Saving dektop formatting to open with booting; Mojave

[blindlem0n]

On one of my Macs, a mac mini running Mojave, I am usually running 4 open Finder windows. Whenever I boot that machine (which is every few days) I always have to open finder, open new finder window 3 more times and place them on the screen properly before I can start working.
Is there a way to have as the default desktop layout to include those 4 open Finder windows--like in the attached, ie opening all 4 in the places I want them when I boot the machine without any input from me?
Thanks

 

[pm-r]

Is there a way to have as the default desktop layout to include those 4 open Finder windows--like in the attached, ie opening all 4 in the places I want them when I boot the machine without any input from me?
Thanks

Do you not have an option available to enable such a function as this:



Available at Restart.


- Patrick
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[krs]

I'm running Mojave and the option you circled is there to use.

Something Apple decided not to remove in a macOS update

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Is there a way to have as the default desktop layout to include those 4 open Finder windows--like in the attached, ie opening all 4 in the places I want them when I boot the machine without any input from me?

It won't do it automatically, but a window manager will get you there quickly:

Tiles (free)
https://freemacsoft.net/tiles/

Moom ($3)

Magnet – Window manager for Mac

magnet.crowdcafe.com

Also, you may want to look into creating Spaces:

Work in multiple spaces on Mac

On your Mac, if the desktop becomes cluttered with open app windows, use Spaces to organize the windows into additional desktops.

support.apple.com

 

[pm-r]

It won't do it automatically, but a window manager will get you there quickly:

This seems to imply that what I suggested using the Restart option should work automatically as requested:
Use These Two Mac Features to Get Going Quickly after Restarting

Use These Two Mac Features to Get Going Quickly After Restarting

An annoyance of restarting your Mac, or shutting it down entirely, is that after the Mac starts back up, you still have to reopen all your apps and files so you can get back to where you were before. Wouldn’t it be nice if your Mac did this for you? Well, it can, and we’ll explain how in this...

simplymac.com

- PATRICK
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[ferrarr]

This seems to imply that what I suggested using the R king of pool hereestart option should work automatically as requested:
Use These Two Mac Features to Get Going Quickly after Restarting

Use These Two Mac Features to Get Going Quickly After Restarting

An annoyance of restarting your Mac, or shutting it down entirely, is that after the Mac starts back up, you still have to reopen all your apps and files so you can get back to where you were before. Wouldn’t it be nice if your Mac did this for you? Well, it can, and we’ll explain how in this...

simplymac.com

- PATRICK
=======

Patrick, I believe your transcript is broken. ?

 

[pm-r]

Patrick, I believe your transcript is broken. ?

???... Details or translation please Bob.

Oh gee... I just noticed the previous dictation screw up. I assume that's what you were referring to and i shall correct it post haste... i've been trying out the voice in voice chrome extension. It looks like it is rather sensitive, and I missed the goof up.

Now i'm getting the oops and I can't post... I guess i'll try later...

Oops! We ran into some problems.
Oops! We ran into some problems. Please try again later. More error details may be in the browser console.

Someone must be trying a sick joke if they think I can translate what by "browser console" is saying!!!



- Patrick
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[blindlem0n]

I've tried checking the "reopen windows" box.
It sometimes works, but mostly does not work.
What I've seen (and this may be just coincidence as nothing seems reliably reproducible): All with the reopen windows box checked
If I shut down with a network drive open, the finder windows do not reopen--I would not expect the network, requiring a password, to reopen, but the finders don't open either.
If I have the finder windows open to local, not network, files, the finder windows will reopen as desired IF the shutdown is not too long - how long I don't know, but if shut down overnight, they do NOT re-open.
As I said, none of this to 100% reliably reproducible, but mostly it does not work.
Are some apps, like finder.app, immune from reopening?

 

[pm-r]

If I shut down with a network drive open,

I would think that having network drive connected mounted and open would prevent a lot of normal MacOS things from happening.

There is a lot more involved with such situations. I would think that something like AppleScript would have to be invoked and run to do what you want to do.

