Mkv and srt thumbnail icons changed to exec black boxes

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Mkv and srt thumbnail icons changed to exec black boxes

Hello, I have recently upgraded to Yosemite after being a Snow Leopard user for 5 years.

After the change, all my mkv and srt files no longer show the vlc and textedit icons respectively as thumbnails, but have changed to a black exec icon instead. Obviously I use vlc, as my main playback program and have set all similar extension files to play with it.

For further assistance I also took a Get Info screenshot. My mac is set to Greek and I have no idea how to change it, so please bear with the Greek alphabet letters. I think the important information is pretty easy to grasp from the shots.

Is there any way to make the thumbnail icons show correctly?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), null

Posted on Feb 25, 2015 10:48 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,027 points

Feb 25, 2015 10:52 AM in response to vslslzrds

Long shot. Do a backup.

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.

Re-launch Finder by restarting the computer and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.

If the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.

Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

You can change languages in System Preferences/Language &Region.

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Answer 2

vslslzrds Author

Level 1

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Feb 25, 2015 11:07 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for the quick reply.

I just followed your instructions but the icons are still showing as before, nothing's changed.

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Answer 3

Feb 27, 2015 3:02 PM in response to vslslzrds

This is happening for me too, except my MKV files are showing up as blank icons. The file associations are all correct but it insists on showing the blank page icon.

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Answer 4

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Feb 27, 2015 3:32 PM in response to BandTrumpet7

Have you tried the"Change All" buton?

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Answer 5

Feb 27, 2015 4:01 PM in response to greg sahli

Yes, I've tried the Change All button - that just made all the icons blank. Previously it was only one or two icons that were showing up this way, but when I "changed all" and restarted it looks to have made it system-wide.

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Answer 6

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Feb 27, 2015 7:58 PM in response to BandTrumpet7

I'd try some generic maintenance - restart in Safe Mode, After that completes, try opening an mkv. Note whether it works.

Now restart Normally and then try and tell us if it changed?

About safe mode:

OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? - Apple Support

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Answer 7

vslslzrds Author

Level 1

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Feb 28, 2015 3:03 PM in response to greg sahli

I restarted in Safe Mode and the thumbnails were showing the same as in Normal Mode.

Nothing changed either, after I switched back to Normal Mode.😟

I should note though that the mkv was not playing in Safe mode. It 's a 24GB mkv, so I guess that's normal for Safe Mode? The iMac was really slow too.

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Answer 8

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Feb 28, 2015 7:49 PM in response to vslslzrds

I'm thinking those files are damaged. Do you have backup copies? Do the files play now? Have you tried - start up VLC, then open the files to see if they play?

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