Desktop converted to a document!

[JohnMason]

My desktop is acting like a document, demanding an application to open it. I cannot move things on the desktop, or put them there, but I can open files and folders that are there.

What do i do now, Please!!

JohnM

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Hi JohnMason

What version of Mac OS X are you running and exactly what error messages do you see?

 

[JohnMason]

I have Snow leopard on a macBook Pro.

The error message was the same as for any document whose application the machine does not recognise ... even though it was a folder (and the information panel had it as a folder).

the desktop did have some very large files on it ... I was trying to recover some picture files from backup because of the crash of my pendrive containing pictures, and I was having to transfer locked picture files from the BU to the laptop in order to unlock them (they were locked because they were from a previous machine).

In the end I restored the desktop from a recent backup and that seems top have worked wonderfully. But it would be nice to know what caused it!

Thanks

JohnM