3 Ways to Fix Mac Desktop Icons Missing or Not Showing

Sodiq has written thousands of tutorials, guides, and explainers over the past 3 years to help people solve problems relating to Android, iOS, and Windows devices. He also enjoys reviewing consumer tech products (smartphones, smart home devices, etc.) and previously worked with GearBest in that capacity.

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Basic Fixes

Fix 1: Reset Finder Preferences

If you can’t see the icons of your connected devices or Mac’s storage drive, reset the Finder preferences.

Step 1:ClickFinderon the menu bar > selectSettings.

Step 2:In theGeneralsection, check theHard disks and Connected serversboxes.

Step 3:Close the Finder Preferences window and check if the missing icons are visible on the desktop.

You can also read our post ifFinder search is not working.

Fix 2: Unhide All Desktop Icons

This is another solution that we discovered during our research. As recommendedby Apple, you can fix the Mac desktop icon not showing issue by running a specific command line in the Terminal app. What the command does is unhide all desktop icons.

Step 1:From the desktop, clickGoon the menu bar > selectUtilities.

Step 2:Double-click onTerminalto launch the app console.

Step 3:Paste the codebelow into the Terminal console and then hitReturnon your keyboard.

Step 4:Close Terminal and check if the missing icons have reappeared.

Fix 3: Check iCloud Drive

You might have accidentally deleted some apps from your Mac. But you can recover them from your iCloud drive.

Step 1:Sign in toiCloudon your preferred browser and selectiCloud Driveon the iCloud homepage.

Step 2:At the bottom-right corner of the iCloud Drive dashboard, tapRecently Deleted.

That will open a recycle bin of some sort where you’ll find desktop icons and files that might have been accidentally deleted. Proceed to the next step to restore the icon.

Note:If you can’t find the missing icon(s) in the Recently Deleted folder, there’s a possibility that it has been moved to another folder within or outside the Desktop folder in iCloud Drive.

Step 3:If you find the missing desktop icon/file in the Recently Deleted folder, select it and click onRecover.

If the item was deleted from your iCloud Drive’s Desktop folder, it’ll be immediately restored to the same location, and you should see the icon on your Mac’s desktop within seconds.

Tip:You can also read our post ifapps are not opening on your Mac

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Last updated on 12 June, 2024

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