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MacOS - Desktop folder is an alias to a subfolder of Dropbox after using a migration tool.

I am an MSP, and I have an issue with a user that has a Mac and the initial issue this morning was that he could not access his Desktop. The scenario:

M2 Macbook Pro - MacOS 15.5.
This machine was originally set up by using the MacOS Migration tool from his previous Mac (this was done a couple years ago).
This morning he could not access his Desktop, stating that he did not have permissions to the Desktop.
I determined that Desktop was an alias to /Users/<user>/Documents/Dropbox/<previous Macbook name/Desktop.
In that folder I found the permissions for his user was set to Custom. I changed it to Read & Write, and he was able to access his Desktop & files again
In discussion with the user, he confirmed that Dropbox Backup had been used to backup his Desktop, but that was enabled on his previous Mac (which is no longer accessible), not the current one. Note that it does not seem that any other folders (Documents, Downloads, etc.) were enabled for backup, only the Desktop.
Accessing Dropbox Backup...Settings, the only device defined is the previous machine.
And the message there states: To manage these settings, sign in on the same computer you used to start this backup.
The previous machine is no longer accessible.
So if we want to get the files moved from the ../Dropbox...Desktops folder back to the original /Users/<user>/Desktop folder, how can this be done?

Thanks
LThibx

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Megan

Hey @lthibx, let's jump right into this!

Do you wish to move the files entirely out of /Dropbox...Desktops folder back to the original /Users/<user>/Desktop, or keep them in both places?

Provided it's the first one, have you tried copying the content, and then pasting it in the location that you want? If you do this what happens then? Can you try it, and let me know if you get any errors?

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

lthibx

HI Megan,
That's a good question. Since the machine is backed up by two different methods already (Time Machine and another third-party tool), the Dropbox Backup could be deemed unnecessary. We could just leave it as is and have a third backup. Other than the original issue where the Desktop folder & files became inaccessible and I had to reset permissions, leaving them in the Dropbox/Desktop folder is not such and issue.

No, I had not tried copying the files to the original location. But IMO that would not be possible as the Desktop folder is an alias to the Dropbox/Desktop folder, so you would be attempting to copy the files to the same place, and I assume that would product duplicate errors / warnings. I will have to coordinate with the user to try this.

But IF I did want to move the files from the Dropbox/Desktop folder, to Desktop (which would have to be removed as an alias and recreated as a folder). How do you recommend doing so?

But the primary question here is it seems that currently there is no control over the backup settings as it is tied to the previous machine. It there a way to resolve that?

Re-Edited
I forgot to mention...the original issue, whereas the user could not access the Desktop or files within it occurred after he shutdown his Macbook prior to moving to a different office. When he open / started his Macbook again, that is when he got the inaccessible. message.

Thanks

Megan

Hey @lthibx!

As a first step, I'd recommend checking the desktop app's preferences under "Backups", in order to confirm that they don't have an active Backup for the device they're using.

Once this is done, they can follow these steps, in order to revert the folder to its path.

Let me know of the results!

lthibx

Hi Megan,

So working with the user yesterday, he created an archive folder (Desktop-Archive) and placed that under the normal <user>/Documents folder. He moved all non-current files & folders to that archive folder, which helped clean up his Desktop folder. which TMK is still aliased to ./Dropbox/Desktop folder. We didn't address the Backup settings at this time, so we will deal with this in the future if required. Thanks for you help.

Lonnie

Hannah

Hey @lthibx, thanks for keeping us updated on this.

If you need anything else in the future, just give us a shout.

Cheers!