Command To Unhide Library In Mac

Select Library from the Go menu (while holding down Option) to access the hidden folder. Permanently Unhide the User Library. This is a reversible process, but the folder will remain un-hidden until you run the Terminal command again. From the Finder, select the Go menu at top of the screen, and choose Utilities. Jul 04, 2011  Modern Mac OS releases from Mac OS X 10.7 & OS X 10.8 onward default to hiding the users Library directory, this is probably to keep people from accidentally deleting or damaging files that are necessary for OS X Lion & Mountain Lion to function properly. That is fine for novice users, but for some of us, we want to be able to access /Library/ at will. kirkmc adds: There are any number of ways to unhide the /Library folder. Macworld has an article with 18 different methods, plus a few more in the comments to that article. This hint also tells you how you can create an alias in your.profile file to easily run this command. This is an automator application I made that makes the library folder visible in the 'home' folder and gives you instructions on where to go and how to open the minecraft.jar. This program is useful as it saves typing unnecessary lines into terminal just to add a simple mod like too many items. You should get the command prompt back, and your Library folder will now be visible in the Finder. Result: Caveat to the Terminal command method. While it quickly restores the Library folder to its pre-Lion behavior, Apple's system updates will revert the folder to 'hidden' and you will have to run the command after a system update to unhide it. Dec 27, 2019  Unhide User Library folder. This method is for Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra. Older versions of macOS require a Terminal command to. To unhide your Library folder in macOS Sierra, launch Finder and navigate to your user Home folder (you can jump directly to your user folder by select Go Home from the Finder’s menu bar.

On this page:

Context

• Beginning with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later, the Library folder located in a user's home folder ~/Library is hidden by default.
• This tutorial covers several methods to make the Library folder visible again.

Instructions

Method 1: Using the Finder's Go menu

1. Hold down the Option key and open the Go menu in the Finder
2. Select Library from the list of places

Your Library folder will open and you can use it as you normally would. Note that it will not be visible when you close the folder window, but you can always get to it again using Option-Go. This method will always work and requires no system modification.

Unhide Folder Command Line

Method 2: Using the Favorites section in the Sidebar

Finder windows have a sidebar with a list of Favorites, Devices, and other items. (Hint: if the Sidebar is not visible for you in Finder windows, select Show Sidebar from the View menu in the Finder.) If you use the Library folder frequently you can add it to your Sidebar like this:

1. Hold down the Option key and open the Go menu in the Finder
2. Select Library from the list of places
3. Click-and-hold on the title bar of the open Library window and drag it to the Favorites section in the Sidebar

It will stay there even if you close the Library folder, and you can quickly jump to it by clicking on the favorite. If you ever need to remove it, you can Ctrl-Click on the icon in the Sidebar and select Remove from Sidebar.

Method 3: Using a Terminal command to 'unhide' the Library folder

1. Open Terminal.app. It is located in /Applications/Utilities/. You can quickly open it by selecting Utilities from the Go menu in the Finder, or by searching for Terminal using Spotlight search.
2. Unhide the Library folder using a Terminal command. At the command prompt (usually $) enter

   and press the Return key. You should get the command prompt back, and your Library folder will now be visible in the Finder.
   Result:
   

Caveat to the Terminal command method

While it quickly restores the Library folder to its pre-Lion behavior, Apple's system updates will revert the folder to 'hidden' and you will have to run the command after a system update to unhide it again. This can be quite cumbersome. To avoid this and to fully embrace the Apple lifestyle, we recommend you stick with the Go menu or Sidebar methods described previously.

Method 4: Using a Terminal command to make a persistant alias

There is another option that is persistent after OS X updates. Launch Terminal and run the following command:

This will make an alias in your home directory titled 'LibrarE' that will take you to the ~/Library folder. Note the intentional butchering of the word 'LibrarE'; you can change 'LibrarE' to anything other than 'Library'.

Advanced tip: make it permanent

If you are a rebel at heart and refuse to play by Apple's rules, you can save command to a file and add it to your login items, so it will be run whenever you log in. A system update usually requires a logout and log in, so the Library folder will be automatically unhidden again after a system update. Note that this requires some familiarity with the command line and editing text files using a text editor such as BBEdit, TextWrangler, oremacs; or at least knowing how to save as plain text from Word or Notepad.

1. Create the command script
   Open your text editor and create a file that contains the line chflags nohidden ~/Library. Save it with the file name unhideLibrary.command. The file name is not important, but the .command extension is, as that will default to being interpreted as a command script that opens with the Terminal program.
2. Change permissions to make it executable
   Open Terminal.app and go into the folder you saved your script to. Run the command

   This will make the file executable. You can test the script by double-clicking on it in the Finder. It should briefly open a Terminal window and run the command. The Library folder should be unhidden if it was hidden before.

3. If your Terminal window stayed open...
   By default 'Terminal.app' will leave its window open even after the command shell exits. You will want to change this behavior, or you'll always be left with an open but unusable Terminal window after login. Open Terminal.app and select Preferences from the Terminal menu. Then click on the Settings button and go to the Shell tab. Change the setting for When the shell exits: to Close if the shell exited cleanly. Close Settings.
4. Add it to your login items
   Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups. Go to the Login Items tab and click + to add a new item. Find your script, select it, and click Add. Optionally check the Hide box next to it in the list to keep it hidden during login.
5. Done
   That's it. The script will now run every time you log into your account. It is very quick and there's no harm in running it even if it is not necessary (because the Library folder is still unhidden) and it will keep you from having to remember to run it manually after a system update.

Exercise to the reader: there may be a better way to run a shell command at user level at the time of graphical login. If you know of one, please do mention it in the comments!

Problem to be Solved

You’ve got a great backup of your OSX computer, and you need to get something back from the Library folder, say something in the Application Support subfolder. These instructions will show you how to do unhide the User Library folder on the external drive or even on a second Mac.

Credit goes to Steve Davidson for teaching me how to do this.

Let’s Start with a Remote Mac Because the Syntax is Simpler

On the remote Mac, enable Remote Login (https://www.podfeet.com/blog/how-to-set-up-a-mac-for-remote-login/) and use the ssh command to Secure Shell into the remote Mac. In this example, our local machien name is Podfeet-rMBP, and our remote Mac’s name is Core-i7-4.local.

I have the same user account on both but I used the allison@ the beginning to show you how to enter your user name if it’s different on the other Mac.

Note that the Library Folder is Not Visible

Here’s a screenshot of the remote Mac Core i7, and the Library folder is invisible.

Enter the chflags nohidden Command

User Library Folder is Now Visible on the Remote Mac

Next Let’s Repeat This On An External Volume

Unhide Files Using Cmd Command

My backup drive has a nice long annoying name “Core i7 backup 2011 03 03”. As you can see I have a backup of my home (allison) directory but I can’t see the Library folder.

Repeat the chflags Command

In this case we have the same command but we have to navigate first to Volumes, then to the specific backup drive name (with those annoying spaces replaced with and space) and then to the user directory and then Library.

To be honest it might be easier to change the name of the volume not to have spaces than it is to type it this way!

Command To Unhide Library In Mac Pro

Or you could use quotes like this:

Now Your Library is Visible on Your Backup Volume

Attrib Command To Unhide Files

Important note – you only have to do this one time, every time you connect your external drive the Library will be visible.