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Navvier

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 4, 2018
73
24
Hello, i and my colleagues face some weird behavior of desktop icons when external monitor is connected to the mac.
Icons become visible through mission control. It is hard to describe the issue, better to show it:


so it can be reproduced each time I run mission control on some full screen app on laptop's internal screen.

video was taken from new m3 max while another external monitor was connected via HDMI. No time machine backups or migration assistants were used ever.

Moreover, i checked my second mac - intel based on Sonoma - it has the same issue. I checked my wife's mac - all the same.

UPDATE: i've uploaded another video with this issue
 
Last edited:
Go to your Sonoma Mac. System Settings/Desktop & Dock, then Click Wallpaper to Reveal Desktop: Select "Only in Stage Manager"
on that same page, under Mission Control... Turn Off (or turn on?) "Displays have separate spaces"
 
Sure, done it multiple times already, also restart, safe mode, cache cleaning, nvram reset, even clean install from usb
 
I would go through the variety of settings that are, perhaps, related to your desktop issue, and change status on those settings (one at a time, to help keep track of changes you make). I expect you will find some setting that is providing that result, maybe one that is something that you might always have changed, because of your work flow. It will likely be something connected with mission control (Do you use stage manager at all? Is it turned on, or off? )

Honestly, I have watched your video a dozen times, and I am still at a loss trying to decide what it is that makes that happen, other than something in mission control settings.

You said that this only happens when you add in an external screen. Is your video showing what happens on both your internal screen, and the external screen, and mirrored on both screens? Or is it just on one screen, with the other screen basically normal? (which screen has worse "motion"?)
 
I would go through the variety of settings that are, perhaps, related to your desktop issue, and change status on those settings (one at a time, to help keep track of changes you make). I expect you will find some setting that is providing that result, maybe one that is something that you might always have changed, because of your work flow. It will likely be something connected with mission control (Do you use stage manager at all? Is it turned on, or off? )

Honestly, I have watched your video a dozen times, and I am still at a loss trying to decide what it is that makes that happen, other than something in mission control settings.

You said that this only happens when you add in an external screen. Is your video showing what happens on both your internal screen, and the external screen, and mirrored on both screens? Or is it just on one screen, with the other screen basically normal? (which screen has worse "motion"?)
Hello, i've uploaded one more video in the 1st post
 
Hmm... I am still not seeing what you are describing as "icons moving with the screen". The icons that i see remain stationary when you move the desktop folders across your screen. And, looks completely normal to me, depending on a setting in the various mission control settings.
Assuming this is a setting of some kind, and is now different than what you expect-- does it affect your workflow in some way?
 
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