Member Avatar for angeldoc

:sad: please help. I cannot drag anything on my desktop to anywhere! I cannot drag files to the trash, to folders, or drag folders anywhere! I have shut down and restarted, I have checked the disk. what can I do?

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A compact, practical addendum that doesn't repeat earlier suggestions from and .

Because reported that nothing on the Desktop can be dragged and also noted a Norton privacy-control error, the cause is more likely a system‑level input hook or Finder/service problem rather than a single locked file. The checks below separate Finder/input-layer faults from home-folder permission issues and cover steps not yet suggested.

Boot in Safe Mode (it disables third‑party kernel extensions and login items) and test dragging there. If dragging works in Safe Mode, a third‑party utility or login item is intercepting mouse events — inspect Login Items and suspect any antivirus/input utilities. Relaunch Finder quickly via Force Quit (Option-Command-Escape → Finder → Relaunch) to rule out a transient Finder hang.

Check Desktop ownership and immutable flags from Terminal (run only if comfortable and after backing up important files). The commands below inspect flags and clear a common “user immutable” state; only use the chown line if files show as owned by root or another user:

ls -ldO ~/Desktop
chflags -R nouchg ~/Desktop
# if ownership looks wrong, restore to the logged-in user:
# sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/Desktop

Other quick checks: verify Accessibility/Universal Access settings (Mouse Keys or pointer-assist can change click/drag behavior), try a different mouse/trackpad, and watch Console/Logs while attempting a drag to catch error messages mentioning Finder or third‑party software. If Safe Mode fixes it but disabling login items doesn’t, use the vendor’s uninstaller for any suspect utilities (antivirus/input drivers) or seek their removal instructions before reinstalling system software.

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Member Avatar for yellow

Log in as another user and see if the problem persists there.

Member Avatar for angeldoc

Thank you, but it didn't help. I am not locked as the administrator, but something must be locked somewhere! I do not know how to find out what. i have Norton privacy control which will not load..error messsage states it could not communicate with Norton's privacy control extension. I thought maybe something was locked there, but cannot access the controls. Any more ideas? please, please, I'm desparate!
angeldoc

Member Avatar for yellow

Sounds like you have Norton System Works installed. My first suggestion would be to disable and remove it. It causes nothing but trouble.

Member Avatar for angeldoc

Ok, I'll try that! thank you!

Member Avatar for vicki t

Try running Disk Utility to repair permissions, incorrect disk/file permissions can cause things like this. It is a good habit to always repair permissions after installing or modifying software, too; I'm not sure why, but there will almost always be something to fix after installing something new.

Member Avatar for yellow

Try running Disk Utility to repair permissions, incorrect disk/file permissions can cause things like this. It is a good habit to always repair permissions after installing or modifying software, too; I'm not sure why, but there will almost always be something to fix after installing something new.

Premissions Repair doesn't affect anything in one's home directory. Permissions Repair ONLY compares the Bill of Materials archive's set permissions in /Library/Receipts/ to those of the installed files. If there's no BOM archive, no permissions get changed. It's ONLY worth repairing permissions AFTER installing something that requires an admin password. That's the only way (if you're secure) that something might have had a receipt installed.

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