HT1338 Desktop Icon Issues

Good morning, I turned on my Mac this am and none of my desktop icons are showing up, and my iTunes app is gone. Is this a common problem or should I take it in to the Apple store for repairs?

Can you open a Finder window?

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Win 10 - Desktop Icons Issue

Hi! Today I clean-installed windows 10, but I am facing an issue(?): Basically, I can't move my desktop icons to the last/bottom row, I mean just above the taskbar (possible thing in windows 8/8.1) I am going crazy for this! :\

ajt wrote:
Multiple people have reported this problem. I talked to Lenovo Tech Support today and the person told me he had never heard of this problem and that they do not monitor the Forums for systemic issues like this. Frankly, this person seemed clueless on many fronts so I am not sure either of those things are valid. It was an extremely frustrating telephone call.
In any case, I would like to rollback to the original version of the ATI drivers as well as "Presentation Director" to see if this fixes the problem. Does anyone have or know where to get the previous version(s) so I can test to see if it also has this problem?
Thanks
What is the problem that you're having? Desktop Icons Issue isn't really enough information to go on.
Which T series system do you have, and what operating system are you running?
Re tech support not monitoring the forum, there are a few Lenovo employees roaming around in here helping out on a volunteer basis, but this is not an official support channel. Instead, this is designed to be a user-to-user support and discussion forum.
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Jane
2015 X1 Carbon, ThinkPad Slate, T410s, X301, X200 Tablet, T60p, HP TouchPad, iPad Air 2, iPhone 5S, IdeaTab A2107A, Yoga Tablet, Yoga 3 Pro
I am not a Lenovo Employee.
I AM one of those crazy ThinkPad zealots!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"!

Desktop Icons Issue

Multiple people have reported this problem. I talked to Lenovo Tech Support today and the person told me he had never heard of this problem and that they do not monitor the Forums for systemic issues like this. Frankly, this person seemed clueless on many fronts so I am not sure either of those things are valid. It was an extremely frustrating telephone call.
In any case, I would like to rollback to the original version of the ATI drivers as well as "Presentation Director" to see if this fixes the problem. Does anyone have or know where to get the previous version(s) so I can test to see if it also has this problem?
Thanks

ajt wrote:
Multiple people have reported this problem. I talked to Lenovo Tech Support today and the person told me he had never heard of this problem and that they do not monitor the Forums for systemic issues like this. Frankly, this person seemed clueless on many fronts so I am not sure either of those things are valid. It was an extremely frustrating telephone call.
In any case, I would like to rollback to the original version of the ATI drivers as well as "Presentation Director" to see if this fixes the problem. Does anyone have or know where to get the previous version(s) so I can test to see if it also has this problem?
Thanks
What is the problem that you're having? Desktop Icons Issue isn't really enough information to go on.
Which T series system do you have, and what operating system are you running?
Re tech support not monitoring the forum, there are a few Lenovo employees roaming around in here helping out on a volunteer basis, but this is not an official support channel. Instead, this is designed to be a user-to-user support and discussion forum.
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español Русскоязычное Сообщество
Jane
2015 X1 Carbon, ThinkPad Slate, T410s, X301, X200 Tablet, T60p, HP TouchPad, iPad Air 2, iPhone 5S, IdeaTab A2107A, Yoga Tablet, Yoga 3 Pro
I am not a Lenovo Employee.
I AM one of those crazy ThinkPad zealots!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"!

Desktop icon issue

I can't figure out the best place to post this question,but I'm assuming it has something to do with leopard. I 've had my desktop icons set up to snap to a grid. I had some icons lined up down the left side of the screen. I tried to click on one, and I'm not sure if I did something with the multi-touch or what, but suddenly all of the icons that were originally lined up along the far-left side of the screen, moved in about 2 inches or so. It's almost like it has a new left margin. I'm not sure how else to describe it. I hope that makes sense. I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

Go to Users/yourname/Library/Preferences and move com.apple.desktop.plist and com.apple.desktopservices.plist to the trash. Restart and test. You may have to reset some Desktop settings.
-mj

Would flash player issues cahnge desktop icons?

I'm starting a seperate discussion on this issue as it is truly different than my other postings
I use Vista Home premium
I have many icons on my desk top, mostly shortcuts to program. Yesterday I had to reboot several times when trying to update to ne flash player.
Then upon one reboot, I noticed that some, just like 3, Icons changed.
Example
icon for the shortcut to itunes looked like the icon picture for the game dinerdash
icon for shortcut to the game Bakerydash looked like the icon for spider solitaire
now when I would right click on these shortcuts, they would show the proper data for the shortcut they truely were Whe I would right click on the icon and then select change icon, the only option there was the actual correct icon. I'd hit apply, but it did not good.
I ran virus/spyware scans and all were clean.
Could it be because of flash player issues? or because I had rebooted several times in a row and did not allow the system to fully reboot before trying the next reboot??
Like I would reboot and then 7 minutes later reboot again. Could that cause the icons to screw up a little?

