My desktop icons have all vanished.
the only icon left is the backup drive icon.
I can find a folder in iCloud Drive.
But the Time Machine shows an empty desktop even going back months.
The folders etc were all showing fine two days ago.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Desktop icons gone
iPhone 7, iOS 15
How did you look in Time Machine? If you have Optimize Storage turned on, with Desktop included in iCloud, then those files might not be available on your local Mac drive for Time Machine to back up. Does any of that apply to your system? You don't list a Mac or what macOS you're using.
Have you looked at iCloud Drive at iCloud.com?
See if this helps make some sense of it:
Understanding iCloud Drive - Apple Community
If you are synchronizing your iCloud Drive, then whatever is on iCloud is on your Mac. If you are "Optimizing" storage, then what's on the Mac is a pointer, but you an access iCloud directly from your Mac.
Any operation using a browser on iCloud.com is way more awkward than just doing it on your Mac.
It’s a 2013 Mac running Catalina.
That was the latest update we could get due to the age of the hardware.
As a workaround I have tried to copy a folder called desktop I found on iCloud and tried to copy it back on to the desktop.
But it returned an error saying it couldn’t complete it.
So maybe I will try to copy them back a few folders at a time.
Very painful.
Desktop icons missing on Mac desktop
