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David Losada Author

Level 1

20 points

Pixelated icons in Mountain Lion

The problem discussed here

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2132399?answerId=19780740022#19780740022

is affecting Mountain Lion 10.8.1 and 10.8.2.

This is a dmg screenshot taken just after an installion from scratch. Plain vanilla Mountain Lion 10.8.2. No add-ons installed. And some icons appear pixelated or blurry.

This bug is prevalent in files located in dmg files, but also affects Finder views (this one is from my main disk):

Quicklook:

And even applications that make use of standard system icons. This is from Toast 11. See the CD:

The pixelated icons also appear in the application switcher (I can't take an screenshot of the application switcher).

This never happened to me in any system prior to Mountain Lion. It happens in any user account. It happens even right after an installation from zero on a secondary disk. Reinstalling ths OS, deleting caches and repairing permissions have no effect.

The icons only show well logging as root. So it seems that Apple has messed something regarding icons and access privileges. Something that cannot be solved with a permissions repair.

Apple, fix Mountain Lion. This is awful.

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Macpro mid 2010

Posted on Sep 28, 2012 3:26 AM

67 replies

Djim's

Level 1

5 points

Mar 29, 2013 5:17 AM in response to orchetect

@orchetect

Hope this will last in time.

Nothing works for me, and the problem appear with a fresh install from scratch on a clean volume !

Then pixelated icons affetcs every application updated with MAS or integrated process, or replaced from another volume ... So sad !!!

Mar 29, 2013 11:33 AM in response to Djim's

I don't want to throw too much conjecture into this thread, but I wonder if it has something to do with RAM. Conicidental maybe, but these icon issues started happening when I was continually pushing my RAM limit and going into disk swap space for applications.

Mar 29, 2013 11:55 AM in response to orchetect

It's not related to RAM. (I have 32 GB.)

Apr 1, 2013 9:15 AM in response to David Losada

HERE'S WHAT FIXED THIS "PIXELATED ICONS" ISSUE ON MY 2010 27" IMAC (10.8.2)

On my machine it was obviously something user-related. I created a new user account in <System Preferences><Users & Groups> with admin privileges. I logged ot of my regular account and logged into the new user account I just created. All icons appeared perfectly, even my custom ones.

I then logged out of the new account and back into my regular one. BINGO! ALL IS WELL! I can't find a single pixelated icon on my system now.

I'll report back if this is only a temporary fix.

donazipe

Level 1

66 points

Apr 2, 2013 3:29 AM in response to Marmaracd

Tried the suggestion, indeed it worked.

But it is only a temporary fix.

As soon as I unzip/unstuffit or I mount a dmg, fuzzy icons appear.

Apr 18, 2013 12:10 PM in response to David Losada

I'm having this problem, too, and I'm using a brand new Mac Mini Server which was shipped to me less than a week ago so I can't see how it would have anything to do with a full cache, etc. It began happening yesterday when I downloaded a software bundle; about half of the ten apps I downloaded are pixelated and they are only pixelated in Launchpad while appearing perfectly normal in my actual Applications folder. I tried the Get Info -> Change/Add Permissions suggestion and it did nothing.

Apr 29, 2013 10:10 AM in response to Marmaracd

I had and fixed the problem with my chrome icon being low-res on my machine. When I tried a simple uninstall / reinstall, the install dmg was displaying the low res icon when opened. I had a couple of accounts open on my computer, so I logged out of them individually, then did a restart. After that opening the (same) install dmg file now displayed the high res icon, and on install the correct icon is now being displayed in the dock.

Don't know exactly what solved it - but if you have more than one account might be good to log out of them and then do a restart. I don't know if the application uninstall before reboot / and re-install after reboot step is needed, but that was part of the sequence for me.

Pixelated icons in Mountain Lion