HandyMac
Level 2 (427 points)
Mac OS X

Q: How to get icons to show correctly in Finder?

Back in the days of the "classic" Mac OS, if icons weren't displaying correctly in the Finder, one could "rebuild the desktop file" to correct the problem. I've recently upgraded to Yosemite, and most things are working well, but for some reason most .webloc files in the Finder are now showing as blank icons (though not all; a few show the correct icon). There's no pattern I can see: some very old .webloc files are now showing a blank icon (where I know their icons used to be correct), while recent ones show the correct icon – though I've just created four (by dragging the urls from Safari, the usual method) that are all blank. Sometimes they appear with the older icon, with the @ symbol (though those seem to have changed to blank after running Maintenance and restarting). I've tried starting from an external disk, repairing permissions and repairing the file system, as well as cleaning with the Maintenance utility (which clears web browser and other caches), to no avail. Does anybody know of a way to get the computer to display these icons correctly?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 2.4GHz (2013), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

Posted on Dec 27, 2015 3:51 PM

by HandyMac,Solvedanswer
HandyMac HandyMac
Level 2 (427 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Thanks for the suggestion. There was no com.apple.desktop.plist (nor is there on my MacBook running Yosemite), but I deleted the com.apple.finder.plist, and Restarted. No fix.

 

HOWEVER, the "More Like This" list at the bottom of the page showed another thread titled "How to get icons to display correctly in Finder?" which looked suspiciously familiar; I went to it, and remembered that I had posted this question last February, and found a fix, then forgot about it until the problem reappeared.

 

The fix I found was to completely restore my internal SSD from my CCC backup (which for some reason didn't have the problem when I started my MBP from it, though it was simply a clone of the internal drive), which took a lot of time.

 

Later, an Internet search informed that the problem was likely due to a corrupted Icon Services cache. Craig Hockenberry gives directions to delete this cache using Terminal, for command-line nostalgics, but having been a Mac user since my first computer (1988), I prefer the Macintosh Way, which is to use the always excellent utility OnyX to do the job (click the Cleaning icon, then the User tab, check Icon Services, click Execute).

 

I'd already "fixed" the problem last time (at the cost of a complete System restore), so couldn't try this simple fix with OnyX; but I just tried it now, and am happy to report it works. (The same developer's Maintenance utility is a subset of OnyX which I use often, but it doesn't include clearing the Icon Services cache.)

 

I've been installing OnyX on every Mac I've set up (~hundreds) since OS X 10.2; it is free, of course, but well deserving of support.

Posted on Dec 29, 2015 10:15 AM

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HandyMac

Q: How to get icons to show correctly in Finder?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Dec 28, 2015 12:41 PM in response to HandyMac
    Level 9 (73,376 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 28, 2015 12:41 PM in response to HandyMac

    Might be a corrupt .plist.

     

    Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

     

    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder.  Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist and com.apple.desktop.plist.  Move the .plists to your desktop.

    Re-launch Finder by restarting the computer and test. If it works okay, delete the plists from the desktop.

    If the same, return the .plists to where you got it  from, overwriting the newer one.

     

    Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

  • by HandyMac,Solvedanswer

    HandyMac HandyMac Dec 29, 2015 10:15 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 2 (427 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 29, 2015 10:15 AM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks for the suggestion. There was no com.apple.desktop.plist (nor is there on my MacBook running Yosemite), but I deleted the com.apple.finder.plist, and Restarted. No fix.

     

    HOWEVER, the "More Like This" list at the bottom of the page showed another thread titled "How to get icons to display correctly in Finder?" which looked suspiciously familiar; I went to it, and remembered that I had posted this question last February, and found a fix, then forgot about it until the problem reappeared.

     

    The fix I found was to completely restore my internal SSD from my CCC backup (which for some reason didn't have the problem when I started my MBP from it, though it was simply a clone of the internal drive), which took a lot of time.

     

    Later, an Internet search informed that the problem was likely due to a corrupted Icon Services cache. Craig Hockenberry gives directions to delete this cache using Terminal, for command-line nostalgics, but having been a Mac user since my first computer (1988), I prefer the Macintosh Way, which is to use the always excellent utility OnyX to do the job (click the Cleaning icon, then the User tab, check Icon Services, click Execute).

     

    I'd already "fixed" the problem last time (at the cost of a complete System restore), so couldn't try this simple fix with OnyX; but I just tried it now, and am happy to report it works. (The same developer's Maintenance utility is a subset of OnyX which I use often, but it doesn't include clearing the Icon Services cache.)

     

    I've been installing OnyX on every Mac I've set up (~hundreds) since OS X 10.2; it is free, of course, but well deserving of support.