App Icon Stuck On Screen Mac
Finder is a built-in file organizer in every macOS. It helps you access, save, and organize files and folders on your Mac in a systematic way. In Finder, you can drag and drop your files to move them to a different folder.
When you migrate a file to a different folder, it should be completely removed from the original folder and copied to the new one. But some Mac users reported seeing copies of the file thumbnails stuck on the screen after moving the files to a different folder.
Disk utility can turn out to be the most useful tool when a Mac is in no boot situation or it boots to a grey screen and stuck on Apple logo with a loading bar. 50% of the troubleshooting is performed here in disk utility and thus it’s a key to resolve such problems.
This problem affects all types of files but happens more often to pictures. Once they are transferred to a different folder using Finder, their thumbnails get stuck on the Mac Desktop or their original folder and won’t go away even if Finder has been closed. These “ghost” thumbnails appear on top of any app the user is using, which looks just weird.
This error has caused a lot of frustration for the affected Mac users, and Apple has yet to comment on the issue. The problem of image thumbnails getting stuck on the Desktop screen is not a critical issue that would affect your system processes, but it can be annoying having these “ghost” thumbnails floating around.
The most frustrating thing about this problem is that you can’t delete or move them to the Trash. The problem of image thumbnails getting stuck on the screen can be caused by different elements, including:
- Corrupted Finder preferences
- Temporary system glitches
- Malicious software
To get rid of these “ghost” thumbnails, we need to cover all the bases so the problem won’t return. Follow our guide below if you’re being plagued by image thumbnails stuck on your Mac Desktop screen.
How to Fix Image Thumbnail Stuck on Screen
When a thumbnail is stuck on the Mac Desktop, the other elements of the Desktop are not affected, so you can easily fix the problem using simple troubleshooting methods.
Step 1: Relaunch Finder.
Your first course of action would be to close Finder and restart it. You can simply close Finder by right-clicking its icon on the Dock, then choosing Relaunch from the menu.
If the problem persists after relaunching using this method, you can try this method instead:
- In Finder, head to Go > Utilities, then click on Terminal.
- In the Terminal window, enter the following command, then hit Return:
rm – fR ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.finder.savedState ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.finder; killall Finder
mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder{,.backup}.plist; killall Finder
- Close the Terminal after executing this command.
Relaunch Finder by clicking its icon on the Dock and check if the thumbnails have gone away. This method is temporary because there is a huge chance that the issue could happen when you drag files from the Desktop again. To completely get rid of the problem, follow the succeeding steps below.
Step 2: Delete Finder Preferences.
If the image thumbnails are still stuck on the screen after restarting Finder, the next step is to remove the Finder .plist file to delete its preferences.
To reset Finder’s settings, follow the steps below:
- Click on Finder, then hold the Option key to reveal the Library folder.
- Inside the Library folder, look for Preferences.
- Find the .plist files with “Finder” in their filenames, such as:
- apple.finder.plist
- apple.sidebarlists.plist
- Move these files to the Trash, then relaunch Finder to check whether the thumbnails are gone.
Step 3: Delete Junk Files.
After deleting Finder’s preferences, the next step is to get rid of other elements that might be interfering with your computer processes. Uninstall apps that are not being used and delete the files associated with them.
You should also delete cached data, temporary files, old downloads, and other unnecessary junk from your system using Outbyte MacRepair.
Step 4: Disable Look Up & Data Detectors Option.
Some users found that disabling the data detector option works for them. Data detectors allow users to use gestures on the Trackpad as shortcuts for manipulating apps on macOS. For example, you can set a swiping gesture to launch Mail or Calendar without needing to click the app from the Dock.
To disable this option:
- Click on Start, then select System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Choose Trackpad, then click on the Point & Click tab.
- Uncheck the Look up & data detectors setting.
Close the window and restart your Mac to see if the “ghost” thumbnails no longer appear on your Desktop.
Step 5: Reset NVRAM.
The non-volatile random-access memory or NVRAM stores temporary macOS settings, including display preferences. If there is something wrong with your screen, resetting the NVRAM should fix these issues.
To reset NVRAM, follow these instructions:
- Turn off your Mac, then turn it back on by pressing the Power button.
- Press this keyboard combination immediately after switching on: Option + Command + P + R.
- Release the keys after 15-20 seconds or when you hear the second startup chime.
- Continue booting as normal.
After resetting the NVRAM, check whether the thumbnails are still stuck on your Desktop.
Summary
The issue of image thumbnails getting stuck on the screen is annoying because they can’t be deleted the normal way. To get rid of these thumbnails, simply follow our step-by-step guide above. These steps should also prevent the issue from recurring.
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Admittedly, Mac computers are powerful and reliable. But the Mac is not immune to errors and corruption on the operating system level. Many users have reported the same problem: Mac stuck on a login screen.
In this case, the Mac won't let you log in, even you enter the correct password. And in some worse cases, the Mac computer won't even boot after the latest macOS update.
But in this post, you'll know how to fix the iMac or MacBook stuck on login screen issue. And your Mac would boot past the Mac login screen as usual.
Two situations how your Mac gets stuck on login screen
Before you go further, you should know there are two situations. It depends on if you have enabled FileVault to encrypt your startup drive.
