How to fix Desktop icon in Finder sidebar?

TimofeyDeveloper wrote:

Hello everyone,

How do I fix the sidebar icon for the Desktop folder in Finder? It appears as a normal folder icon instead of the default "Desktop" icon.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/4f9bbb47-008d-4f53-922e-6691f2875df6

Also, when I move it to the iCloud section in the sidebar, the original icon returns. This problem does not affect the "Documents" folder. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Please don't leave generic answers, because I've already tried changing the sidebar settings, restarting the computer, and changing the name of the home folder, and it didn't solve the issue.

Any help or ideas on how to solve this issue are greatly appreciated as I am already getting hopeless.

At the risk of being generic...

remove the old icon by the contextual menu/ or drag it off,

then from Finder>Settings and it back in to the Sidebar...(?)

or drag it directly from the Applications folder to the sidebar.

If you're not getting this:

give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

I am having this same issue with a new computer running Ventura. The custom icons that I made still show in the Finder window itself or if I open the "Get Info" pane but are only generic on the Finder sidebar. I have tried removing and re-adding them without effect.

Since the little house icon for the user directory has also been replaced with a generic folder, I suspect this is a system wide OS change and I can't do anything, but can anyone confirm that?

Thanks, I got the desktop icon to show properly when it was under the icloud, but as soon as I moved it up to favorites it became a generic icon again. I think having special icons show in Favorites (I have them for the folders I use a lot) must be no longer functional. [This is a brand new mini so none of the OS files have had time to get corrupted yet.] I don't care enough to pursue it harder.

There are a lot of other things that Apple could have usefully changed besides this (please give me an ios clock where I can type in numbers instead of scrolling them) but whatever, they do like to tinker with everything. Must take ages to get dressed each morning. Thanks.

writerbeast wrote:

Thanks, I got the desktop icon to show properly when it was under the icloud, but as soon as I moved it up to favorites it became a generic icon again. I think having special icons show in Favorites (I have them for the folders I use a lot) must be no longer functional. [This is a brand new mini so none of the OS files have had time to get corrupted yet.] I don't care enough to pursue it harder.

You didn't seem to comprehend what I said. When you enable Desktop & Documents syncing with iCloud Drive, the Sidebar aliases are in iCloud Drive. When you try to put them in Favorites, they don't work correctly.

Should they work correctly in Favorites? Probably.

Do they work correctly in Favorites? No.

Edit - I do have the little house icon now, not sure what happened there

If you have turned on Desktop & Documents syncing to iCloud Drive, the Desktop and Documents folders show up under iCloud Drive. You can drag them into Favorites, but they never work correctly.