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How to Fix When I Can't Move Folders or items to Mac Desktop?

For some reason, a "MacBook Air" icon appeared on my desktop this past weekend, and I couldn't remove it. I did a bit of research, and I entered this into the Terminal: defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false" and "killall Finder". Now the MacBook icon is gone from the desktop but so are the folders that I had there. When I try to click and drag them back to the desktop, I am unable to do so. Any ideas to move them away?

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Sherry Song

Sherry Song

Answered on Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Hello, happy to give you my advice. You can try these methods below:

 ( 1 ) Use a powerful tool to move folders or items on your Mac. If your drag-drop is not working, iBoysoft MagicMenu is a good choice to complete the moving process on Mac.

 Download

iBoysoft MagicMenu

Rating:4.8

     

  1. Download and install iBoysoft MagicMenu.
  2. Right-click the items you want to move on the desktop then choose Move To > Desktop.

( 2 ) Restart Mac.

( 3 ) Disable stacks. Open Finder > View > Turn off Use Stacks > Sort By > None.

( 4 ) Change the file's permission. 

( 5 ) Fix drag-drop not working on Mac.

( 6 ) Fix Copy-paste not working on Mac.

Hope you can move them in the end.

 

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