How to show hidden system files in OSX

Submitted by waco on Thu, 10/31/2013 - 08:56

Test machine:

MacBook Pro 15 inch Early 2011
OSX 10.9 (Mavericks)

Steps:

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Type in the following two commands, one at a time:
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true
    killall Finder
     
  3. The first command is to show all files. The second command is to kill all currently opened Finder. You will notice Finder windows disapppear then re-appear again. To hide them, use the following commands:
    defaults delete com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles
    killall Finder
     

The hidden folders/files are grey in colour in Finder.

osx_show_hidden_files_2.jpg

Tags
mac-tips

About the Author

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CheeWah (Waco) has more than 10 years working experience in IT fields, especially in software development and testing. Some of the key projects included software development and support for production/R&D, software test automation, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). He is a food lover and has a food blog at www.noweating.com. Little CPU acts as his IT knowledge sharing hub.