Finder windows changing size and location upon closing and reopening

Mac OS X's placement of windows is determined by the .DS_Store files that are located within each folder in the system. When users change window size and location, placement information is stored in the .DS_Store file that is in the current folder being resized. This can be confusing to some users, because, in most view modes, the same window is used to show the contents of the opened folders. As such, if a user changes the size of a window with the "Desktop" being viewed, new windows may be in different locations because they are referencing a different .DS_Store file. Despite this default behavior, users may encounter bizarre window sizing behavior.

Apple Discussions poster Kevin Liu writes:

"I find that randomly, the Finder windows default to the tiny size in the center of the display. This happens randomly and I haven't been able to see a pattern."

This issue is most likely caused by the .DS_Store file in a specific folder becoming either inaccessible or corrupt. To check for accessibility, open the terminal and type "ls -la " (including the space after "-la"). Next, drag the folder that displays the odd window behavior into the Terminal window to enter its full path to the terminal so the command looks like "ls -la /path/to/folder". Next, press enter to execute the command and the first set of characters next to the line that ends with ".DS_Store" should be "-rw-r--r--@". This indicates the file is writable and readable by the owner, and only readable by everyone else. If the file does not have these permissions, then change them with the following command:

• sudo chmod u=rw,go=r /path/to/folder/.DS_Store

Alternatively, users should be able to delete the problematic .DS_Store file and have the Finder recreate it. To do this, enter the following command into the terminal:

• sudo rm /path/to/folder/.DS_Store

(In this command the /path/to/folder/ is the same as previously found when users dragged the folder to the Terminal window.)

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