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sandimacd

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
120
3
FL
Safari window has disapeared. I verify permissions routinely in Disk Utility and did so yesterday under my log in account. Today when I logged on and clicked the Safari dock icon I can see Safari in the Apple menu bar. All history is there but grayed out. No Safari window. I tried to quit and reload then tried a force quit. Nothing, no Safari window, just shows it is open. I shut down and restarted my iMac 10.6.6. Same problem.
Finder is also missing. The icon is in the dock but no Finder window launches when I click on it. I can click the desktop iMAC HD icon to open Finder so it is there. But clicking the dock Finder icon does nothing except show the Finder in the Apple menu bar. The rest of my Dock icons work fine to launch apps as expected.
Did Utility permissions do something? Or do I have another problem?
My husband has an account on the same iMac and his Finder and Safari dock icons work normally.
 

v66jack

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2009
669
1
London, UK
Have you tried doing a two finger click on the dock icon then, then clicking open? If this doesn't work maybe remove the items from the dock and then put them back.

If it still not working I guess you would have to create another account on the mac and move all of your stuff over.
 

sandimacd

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
120
3
FL
Not sure what you mean by a 2 finger click? Do I right and left click at the same time with the mouse? I did try a double click. The iMac doesn't have a trackpad so I don't use swipes

I tried dragging Finder off the dock- it won't do anything, just sits there so I can't remove it.

I thought about creating a new account too but deciding whether to reinstall from Time Machine back up or just go from scratch and not inherit any problems.

Was just hoping there might be a know solution to this problem.
 

Gregg2

macrumors 604
May 22, 2008
7,170
1,162
Milwaukee, WI
Not sure what you mean by a 2 finger click?
..on a laptop. this was overlooked:
My husband has an account on the same iMac and his Finder and Safari dock icons work normally.
But that tells us something is wrong with your account. You can try to find it, but if you fail, you're better off creating and migrating your stuff to a new account. Try this:

move com.apple.safari.plist
and com.apple.finder.plist
to your Desktop

They are both found in your Home folder: HD/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences

restart the computer, go back into Safari
Those two actions recreate new default plist files for Finder and Safari, respectively.
 
Last edited:

sandimacd

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
120
3
FL
thanks Gregg2!
It worked for Safari- I have that back and working. Sweet!

Not so with Finder. I tried it once more and restarted. Now it won't launch a Finder Window when I select the iMAC HD desktop icon. I can use a folder shortcut on my desktop to get into Finder and that puts the white light dot under Finder on Dock. A right click shows a check mark to the left of my User folder and my iMac Folder.

I guess the Disk Utilities must have repaired permissions somehow to cause problems. I have the MAC OS X Tech Tools app so may explore repairing with that next.

Appreciate all your help!
 

sandimacd

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
120
3
FL
well I tried one other thing. I have 2 macs networked, same 10.6.6. Since I couldn't access the iMac Finder to get to Preferences folder I did so through the other Mac Mini. I shut down and restarted the iMac. Before logging in I copied the MacMini Finder finder plist to the iMac Preference folder. Then logged it to the iMac and did another Disk Utility permission repair and verified the drive (OK). Was pleasantly surprised to be able to once again launch Finder on the iMac.
So problem solved for now.
 
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