I don't know what changed the desktop icons, but it is one of these things that just happen sometimes.
Windows XP had a great tool, TweakUI (from Windows Power Toys), that has a 'Repair Icons' function. Microsoft never released a TweakUI version for Vista, but I know that a 3rd-party version of TweakUI for Vista can be found on the Internet (Google will find it for you).
I would try to use this to repair your desktop icons.
P.S. since this TweakUI is not a Microsoft tool, I recommend to make a System Restore point before running it; just in case...

Dock Icons and desktop video issue

I downloaded Lion yesterday and ever since, the destop background is blurry in some areas and when I scroll across the docked icons I get black backgrounds each icon I scroll across. It almost seems like my video card cannot handle the graphics. However, it does seem to work fine if I use the solid color option under desktop and screensaver. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hi PBishop79,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
If you are seeing unexpected behavior with your desktop icons, I recommend trying the troubleshooting steps in this article first:
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1573
All the best,
Jeremy

ITunes 10.3.1 download issue - desktop icons becom iTunes icons!

I downloaded the latest version of iTunes (10.3.1) on my new ASUS laprop with Windows 7, and all my desktop icons turned into iTunes icons!! So I went and uninstalled it and they all restored to normal after I re-booted. What's up with this??

fromlondonwithkisses wrote:
Nope, not working, it says "invalid file".
there must be something wrong with the files. do they play in quicktime ?
in the finder, highlight one of them then hit space on your keyboard. if QT can't play them, iTunes won't.
or you might want to try if Max can convert the MP3s to AAC.

All my desktop icons are Adobe Reader icons, can't access related files

I was trying to open a file this morning, and when a pop-menu asked what application I wanted to choose (from a list) to open it, I clicked on Adobe Reader - just as a guess. After that, just about all my desktop icons are Adobe icons, and when I click on them, the pop up menus says I can't access the file. These icons also show up on my menu of all my MS Office programs like Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.
Tech support at Adobe recommended I use System Restore, but it also is now an Adobe icon, so I can't open it. If anyone can help reverse this, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
David

Hi,
This also happened to me this morning. Now all my icons are PDF symbols and Reader opens when I try to open any other program. I uninstalled Reader it and it fixed itself but when I reinstalled the program the same issue occurred.
I wanted to make PDF reader the default application when openning PDF's vs. Distiller, tinkered and broke my computer.
Any clues on how to bring everything back to normaL?

Why have all my desktop icons changed to PDF when I installed Reader?

I just installed Adobe Reader, and all of my desktop icons have changed, and nothing will open. How can I fix this?

Hi Carol ,
This seems to happen just because the file associations of the files and folders have been changed and because of that you are experiencing this issue .
To change file associations you could refer the following link and see if that fixes the issue .This link is for windows 7 .
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows/change-default-programs#1TC=windows-7
Please follow the given steps and see if that works for you .
Fell free to write us back in case you face any difficulties .We would be happy to assist you .
Regards
Sukrit Dhingra

I deleted my desktop icon - now I can't save things to the desktop!

After a complete meltdown of my computer (and thank GOD I backed everything up!!) ... I'm transferring everything back to my iMac from an external drive ... BUT, I deleted the little "desktop" icon from my finder folder - or more like, I dragged a desktop folder from the external hard drive and "replaced" the desktop icon.
Now I can't save anything to the desktop. When I drag something to the desktop it says "The item cannot be moved because the 'desktop' cannot be modified."
Is there a way to get this back???

No ...
Under "Ownership & Permission" is says "You can - Read & Write", so that's not the issue.
What I did was:
When you open the finder window, there are several icons that appear in the window - usually the Desktop icon, the Home icon, the Applications icon, the Documents icon, the Movies icon, the Music icon and the Pictures icon.
What I did was, I dragged a "Desktop FOLDER" over from an external hard drive and it asked me if I wanted to replace the Desktop. I said "Yes" and now I no longer have the DESKTOP ICON on the left side of the finder window and I can no longer drag and drop things to the desktop.
The desktop icon no longer exists, so I can't access my desktop VIA the finder window.
Does this make sense?

Is there a better way to get rid of desktop icons?

