Custom icons not recognised on Boot Selection screen

[winterquilt]

I have customised the icons for all my main HDDs (HDD and external) but noticed that only the internal HDD's icon shows on the boot selection screen on start up (hold Alt key) and not the external HDDs e.g.:

http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/boot-mac-external-drive.jpg


Why are the custom icons not showing? It makes it easier to determine which volume I would like to boot from with the custom icons, over text (label) and placement, so how do I get the icons to be recognised with the other HDDs?

 

[winterquilt]

Anybody have an idea about this, it's still beating me, I don't understand why?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Probably because the OS isn't actually running. The Startup Manager doesn't have access to files.

 

[winterquilt]

That's a good point. However, as mentioned, my internal HDD (which uses a custom icon) does show, while the external SSD which I can also boot from does not. So I'm still at a loss as to why?

The image used is not my setup, but just something similar from the internet.

 

[DeltaMac]

What macOS versions are your internal, and external drives? Both the same?
I am running Sierra, and have an external boot for Mavericks.
I have another partition with High Sierra beta. The Mavericks drive won't show up in Startup Disk, but shows up fine in the boot picker screen. If I am booted to High Sierra, the Mavericks drive shows in Startup Disk, but I have to shut down completely before the Mavericks drive will appear on the Option boot pick screen --- doesn't show up on a simple restart. I think it is some kind of configuration that has changed when I first installed High Sierra, when it the installer updated the Boot ROM. My Mac is a 2012 mini, and the firmware changes might affect different Macs in different ways. I haven't really investigated this too much, just what changes I have noted on my own Mac. I'm not too bothered by it, and I know how to work around that when I reboot to another system.

 

[winterquilt]

I have El Capitan installed on both drives.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I have El Capitan installed on both drives.

I have 10.11.6 installed on a 2015 MacBook Pro 13" and my internal HD has a custom icon. The custom icon shows up for me on the boot selection screen. The same for my external hard drives which also have custom icons.

Maybe try SMC reset or reset PRAM.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm trying to get it to show one for me but no go. It may take the reset to get it to work. Haven't had a chance to try.

 

[winterquilt]

Thanks for the info.

I've tried both a "SMC" and "PRAM" reset, but to no avail:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks for the info.

I've tried both a "SMC" and "PRAM" reset, but to no avail:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

What do you OS X installed on (year and model)? OS X 10.11.6?

 

[winterquilt]

external SSD: v10.11.6 (15G1510)
internal HDD: v10.11.6 (15G1421)

 

[Taz Mangus]

external SSD: v10.11.6 (15G1510)
internal HDD: v10.11.6 (15G1421)

Just verify something, when you connect the external hard drive to your Mac and they mount, the hard drives show the custom icon? How did you change the hard drive icon?

 

[winterquilt]

I copied and pasted to the icon in the Get Info pane, at the top left.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I copied and pasted to the icon in the Get Info pane, at the top left.

This is very odd. The icons show up when mounted when logged in but not other wise. Do you have another Mac that you can try the hard drive on?

 

[winterquilt]

No, it's a smart idea though, I wish that I did and it is portable.

 

[Taz Mangus]

No, it's a smart idea though, I wish that I did and it is portable.

Try it at the Apple Store.

 

[winterquilt]

I'm not comfortable with that, I have to say.

It'll be a software issue no matter what, likely something that just needs resetting, or is in the wrong order, which would be fixed by resetting it, but I'm unsure what?

 

[Taz Mangus]

I'm not comfortable with that, I have to say.

It'll be a software issue no matter what, likely something that just needs resetting, or is in the wrong order, which would be fixed by resetting it, but I'm unsure what?

You could try this, create a new partition on your internal hard drive and install a clean copy of 10.11 on the new partition. Reboot to the new partition. Boot to the clean install. After that restart the computer to the boot selection.

 

[FrancoisC]

Try rEFInd, you can setup custom icon and more with it.

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

 

[winterquilt]

Taz Mangue: It's maybe getting a little out of hand now, a little bit too much for just an icon that could one day just appear! I am sure there is a simple process to take that would get it recognised, I'm just not sure what it is.

Thanks for contributing FrancoisC, but I'd feel better just sticking with the standard method from Apple.


Thanks guys.