Changing boot icons

[yerbito]

I have a 2013 iMac A1419 with Catalina and Windows 10.
I changed Windows 10 icon changing Windows EFI partition icon, but I can not change Catalina HDD icons. ¿Can you help me? Thanks.

 

[flowrider]

How do I change an external disks ICON in Catalina?

It is indeed an issue with Catalina: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/drive-icon.2223246/ I seem to have gotten around the problem by erasing the drive and changing the icon while the drive is MT, then cloning the drive using SuperDuper. Lou

forums.macrumors.com

Lou

 

[joevt]

Copy the icon between Preboot, Data, and System volumes? The System partition has a symbolic link (alias) to the icon in the Data volume. Replace the symbolic link with a copy of the icon.

You may need to mount the System partition as read/write.
mount | grep ' on / ' | grep -q 'read-only' && sudo mount -uw /

Use diskutil list to get a list of disks and partitions and volumes.
Use diskutil apfs list to get a list of apfs partitions and volumes.
Use mount to see where each is mounted.
If the System volume is on disk6s5 then the Data volume is most likely at disk6s1 and Preboot is at disk6s2.
Use diskutil mount disk6s2 to mount the Preboot partition (change the disk number if necessary).
Press Command-Shift-Period (.) to show invisible files.
The volume icon is in an invisible file called .VolumeIcon.icns
Use the rm command to remove the symbolic link on the System volume (usually at /.VolumeIcon.icns)
Use the cp command to copy the .VolumeIcon.icns from the source (usually on the Data volume at /System/Volumes/Data/.VolumeIcon.icns) to the destination in each of the other partitions (/Volumes/Preboot/ and /).

This way the icon will be visible in the Startup Manager (when you hold Option key at boot) and in earlier macOS versions such as High Sierra which do not understand the System/Data division of Catalina.

For older Macs, make sure you use a supported macOS version to create icons (pasting images into the icon part of a Get Info window of a volume). For example, the Startup Manager of the Mac Pro 2008 does not understand the icons created by Catalina, so use El Capitan in that case.

 

[yerbito]

Copy the icon between Preboot, Data, and System volumes? The System partition has a symbolic link (alias) to the icon in the Data volume. Replace the symbolic link with a copy of the icon.

You may need to mount the System partition as read/write.
mount | grep ' on / ' | grep -q 'read-only' && sudo mount -uw /

Use diskutil list to get a list of disks and partitions and volumes.
Use diskutil apfs list to get a list of apfs partitions and volumes.
Use mount to see where each is mounted.
If the System volume is on disk6s5 then the Data volume is most likely at disk6s1 and Preboot is at disk6s2.
Use diskutil mount disk6s2 to mount the Preboot partition (change the disk number if necessary).
Press Command-Shift-Period (.) to show invisible files.
The volume icon is in an invisible file called .VolumeIcon.icns
Use the rm command to remove the symbolic link on the System volume (usually at /.VolumeIcon.icns)
Use the cp command to copy the .VolumeIcon.icns from the source (usually on the Data volume at /System/Volumes/Data/.VolumeIcon.icns) to the destination in each of the other partitions (/Volumes/Preboot/ and /).

This way the icon will be visible in the Startup Manager (when you hold Option key at boot) and in earlier macOS versions such as High Sierra which do not understand the System/Data division of Catalina.

For older Macs, make sure you use a supported macOS version to create icons (pasting images into the icon part of a Get Info window of a volume). For example, the Startup Manager of the Mac Pro 2008 does not understand the icons created by Catalina, so use El Capitan in that case.

thanks so much for your reply.
i got it!!
I didnt need to use grep command, I didnt know how to use it
I used:

sudo mount -uw
diskutil list
diskutil mount disk1s2

But I cant copy the file .VolumeIcon.icns using Terminal app
I needed to use Finder app to locate where Preboot partition was mount and paste .VolumeIcon.icns there.

 

[joevt]

Commands that don't work by themselves will usually work with sudo, like this:
sudo cp sourcepath destinationpath
Basically, if the Finder asked you for a password to do something then it means you need to use sudo to do the same thing in Terminal.app (it will ask for your password).

 

[joevt]

The following command will open a Finder window for all Preboot partitions that are mounted (usually just the one that you just mounted manually):
open /Volumes/Preboot*

If you use the bless command on the Recovery volume's boot.efi file, then the Recovery volume may appear in the Startup Manager (at least it does for my old Mac Pro 2008). You'll want to copy the icon for that as well in case you have multiple OSs, each with their own Recovery volumes. Otherwise Command-R should still work to boot the normally hidden Recovery volume.

 

[DIY_glenn]

I've also been able to change the boot loader icon by just copying a .VolumeIcon.icns file to "Preboot" (usually disk1s2) under Catalina, but under Big Sur I still haven't found a way to properly mount and navigate the Preboot volume. Could anyone with more expertise than me test this?
Same with changing boot loader label on Big Sur, I guess that's a command involving "bless", and I think the system volume, not Preboot? Still haven't been able to figure this out in Big Sur.

 

[DIY_glenn]

I've also been able to change the boot loader icon by just copying a .VolumeIcon.icns file to "Preboot" (usually disk1s2) under Catalina, but under Big Sur I still haven't found a way to properly mount and navigate the Preboot volume. Could anyone with more expertise than me test this?
Same with changing boot loader label on Big Sur, I guess that's a command involving "bless", and I think the system volume, not Preboot? Still haven't been able to figure this out in Big Sur.

Fixed it:
Did it from Recovery Mode (CMD+R) then mounted Preboot from my system drive, and macOS - Data drive (diskutil apfs unlockVolume disk2s1).
Then I was able to copy from macOS data to Preboot and change icon under Big Sur.
Did not have the guts to try changing label, as mine is what I want it to be since install.

 

[SYNERGEIST]

I am on High Sierra. The windows icon is now working after inserting at the root of the EFI partition on the boot drive. All three OS's (Linux, win, high sierra) are on the same ssd. It is physical, not in a container. Changing the icon in the root partition of high sierra changes the icon on the drive image on the desktop but not at boot. Linux and HIgh.S. show the standard internal disk icon.

 

[joevt]

I am on High Sierra. The windows icon is now working after inserting at the root of the EFI partition on the boot drive. All three OS's (Linux, win, high sierra) are on the same ssd. It is physical, not in a container. Changing the icon in the root partition of high sierra changes the icon on the drive image on the desktop but not at boot. Linux and HIgh.S. show the standard internal disk icon.

What Mac are you using?
Is High Sierra on HFS+ or APFS?
If you have an old Mac, then the .VolumeIcon.icns has certain limitations/requirements.
https://gist.github.com/joevt/9fa524ebbef3db46842f14f33cf64ca5
#4

 

[joevt]

For High Sierra, if it's in a APFS container, then the icon needs to go in the Preboot volume. If an APFS container has more than one System volume, they will all use the same Preboot volume.