I don't want to mirror my monitors but I would like the files in ~/Desktop to display on both. Right now they only display on my primary monitor. Is it possible?
Mirror desktop items on two monitors
desktopdisplaydual-screen
Related Solutions
Setting your screensaver to use your iPhoto library will have it display different images on each display.
If My Photo Stream and Photo Library… are not choices listed in the Source list box, you may need to rebuild your thumbnails and/or cache in iPhoto first (start iPhoto while pressing option+cmd).
No, as the second monitor is an extension of your desktop. An empty extension.
The mirroring would obviously give you the same desktop items on both monitors, but without the extra screen estate that you wish for. By desktop items, I assume you mean the dock and the file icons on the actual desktop.
You seem to want a hybrid of both modes, and unfortunately you can not do this. Also, it would lead to a rather confusing situation as you you would end up having duplicates of the same files on, what is effectively, the same desktop space.
I must admit though, the first time I connected a second monitor to a mac, I had expected two docks, one on each screen. But it just doesn't work like this.
I hope that this helps to explain it.
Best Answer
You can't make items appear twice on what is essentially the same desktop, but you can view the contents of your desktop as a folder.
The simplest method using default settings is to open a new folder in Finder, Cmd ⌘ N , then Desktop should be one of the Favourites on the Sidebar.