For users who encrypt the system drive, you'll be asked for a password before you see the progress bar. In this case, the password usually would be accepted, but Mac is stuck on the loading bar. The loading bar may stop somewhere between 50% and 75%, or even 100%.
You can't log in to your Mac in this situation. It could result from a Kernel program incompatibility, file system corruption, or some core data lost.
Another case is that the startup is not encrypted by FileVault or APFS feature. You'll see the loading bar first, then the login screen appears. In this case, Mac computers like MacBook Pro won't log in but stuck at the login screen. It is usually caused by software conflicts, frozen login items or configuration errors.
How to fix the Mac stuck on login screen issue?
Anyhow, these methods would be helpful to fix the Mac stuck on loading or login screen issue.
Solution 1: Bypass Login items at startup
In case some login items stop you from logging in to your Mac, you can try these steps.
- Start your MacBook normally.
- On the Login page, enter the admin account and password, but DON'T click on Log in immediately.
- Press and hold the Shift key to stop frozen apps launching. And then, you can click on the Login button.
Solution 2: Boot your Mac in Safe Mode
Booting Mac into Safe Mode will only launch necessary programs. It's efficient to isolate incompatible software and repair some errors when Mac can't boot.
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To boot into Safe Mode:
- Press and hold the Shift key while tapping the power button to restart your Mac.
- Release the Shift key till you see the Apple logo and loading bar.
- If your Mac loads successfully in Safe Mode, try to uncheck login items in Users & Groups.
Sometimes you can't boot into Safe Mode because FileVault is enabled. You could decrypt your startup drive temporarily by booting Password Reset Assistant. This makes Safe Mode be able to check and repair errors before the login window appears.
If you succeed in turning off FileVault, you can restart your Mac normally. Then you can see if it brings up the login window. But if the progress bar is stuck underneath the Apple icon, you can try Safe Mode again after turning off the FileVault.
Solution 3: Reset NVRAM / PRAM
NVRAM, as well as PRAM, is a small amount of memory that your Mac uses to store certain settings and access them quickly. Thus, whenever your Mac won't boot, you can try to reset the NVRAM / PRAM.
Now, restart your Mac and simultaneously press Command + Option + P + R keys for about 20 seconds until your Mac restart automatically.
Solution 4: Boot your Mac into macOS Recovery mode
Mac could freeze on the login screen in a normal boot. But if you can boot into macOS Recovery Mode, you could troubleshoot this issue more easily. Recovery mode, sometimes called sigle-user mode, is a lite built-in macOS utility to check and repair some system issues.
To boot into macOS Recovery Mode:
- Press and hold the power button until the Mac turns off.
- Restart the Mac and immediately press and hold the Command and R keys.
- Release those keys when you see the loading bar.
If you successfully boot into macOS Recovery Mode, you'll see a macOS Utilities screen. (In some old system, it's called Mac OS X Utilities.) Then, you can do several things to fix the Mac stuck on login screen issue.
1. Repair the startup drive in Disk Utility
Probably, the Mac won't past the Apple logo or login screen because of file system or disk errors. Fortunately, you can check for and repair errors with the built-in tool First Aid.
2. Reset password
Change Mac App Icons
Mac could be stuck on the login screen after you forget the Mac's password. If you've entered the wrong password too many times, the system could be locked. Then the Mac won't accept the password even it's the right one.
In this case, you may want to reset your Mac's login password by:
- 1. Entering your Apple ID
- 2. Providing recovery key if you have created on before.
You can also do this via Terminal.
- 1. In macOS Recovery mode, open the Terminal by clicking Utilities > Terminal in the top menu bar.
- 2. At the Terminal prompt, type resetpassword, and then hit Enter.
- 3. Follow its onscreen wizard to reset the password.
With the password hint, you can change the password of a non-encrypted account. Then you can restart your Mac and log in to your Mac again.
3. Check and fix user preference settings
Sometimes, the .plist files related to user preferences could be changed. Then, your login information would not be accepted.
In this case, you can use the mv command in Terminal to rename the preference folder. And you can troubleshoot and nuke the problematic .plist file easily.
The other times you can't log in to the Mac just because the access to the user directory was changed. You can run chmod to change the access permission.
4. Reset launch services database
If the Mac gets stuck on the login screen and won't accept the password, you can remove the .csstore file ( a launch services database) in Terminal and fix the problem.
- 1. Open Terminal in macOS Recovery mode.
- 2. At the Terminal prompt, type find /private/var/folders grep com.apple.LaunchServices grep csstore, and then hit Enter.
- 3. Remove every .csstore file you can find by rm command.
Hopefully, you can log in to your Mac after a rebooting.
5. Reinstall macOS in macOS Recovery mode
Picture Stuck On Screen Mac
If you are not one of the situations above but see a folder with question mark on the Mac, you can simply reinstall the macOS to reset your Mac.
Apple App Icons
How to prevent data loss when you can't log into the Mac?
Probably, you have tried out all the solutions above, but your Mac kept stuck on loading or login screen. Then, you might want to erase your disk to reinstall macOS.
Icon Stuck On Screen Desktop
Before heading to erase the Mac hard drive, please make sure you have backed up your data. If you don't have backups, you can use Mac data recovery software like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. It would be helpful to recover lost data from the unbootable Mac.
To recover data from unbootable Mac, you need to run iBoysoft Data Recovery in macOS recovery mode.