Dock is not running

Moving ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist would be one solution. If you have access to Finder, do it there. If not, type this into Terminal:

Code:

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist ~/Desktop

However, this will remove the majority of your dock settings. There are a few methods that preserve your settings.

Removing the offending key
Since it is likely that this most recent entry has caused the problem we can remove the key thats holds the items in the right side of the dock. In Terminal:

Code:

defaults delete com.apple.dock persistent-others

This will trash the right side of your Dock.

I could go further, and dig down to the offending subkey but I think we will leave it at this, plus I am tired.

In either case, run

Code:

killall Dock

after and you should be back in business.

Edit: On second thought, you may need to reboot or logout since Dock.app is presumably not running (it probably is, but is hung).

 

I saw that tip in MacWorld yesterday. Since the only two things it does that I'd use are already in the Menu Bar, I didn't do it. I didn't want to execute that killall Dock command anyway!

Did you replace the Dock's plist file? Was it a pain to reset your prefs?