• Reset Finder Preferences by clicking on Finder > Settings > General > enable Hard disks and Connected servers.
  • As recommended by Apple, you can fix the Mac desktop icon not showing issue by running a specific command line in the Terminal app.
  • Go to your iCloud drive using the web browser and check the Recently Deleted folder.

Basic Fixes

  • Force quit Finder: Finder is always running on Mac, so you can’t exactly close it. However, you can instruct the OS to relaunch/refresh Finder, thereby fixing issues causing it to malfunction
  • Update macOS: Installing the latest version of macOS as per your model name will solve this issue.

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: Click Finder on the menu bar > select Settings .

Step 2: In the General section, check the Hard disks and Connected servers boxes.

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

You can also read our post if Finder search is not working .

Fix 2: Unhide All Desktop Icons

This is another solution that we discovered during our research. As recommended by 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, click Go on the menu bar > select Utilities .

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Step 2: Double-click on Terminal to launch the app console.

Step 3: Paste the code below into the Terminal console and then hit Return on your keyboard.

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true; killall Finder
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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 to iCloud on your preferred browser and select iCloud Drive on the iCloud homepage.

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

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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 on Recover .

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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 if apps are not opening on your Mac

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