Where do .icns files belong?

Question

Level 1

10 points

Where do .icns files belong?

Hi there. My inquisitive son found some cool icon files (openfoldericon.icns, iMac.icns, AlertStopIcon.icns, etc. etc.) and dragged them to the desktop. I can't seem to find out where they came from. Do you know where they belong and/or if this will cause me problems??
Thanks,
Andy

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on May 12, 2007 4:49 PM

Reply

Answer 1

May 12, 2007 6:20 PM in response to anchov

Smart kid.

Open Terminal and paste this command:

sudo mv ~/Desktop/*.icns /System/Library//CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/

Now press return and enter your password, then press return again.

The reason is, it can be hard to move files into a system owned folder without Terminal.

Reply

Answer 2

May 12, 2007 10:21 PM in response to anchov

If they came out of

"/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/"

and from their names my guess is that they did, unless he gave himself extraordinary power, they will still be there. Navigate to the CoreTypes.bundle, then hold the control key and click on it, select Show Package Contents, then open Contents and Resources. If you look I'll bet the originals are still there. Only the root user can actually move them. A normal user can drag them to the Desktop, where they will be copied, leaving the originals in place. You can do anything you want with the copies, trash them or use them for something else.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

Reply

Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

May 13, 2007 12:19 AM in response to anchov

If your son is mucking with your computer, I assume that he doesn't have his own account. If so, create a regular user account (not an admin user account) and restrict what he can do on the machine. Also, disable automatic login on the machine. It's the only way I know to instill computer discipline. If it's his machine, then teach him better computing habits. 🙂 I know, easier said than done.

Reply

Answer 4

anchov Author

Level 1

10 points

May 13, 2007 7:06 AM in response to anchov

Man, I love the Discussions Forum! Thanks for the great info. In fact, those icon files were in that directory still, dragging to the destop did not remove them. Nice safety feature. The only confusing part is why weren't they appended as 'copy' in their names, and why does Sherlock not find the other .icns files, thus pointing me to the correct directory? Anyway, all is well and the boy has some cool icons. [by the way, the 8 year old does of course have his own, limited, account on this machine, as well as his own old imac crt he has running OSX, but that don't keep him off this one when I get up to use the bathroom! He feels the need for speed!]
Thanks again,
Andy
(Tim is here now and says thanks, too.)

Reply

Answer 5

May 13, 2007 8:16 AM in response to anchov

Hi. "Find" does not find system files, only relevant user files. Most people do not look for files hidden deep within the system's guts.

If your smart kid Tim is interested, here is how the real UNIX pros look for a file.
Open Terminal and paste this command in the window:

find / -type f -name '*.icns' 2> /dev/null

The result will be a list of every icon file on your computer. You can do some pretty cool things with icon files, for example the transparent icon on •this page is converted fron the Mail icon file.

You can also set your "Computer" icon to any icon instead of the stupid old iMac G4, but it takes a bit of hacking.

You can view any icon image in Preview with the open command:

open /Applications/iChat.app/Contents/Resources/iChat.icns

Reply

Answer 6

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

May 13, 2007 11:35 AM in response to Gnarlodious

Gnarly:

Nice choice for your page theme!! Thanks a bunch.

Reply