My project has two things left: 1. get rid of desktop icons during the script 2. Ensure that windows don't open during the script.
so for part one, I have the following:
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool " & false
the problem is I can't change the desktop background picture when I use the above script. Without it, I can but I have icons.
The second issue is how I set up a handler in the event that windows open during the script, blocking the desktop-image message. I want to close all windows and keep them closed during the script. Here is what I have so far, but it doesn't work:
on exists windows of processes where the visible is true
tell application "Finder"
set willey to get (windows where the (exists) is true) of processes where the visible is true
set the exists of willey to false
end tell
end exists
PowerBook G4 1.67 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Even if you manage to change the static desktop picture, you're going to have to find a way to disable the dynamic desktop picture that many users will have activated. This "Change picture" feature is controlled by Dock.app, not Finder. If you quit or kill the Dock, the system automatically respawns it ad infinitum. The only way around that is to temporarily move or rename dock.app, which requires administrator privileges. I'm not particularly inclined to offer my password to prank apps, are you?
If I were you I'd take a look at Salling Clicker. I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out: In the Salling distro there is a neat freeware FBA called "SEC Helper" that lets you post Growl-like notices to the user, without the hassle of relying on a Growl install. It has a full-screen option that you can set up just like a slideshow.
click here to open this script in your editor<pre style="font-family: 'Monaco', 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; overflow:auto; color: #222; background: #DDD; padding: 0.2em; font-size: 10px; width:400px">tell application "SEC Helper"
"/Library/Desktop Pictures/Plants/Petals.jpg"
show screen picture data (read (POSIX file result as alias) as picture) with full screen
end tell</pre>

How can I avoid losing my customised desktop icon arrangement?

I have a lot of folder icons on my desktop arranged in a specific way. Recently when I shut down and then re-boot I find all the desktop icons have been re-arranged. This is a real pain! How can I prevent this from happeining?
I've been using Mac computers for many years and have never had this problem.
iHope

Did I miss something?
Looks like it! Let me repeat what I wrote:
"The issue in that case concerned the dock, and a corrupt preference. The solution was to delete the 'com.apple.dock.plist' from the Preferences folder in the Library, then log out/in."
"Given the issue in my case concerns the desktop, (NOT THE DOCK!) should I do the same with the 'com.apple.desktop.plist' in the Preferences folder?" In other words, do you think deleting the 'com.apple.desktop.plist' might fix the desktop issue?
Your reply - "Haven't a clue. Why deleting the Dock plist file fixed the Desktop issue worked is beyond my ken" - suggests you didn't understand the question, right?
iHope

Desktop Icons have vanished, have tried many solutions offered in forums with no results

I'm at a complete loss as to what to do after searching high and low for answers to this problem.
My desktop icons have mysteriously vanished as I switched it on last night. I had been using it with no issue earlier that day, but for some reason, switching it on last night, I was greeted with a completely clean desktop.
This has happened once before, so I figured simply rebooting the computer (like the last time this occurred) would bring back the icons. No such luck, even after restarting it or shutting it down, and reopening it 15 minutes later. When this problem last occurred, I think I was using Snow Leopard; I'm now running Mountain Lion (if this makes any difference).
I searched a few forums, and tried every solution listed in these topics with absolutely no success. List of things I've tried, as suggested by users on other forums (that seemed to work for people with similar problems):
Checked to see if the "Desktop" folder was renamed to something else, it wasn't;
Relaunched Finder several times
Restarted the computer, shut it down for hours and restarted
View>Clean up by/Sort by all tried, nothing happens
Changed the resolution several times, nothing happens
Quit iTunes, nothing happens
Verified the disk in Disk Utility, no problems (so repair disk was greyed out);
Verified the permissions, repaired the permissions successfully, nothing happened;
Checked Macintosh HD>Users>(username)>Desktop, nothing in the folder (0kb when I check Get Info);
Searched for and tried to remove via Terminal the following preferences: com.apple.finder.plist AND com.apple.FolderActions.plist but they are non-existant on my account OR guest account
Booted in safe mode, still no icons
Logged into guest account, no icons on administrator Desktop (I overrided permissions to see the desktop, and still no icons)..
Tried to "killall Finder" in Terminal, no response.
I did not recently:
download any new software, games, etc (with the exception of FluidApp, which was installed 3 weeks ago and frankly I don't see how it would affect my computer weeks later);
connect my MacBook to an external/additional monitor (have never done this, so icons can't be off-screen)
Additional info:
When in Finder, most functions in my View menu are greyed out. Available options: "Clean Up By", "Sort By", and "View Options". Selecting any of these do nothing.
I checked this article (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1916) and my Computer Name actually DID contain an illegal character (a dash) so I removed it; however it did not correct my problem even after reboot/logging out and in/relaunching Finder. (I'm running Mountain Lion though, so not sure if this even applies, but it was the closest thing I could find).
Nothing but the contents of the desktop seem to have been compromised. I can open applications, install software, use any application, view/open/access files everywhere else on my computer.
I can save new files on my desktop and they don't disappear.
I can put files from other places in my computer on the desktop and they don't disappear.
I DID do a system update to the latest version of Mountain Lion AFTER encountering this problem, in hopes it would correct the problem somehow, but it did not.
I installed one application in hopes of figuring out a fix after the problem occurred (TinkerTool) but after playing with the options (and in the end, not changing anything) I still have the problem. The "Disable Desktop Features" thing was not checked. I checked it, relaunched finder, and what I put on the desktop disappeared, so I unchecked it and relaunched and they reappeared, but my old desktop did not.
It's seriously as if someone did a "Select All > Delete", and overpassed the Trash bin somehow (because it still has a few items I had put in there previously).
Does anyone have any other suggestions in how to retreive my lost desktop icons? I'm going crazy..

