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Turned laptop on to find all desktop icons missing. Tried basic fixes, no luck. Went to iCloud, icons are there but would like to not have to drag every icon back to desktop if possible. New icons added stay on desktop after reboots.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15
Hey JustWhisper,
It sounds like your desktop icons aren't showing up properly after restarting your MacBook Pro. We've got your back!
If you right click on your desktop > Show View Options > does it have 'Show icon previews' enabled? In case it's not enabled, please make sure it's checked and then check on the desktop for those missing icons once more.
These icons all appear correctly when you go to iCloud on a browser and sign in, correct? We wanted to make sure that's what you meant by the icons appear in iCloud but you don't want to drag/drop each one to restore their icons. This means you can go to System Preferences > iCloud > Desktop & Documents is enabled here, as well?
We'd test if this occurs in safe mode. Here's How to use safe mode on your Mac Depending on what you find here when booted to safe mode, use the sections on "If the issue continues in safe mode" and "If the issue doesn't continue in safe mode" to solve this.
Let us know the results of the above, should it continue, and we'll take it from there.
Wishing you the best!
Hey JustWhisper,
It sounds like your desktop icons aren't showing up properly after restarting your MacBook Pro. We've got your back!
If you right click on your desktop > Show View Options > does it have 'Show icon previews' enabled? In case it's not enabled, please make sure it's checked and then check on the desktop for those missing icons once more.
These icons all appear correctly when you go to iCloud on a browser and sign in, correct? We wanted to make sure that's what you meant by the icons appear in iCloud but you don't want to drag/drop each one to restore their icons. This means you can go to System Preferences > iCloud > Desktop & Documents is enabled here, as well?
We'd test if this occurs in safe mode. Here's How to use safe mode on your Mac Depending on what you find here when booted to safe mode, use the sections on "If the issue continues in safe mode" and "If the issue doesn't continue in safe mode" to solve this.
Let us know the results of the above, should it continue, and we'll take it from there.
Wishing you the best!
JustWhisper wrote:
Turned laptop on to find all desktop icons missing. Tried basic fixes, no luck. Went to iCloud, icons are there but would like to not have to drag every icon back to desktop if possible. New icons added stay on desktop after reboots.
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Thank you Leroy. Turns out I did not have the boxes properly checked under Finder Preferences, general, show these items on desktop. I have to assume this happened after the last update. I appreciate your help.
Melissa
JustWhisper wrote:
Thank you Leroy. Turns out I did not have the boxes properly checked under Finder Preferences, general, show these items on desktop. I have to assume this happened after the last update. I appreciate your help.
Melissa
thanks for your update and the issue is resolved.
MacBook Pro Catalina OS desktop icons missing
