2015 Developer
drwx------ 5 myuser staff 160 Nov 7 2014 Social
drwx--x--x 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 30 2014 GameKit
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 29 2014 Twitter
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 29 2014 ColorSync
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Assistants
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 ColorPickers
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Colors
drwx------+ 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 29 2014 Compositions
drwx------+ 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 29 2014 Favorites
drwx------+ 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 29 2014 Input Methods
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Keyboard Layouts
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Screen Savers
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Services
drwx------@ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Sounds
drwx------+ 2 myuser staff 64 Oct 29 2014 Voices
drwx------+ 4 myuser staff 128 Oct 29 2014 iMovie
drwxr-xr-x 3 myuser staff 96 Oct 29 2014 Dictionaries
Solution 1:
There has been a slight change in the command for High Sierra - It uses 'YES' instead of 'true'!
High Sierra:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
Before:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true
Solution 2:
It is a truly annoying bug that will come up again and again. Restart the finder fixes it, but it is past my ability to understand how said bug made its way to released software.