Where did "Finder" go on my Mac Book Pro?

[kakorako]

Recently I was running my Mac Book Pro "Finder" through root by entering "sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/… in my Terminal. I was going to simply change my Finder icon by doing this. So I went to /System/Library/CoreServices, found the Finder app, but I accidentally dragged and dropped it outside of my CoreServices folder and onto my desktop. Finder immediately shut off, and it did not appear on my desktop at all. My Finder icon is still in my dock, though, but when I click it I am met with the message "The application can't be found." I tried restarting my computer, but I'm getting the same results. Finder is still in my recent items, but when I click it, nothing happens.

If anyone knows how I can find Finder and get it running again, I will be eternally grateful! I'm desperate! Thanks in advance, and let me know if you need any further details.

 

[steve-p]

How about locating it in Terminal assuming that's still working:

sudo find / -name Finder.app

Once you find where it went, you can move it back with

sudo mv /path/to/finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

The find may take a long time BTW. Once it comes up with a location though you can abort it with Control C.

 

[kakorako]

Okay, it says it's located at:

/private/var/root/Desktop/Finder.app

The command to relocate doesn't seem to be working though, I get this message:
find: /dev/fd/3: Not a directory
find: /dev/fd/4: Not a directory

Any ideas as to what I should try next? Is there anyway to get back to my desktop through root or something?

Sorry, I obviously had no idea what I was doing when I screwed this up, thanks for your help so far.

 

[steve-p]

Those 'not a directory' messages are coming from find, which is normal but show that it may still be running. It shouldn't affect the mv operation to put it back though so don't worry about it for now. You should be able to start a new Terminal and do

sudo mv /private/var/root/Desktop/Finder.app /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

 

[kakorako]

Wow, that did it! I really can't thank you enough, honestly! I think I'm done screwing around with my mac until I know for sure what I'm doing. Thanks again man, I wish you the absolute best!

 

[steve-p]

OK, cool. Glad you got it straightened out. Chalk it down to a learning experience maybe. Apple hides some of this stuff from users for a reason