no time capsule icon on desktop

Rebecca,

The Time Capsule icon will not stay on the desktop continuously. Normally, it appears when a backup starts and disappears when the backup is complete. This is normal.

Double click your hard drive icon in the upper right hand side of your computer. On the next window, look for your Time Capsule under the SHARED heading. Is it there?

If not, click anywhere in an open area on your desktop so the Finder menus appear at the top of your screen. Click on Finder, then on the General tab.

There is a heading that reads "Show these items on the Desktop"

Make sure there is a check mark in the box next to "Connected Servers."

Thanks Bob, I have the same problem that Rebecca has/had. I went through your fix and was unlucky.
My TC is working ok and have used it in the past. I used to have a direct icon to access it in my finder menu but its gone. Its a 1TB machine and I have been using it as a shared folder too to store pictures and movies as well as my Apple backup. Do you have any other suggestions?

Are you using Time Machine for backups? If so, try a simple reset as follows:

Open System Preferences and click on Time Machine
Click Change Disk
Click your Time Capsule disk to highlight
Click Use for Backups

If no luck, check your Time Capsule name using AirPort Utility > Manual Setup > Time Capsule tab. Remove any apostrophes and make sure the name is less than 25 characters.

Open System Preferences and click on Sharing. Remove any apostrophes from your computer name as well and limit to 25 characters, etc as above.

Restart your computer to see if any of these steps will help.

"The Time Capsule icon will not stay on the desktop continuously"

this is not true. the sparse bundle may appear/disappear - but the TC hard drive should stay on your desktop.

i have actually added my TC to my start up items so that in case of a restart it will auto mount.

while in the Finder, next to the Apple in the upper right - click on the word Finder, and go down to Preferences...

in the window that opens up, go to the General Tab and make sure the appropriate box is checked.

than open a Finder window (the little face in your dock)
set the window to column view
in the left hand column, click on your Time Capsule (whatever you named it)
VERY IMPORTANT >> in the column to the right of that, click on you Time Capsule's Hard Drive

it should mount on your desktop.