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Thin red vertical line on desktop

I've seen other posts about a thin red line on an iMac screen. Mine is a little different in that it's only on the desktop, but doesn't show up on any opened documents, web pages, etc. It does show through any icons that happen to be on that part of the desktop. I don't think it's an LED issue--I'm assuming that would affect the screen view of documents as well. Any theories? Thanks for your help.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.14

Posted on May 7, 2023 5:59 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 8, 2023 6:16 AM

Test using Safe Mode.

see > How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


Accelerated graphics are disabled in Safe Mode.

Does the line go away in Safe Mode and then return after restarting normally?

10 replies

May 7, 2023 7:39 PM in response to billanschell

I don't think that's it. If you look at the first screenshot, you'll see that the line shows on top of a folder on my desktop. If it were part of my desktop image the folder would cover it. (And I've had the same desktop image for years; the red line just suddenly showed up yesterday). To be certain, I tried a different desktop image, and the red line is still there.

Thin red vertical line on desktop

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