System 7/8: Lost icons

[JDW]

Something happened on my SE/30 and I've lost most, but not all, the icons of my apps and documents. Don't know when it happened either, as I only noticed it today while shooting photos. I tried everything in vain to fix it though, running Norton Utilities under System 7, running Disk First Aid 8.6 under OS 8.1, running Tech Tool Pro, rebuilding the desktop manually, etc. All the utilities also fixed bundle bits, but that didn't solve the problem. And yes I've restarted multiple times into Systems 7.1, 7.5.5, 7.6.1 and OS 8.1. I even ran Disk Warrior 2.1, but that didn't fix it either.

In the past, a Desktop file rebuild always fixed these things. But not now.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

 

[JDW]

Too late. I've answered my own question.

After reading this Apple support article on the subject, I restarted with Extensions OFF and tried a Desktop rebuild. That worked to restore the icons!

 

[wood_e]

Good times with classic Mac OSes

 

[JDW]

I am rehashing this thread because I've grown weary with repeated Desktop file rebuilds under OS 8.1.

As many of you know, I have multiple OS's on my SE/30. I can switch among System 6.0.8, System 7 versions 7.1 ~ 7.6.1, and OS 8.1. Under System 6 I have a little INIT called Desktop Manager that prevents the Desktop file from being constantly rebuilt after I switch from System 7 to 6 and back. (You can read more about the INIT in this article.)

Desktop Manager works great to eliminate Desktop file rebuilds when switching from System 6 <-> System 7, but it does not work to prevent the same problem from occurring under OS 8.1.

Would any of you know a means (or have the capability to program a means) of preventing Desktop rebuilds under 8.1 when switching OS's frequently? For right now, it takes 15 horrible minutes each time I wish to rebuild all 3 partitions on my 4.5GB hard drive on the SE/30 (plus the time required to reboot with extensions OFF to do that). But if I cancel the rebuild when it first appears in OS 8.1, not only do I lose all my icons, but clicking on files no longer auto-launches the appropriate application to run that file! It's an enormous headache. Please help!

Thank you!

 

[Charlieman]

I presume that you only experience the problem when switching directly from System 6.x into Mac OS 8.1? Desktop Manager fixes the ability to switch between System 6 and 7.x in either direction. And problems should be rare when switching in either direction between System 7.x and Mac OS 8.1. What is the experience when switching from Mac OS 8.1 into 6.x?

If my summary accurately describes your experience, the obvious thing to do is to avoid switching directly from System 6 into Mac OS 8.1, using System 7 as an intermediary boot stage. Unfortunately, you'll just have to remember not to do the things that cause problems.

Programatically, a partial fix is possible. You'd need to write an INIT (or three) that checked for a flag indicating which OS version was last used to boot the Mac. If the current OS was 8.1, the INIT would halt the boot process before the Finder launched (the Finder and an associated service manage the desktop files which cause the problems you see), display the Startup control panel dialog and force a reboot before problems are created.

Hacking the Desktop Manager to recognise Mac OS 8.1 is also a possibility, but it may not be trivial.

 

[JDW]

Actually, I always get the dialog to rebuild the desktop in OS 8.1 when switching into 8.1 from 7.x. I may or may not have switched from 6.0.8 into 7.x prior to ultimately switching into 8.1. So I can tell you for a fact that switching into 7 as an intermediary stage is not a fix for this problem, unfortunately.

As to hacking the Desktop Manager, if I were a Macintosh programer I would certainly give it a try. But alas, such is beyond my capabilities.

 

[porter]

It may also be a good idea to not change anything. Different versions of Mac OS stored different information in the desktop files, switching back and forth may well confuse them if they don't rebuild the desktop.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Try this:

Write AppleScripts for system 7 to reboot into 8, and for 8 to reboot into 7. The script could automatically move one desktop file to a "Disabled" location, then move the other back to the normal location, then switch the startup disk and restart for you. It could do this in all 3 partitions.

Then if you want 6 while in 8, use the script to reboot to 7, then reboot to 6. If you want to go from 6 to 8, reboot to 7 then use the script to go to 8. Because I presume that there's no problem switching between 6 & 7.

There are only 2 potential problems I see with this:

1. Getting AppleScript to move a hidden file.

2. Maybe the desktop file is written to when the shutdown command is invoked. This could defeat the whole purpose.