But maybe some member Network gurus have a better idea and suggestion for you.



- Patrick
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[MacInWin]

I would think that having network drive connected mounted and open would prevent a lot of normal MacOS things from happening.

I do that with two network drives and it doesn't block anything, All I had to do to make it work was to drag and drop the mounted drives into the list of startup items in my Login Options (Sys Prefs/Users & Groups/my account). Now when I boot I get two finder windows, one for each network drive. The rest of the items in my Login then work as do any open windows if I check the box to reopen them.

 

[blindlem0n]

TBC, it would be great if the network drive opened, but that is secondary to the finder windows opening--and they do not. I do not mind opening the network drive as a separate action.
I just tried creating a "space" with 5 open finder windows.
I can create one and it stays around as long as I do not restart or shutdown. When I reboot, it's gone, although one time during a trial it did open fully, another time only one finder window opened, most of the time it's just a blank desktop.
If I go to spaces after a reboot, there are no saved spaces, just the current desktop, ie without the finder windows.
Perhaps noob question: When a space is created, is it saved automatically, or must one click something somewhere to save it? Help tells me that 16 spaces can be created, but it seems in my case only if the machine is not shut down, in which case all previously created spaces are gone?

 

[MacInWin]

It's not so much about the Finder windows as it is the drives. As I said, I have two network drives that I wanted attached at boot/login. So I manually mounted them to the Desktop, then opened System Preferences/Users & Groups, selected my account, clicked on the lock icon to open it up to changes, went to the Login items and dragged/dropped the two drives (actually one is a folder on a Network drive) to the login items. Now when I log in, I get two Finder windows for those two drives. I really don't want the Finder windows, but they show up. So if you do the same with your four folders, you should get four Finder windows open, at least, even if they may not be arranged. Mine just show up, I've not tried to permanently locate them as I really DON'T want them, but you can experiment once you get them to open reliably. Don't count on the "reopen windows" to do this, do what I suggested and the result will be Finder windows on those drives/folders opening up.

 

[blindlem0n]

Thanks for the response...
By "manually mounting them to the desktop," do you mean you opened a finder window, logged into the network, opened the folder you wanted?
Or, opened the network and dragged the networked drive icon you desired to the desktop & then to the login items?
Or something else?
Thanks, MacinWin

 

[MacInWin]

I connected to the network. The networked drives show in the left column of Finder. I selected the one I wanted, it opened in Finder. Then I clicked on the folder I wanted and it opened on the desktop showing a networked drive icon. Here is a screenshot of the icons on the desktop:



Then I opened Sys Prefs, went to the Users & Groups, my account, the Login items and dragged the folder from the desktop to the list and dropped it there. It showed up as an item. Here is a picture:


The two items are "Jake" and "theater." Both are folders on the two NAS devices, so I don't want the entire NAS, just those folders. When I boot, I get a Finder window for each of those items, open to the location. I just close the window because I don't want them to open Finder and the "Hide" option in the Login items pane doesn't seem to work for that (I tried it). So you know, "Jake" is a folder on one WD MyCloud drive that I use for a third backup of pictures and "theater" is my home theater storage on a different WD MyCloud that I then access from the Mini in the theater to view things I download. You can see in the image that those two are identified with Kind as Volume and have a drive icon.

So, for your use, open the folders you want to show, then drag them to that Login list and they should then open in Finder when you log in. You may need to arrange the windows, I don't know how that works. The folders don't need to be on a NAS, they can be in a folder on your internal drive, I think.

 

[blindlem0n]

Thanks, Jake, I'll try it

 

[blindlem0n]

Thanks for your workaround, Jake, that works great, better than I expected. So, when I boot, the windows come up, I get the logon screen for the network, and because of your suggestion I even get the folders I want open.
Exactly what I was seeking.
Many thanks
John

 

[pm-r]

Exactly what I was seeking.
Many thanks
John

Excellent solution.

Don't forget to give Jake a nice Like click.



- Patrick
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