Here is a new weird one: starting today, on reboots, hardrives are loading on right side of screen instead of left. Have not seen this in 10 years, any idea on this? I guess I could get use to it? Jarring.

HD icons load on the right side of your desktop by default, so your desktop > command-J setting which kept your icons on the left (Sort By: None probably) may have somehow changed.

Have you tried simply dragging the icons back to the left?

How this happen anyone else?

command J says sort by none.

Also a few folders I had on desktop have vanished -- why did that happen and where did those go?

Googling this, search one only one things desktop remember, email, dragged to desktop then reappeared on desktop with the other 4 screenshots, two folders and on link that vanished.

All this happened after some rebooting chaos updating the never ending needed to be update Parallels.

If command-J says "None," you should be able to drag you icons back to the left, and they should remain there after restarts.

I've got zero idea about your missing folders. (Are they actual folders or aliases?)

Have you tried shutting down rather than just restarting.

That happens to me occasionally, and apparently, it happens when Finder quits. The solution is to click the Finder icon in the dock, which should relaunch Finder. Why does Finder quit? I have no clue.

Thanks guys/ Jon, ok will note. Do hardrives go back to where they last were? reboots?

I have not had the hard drive issue, but rebooting automatically launches Finder, so that should get you back to normal. If it happens again, it's faster and easier to re-launch Finder. FWIW, my hard drives have remained at the right side of the display even when Finder quits.

The right side of the screen is their default location, so that doesn't surprise me.

kevs's left side icons are "anomalous" in macOS.

Thanks guys maybe I put them to the left know can't remember, maybe because screenshots go to right?