If you have a backup, try restoring your Desktop folder from there.
You should have a Finder and a FolderActions .plist. Have you tried looking in your user library folder manually instead of using Terminal?
If you prefer to make your user library permanently visible, use the Terminal command found below.
http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/04/show-library-directory-in-mac-os-x-lion/
You might want to bookmark the command. I had to use it again after I installed 10.8.4. I have also been informed that if you drag the user library to Finder it will remain visible.

Desktop icons not showing up for T60's and T61's

We are having an issue with nearly half (we have a few hundred at out company) of our T60’s and T61’s where they do not show the desktop icons at boot up. If they start the task manager and run explorer then everything pops up like normal. But they will have to repeat this process every time they boot up. We also tried having them turn off the wireless radio via the slider switch but that did not help.
One fix we found was to go C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data and copy the IconCache.db found there over the users IconCache. This fixes the issue for 99% of the people who have this problem, but there are a few that continue to boot up to no desktop items.
The only other fix we have found was to put explorer.exe in the start up folder. This brings up a pop up of their My Documents at start up that they have to close but is much easier than going through the task manager to run explorer.
We also have many T43’s and many Lenovo desktops from M-81, M-82, and M-88’s. none of the desktops show this problem and we have not had this issue with any of the 43’s.
The software packages are essentially the same for all of our systems. The only difference being is that the desktops do not have VPN.
Windows XP sp2
MS Office 2003 standard
IE 6
Adobe Reader 8.1
Lotus Notes 8.1
Sametime 8.0
Cisco VPN 4.6
RealVNC 4
Symantec Antivirus 10.1.5
We run all MS updates and keep the laptops fully patched with Lenovo updates, the only updates we do not use is the ThinkVantage access connections. We install all other system updates in the critical and recommended section.
Some basic hard ware specs of the systems involved:
T61
Processor:        Intel Centrino Core Duo T8100 2.1GHz
Display:            NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
RAM:               3GB
Disk Drive:       WDC WD1200BEVS
BIOS:              LENOVO 7LETB2WW (2.12), 2/20/2008
T60
Processor:        Intel Centrino Core Duo T2500 2.0GHz
Display:            ATI Mobility Radeon X1400
RAM:               2GB
Disk Drive:       ST9120822AS
BIOS:              LENOVO 79ETE1WW (2.21), 2/5/2008
T43
Processor:        Intel Pentium M 1.86GHz
Display:            ATI Mobility Radeon X300
RAM:               1GB
Disk Drive:       HTS541080G9AT00
BIOS:              IBM 1YET62WW (1.27), 5/18/2006
M88
Processor:        Intel Pentium D 3.0Mh
Display:            Intel Q965/Q963 Express Chipset
RAM:               1GB
Disk Drive:       WDC WD800JD
BIOS:              LENOVO 2JKT37AUS, 7/12/2007

Good news: I found a solution. Kind of bad news: it's an extremely awkward behaviour –*but at least it works.
Start iTunes, remove all your voice memos from your library (back them up if you need them), quit iTunes. Restart Finder. Done. I hope that helps!

My desktop icons are no longer "app related" - no colour!

Hi there. I used a little app called Font Nuke because my Word docs were taking some time to open up and this seems to be font-related. As a result of this, upon the restart, my desktop icons which represent pdf, jpeg, .doc and .xls are all black & white, and the text of all my desktop icons and folders is now looking fuzzy as well as strangely placed. Hmmm. I closed all apps and removed the com.apple.finer.plist doc from my preferences, rebooted, and the problem continues. I see that zooming my desktop icons from 28 (preferred size) to 76 solves the issue, but nobody wants a desktop icon on a laptop screen to be so large. What the......? is going on???? Grateful for any advice on this one! Thanks.

Delete Font Nuke and run this one-line command in the Terminal app, OPTION-click the Finder's Dock icon, and select Relaunch.
*/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchS ervices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user*

HT1338 Desktop Icon Issues

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