# Icons Disappearing - Mac Osx - 10.4.11



## jamvan2k (Mar 29, 2008)

Ok I have been trying to find the reason why this is happening.  I am having an issue with the icons disappearing, the file is still there and you can click on it if you click on the words, but the icon is not there just the icon is gone.  The icon that is not showing up is the folder icon primarily.  I have searched several different sites and can not find an answer to my problem. I have included a link to view what my desktop looks like with the files pictured so you get an idea. 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b303/jamvan2k/Picture3.png

I have tried to do the equivalent of a (rebuild desktop) desktop reset which was a program I downloaded from apple: 

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/xupport.html

It did not help either and after installing that and doing the reset.  Now when I go to open a picture, it opens in color sync instead of preview.  The only way I can open a picture in preview is to open preview and then open a picture through it.  It is like color sync is the default for some reason.  Does someone know how to fix this?  But my main concern is tis icon issue I am having.  I don't know what to do as it is making it very hard to work.  This even carries over to my external drives when hooked up.  I need help as I do not know why it is doing this. : (

As far as other information, I just installed Tiger a few months ago if that helps any and this is on a mac mini.  Other than that everything has been the same.  I have relaunched the finder through opt+cmd+esc but it is not available to relaunch through right clicking the icon on the dock.  Also it no longer allows me to drag a picture file over a program like Photoshop in the dock to open it in Photoshop.  What is going on here?  This getting crazy!! 

Thank you so much to whoever can help me!!
Jay


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## Satcomer (Mar 29, 2008)

Go to the folder /YourHardDrive/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/ and delete the files: com.apple.desktop.plist & com.apple.finder.plist, then reboot. 

Also when you do a get info on file and want it always open in particular program click the 'Change All' button.

One last thing. Go to /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and use that program and "Repair Permissions".

Good Luck.


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## jamvan2k (Apr 6, 2008)

Satcomer,

Thank you for your help, but unfortunately this did not work, in fact none of it did.  For the JPG, when I go to select Preview as a default, it does not give me the option to select it as it is grayed out.  I did however select Photoshop as the default for right now but that is not what I wanted it to do as I need it in preview.  Also normally when you are clicking on files in your folder, when you highlight them, it will show you an image of the actual picture to the right, now it just shows the jpeg or png icon, no more picture.

I am at a loss here as this is just annoying.  Does anyone else have any answer to why this is happening?  It seems like my folder icon has just disappeared.  And my preview default has stopped showing up for pictures, but yet it will open for Adobe PDF documents when I download them.  Please tell me I am not the only person having this issue.


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## michaelellis (May 8, 2008)

Hi, my icons have also disappeared but files are not affected.  Apple Care was unable to help!  MacBook running Tiger.  Already did repair disk permissions.  Repair disk says that disk repair must be done but then kicks me out and says that repair disk exited without completing.


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## J.Rat. (Nov 3, 2009)

I have the same issue, but no problem according to DU with my disk permissions, I clicked to fix them anyway.  Is there a solution to this issue yet?


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## applehelper (Dec 16, 2009)

you have to click on the image, then you hold down option, click "File" and mouse over the one that says "Always Open With", and if "Preview" is not listed, click other, change the top drop-down box to "all applications" and select Preview


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## bbmedia (Apr 21, 2010)

I have just transferred using the automated process in 10.4 from one iBook to a MacBook. OS 10.4 was a brand new install on the MacBook.

I have tried all of the obvious things:
- set Preview as the default, and selected Preview in the Finder "Open With" attribute
- deleted plist prefs
- disk repair / disk permission repair
- deleted DStore info just in case, tho that relates more to folder options etc.


Also Imageready from CS3 is having many probs, and I'm getting constant OS error warnings on copy related activities.

So if anyone has more info on this I'd be most obliged.


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## Cheryl (Apr 24, 2010)

If this is a brand new MacBook, why did you install 10.4? The new 2009 MacBooks run 10.5 straight from the factory.


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## starhorsepax (Apr 25, 2010)

Observation here: I had this happen with my imac g3 running Panther. It happened after I defragged the hard drive using Norton Utilities. (Mac OS X fine print: you don't need to defrag if your computer came with mac os x and don't do much photoshop. For my old mac, well...) The defrag itself worked fine, but right after that I had the disappearing icon situation. I didn't do anything except keep putting them back in the get info pane (and it was a pain!) but eventually it stopped on its own.
I never did find the help icon again though!


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## Cheryl (Apr 25, 2010)

OS X and Norton do not mix. This was discovered when the first version of OS X came out. Norton never did anything to correct the problem. Word to the wise.... 
Do not use Norton Utilities on OS X machines.


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