Time Machine shows "Desktop"?
When I bring up my Time Machine it shows the "Desktop" icons as backup . How do I get to see actual backups?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 11.4
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Hello, trancona.
This is the way Time Machine works and should be used. You click the TM icon in the menu bar and it opens the backup for whatever folder you have open in Finder. From this TM display you can now "reach back in time" as it were to locate earlier versions of your files and restore them into your current folder.
If you simply use Finder and click the TM backup drive on your desktop and navigate through the folders and files within, you risk doing damage to the backups and compromising the TM backup process. That's bad.
Please have a look at this –
Restore items backed up with Time Machine - Apple Support:
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/restore-files-mh11422/mac