HandyMac
Level 2 (427 points)
Mac OS X

Q: How to get icons to display 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). I've tried starting from an external disk, repairing permissions and repairing the file system, as well as cleaning with the Maintenance utility, to no avail. Does anybody know of a way to get the computer to display these icons correctly?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), 2.4GHz (2013), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

Posted on Feb 15, 2015 11:25 AM

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

See a later thread for the simple solution: Use the utility OnyX to clear the Icon Services cache (click the Cleaning icon, then the User tab, check Icon Services, click Execute).

Posted on Dec 29, 2015 10:31 AM

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

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  • by HandyMac,

    HandyMac HandyMac Feb 17, 2015 2:07 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 2 (427 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 17, 2015 2:07 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks again; I tried it; no change. I think the Maintenance utility does this anyway.

     

    Meanwhile, I decided to go for the nuclear option: Since my clone backup was completely up to date, I cloned it back to the internal drive. Problem fixed. Still don't know what caused it, or an easier way to fix it, but at least it's not annoying me anymore.

     

    Meanwhile, a response on another forum says: "How to fix incorrect icons being displayed in the Finder varies by which version of OS X you're using. In Yosemite, Onyx can delete the Icon Services cache (click the Cleaning icon, then the User tab, check Icon Services, click Execute)." Unfortunately, I didn't see this before I did the complete restore, so I've no way to try it now. Apparently the Icon Services cache is one of the files that cloning utilities such as CCC don't copy (and not one of the caches that Maintenance's basic set of functions cleans).

     

    A search for "icon services cache os x" finds Clearing the Icon Services Cache in Yosemite, which leads to more information. I expect this is what the OnyX function does, for folks who're not big fans of Terminal.

     

    Sure would have been simpler just to rebuild the desktop file.

  • by HayoBaan,

    HayoBaan HayoBaan Apr 14, 2015 3:13 AM in response to HandyMac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 3:13 AM in response to HandyMac

    I just upgraded to Yosemite and I too was having these weird Icon issues with .webloc files.

     

    I too killed and recreated my account, and that got me the webloc icons back. However, the victory was shortlived; after changing the default browser application to Firefox, the icon would change from the safari logo with WEBLOC underneath to an @ sign with HTTP underneath. I then ran the fix as mentioned. Well, this sorta helped, now at least all my webloc files are the @ sign with HTTP underneath.

     

    The strange thing is though, that on my other Mac, the behaviour is completely different: first of all, no issues with wrong icons, plus all icons are (still) the (nicer looking) safari logo ones. Go figure…

  • by HandyMac,Solvedanswer

    HandyMac HandyMac Dec 29, 2015 10:31 AM in response to HandyMac
    Level 2 (427 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 29, 2015 10:31 AM in response to HandyMac

    See a later thread for the simple solution: Use the utility OnyX to clear the Icon Services cache (click the Cleaning icon, then the User tab, check Icon Services, click Execute).

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