Disappearing Dock

I have been having an issue with my Dock for sometime now. It has now finally given me enough grief to hopefully find a resolution.
I am running Mavericks 10.9.2 on a Mid 2012 MBPR.
When I start the mac from a cold boot, sometimes (becoming more frequent) the dock does not appear. The work around I have been using to restore it is as follows
1. Go to Apple --> Dock --> Turn on Hiding
2. Go to Apple --> Dock --> Turn Off Hiding : Dock reappears and everything functions as normal
Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your personal files or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Similar Messages

Flashing desktop from black to wall paper and disappearing dock

I have an iMac and recently it has started flashing every second between wallpaper and blank screen, the dock also disappears, this makes it very difficult to use, the only way to start an application id via the finder --> Go --> applications. Even though the application will run (very slowly) the desktop continue to flash away behind it. Any idea's

Which model iMac do you have? If under warranty and/or you have AC, call them. Let them deal w/the problem.
Out of warranty:
Set up a test account. Does the problem still show up there?
Try the following:
Apple Hardware Test
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379 Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
Even though the application will run (very slowly)
How large is your HD and how much space do you have left?

Disappearing Dock Icons since downloading iTunes 9

I just downloaded iTunes 9 and ever since I installed it on my macbook pro, dock icons have been disappearing. They are still there and I can click on them to launch the application, however the picture, for example the icon for iTunes is invisible.

I've got almost the same issue!
iTunes 9 itself has no Dock icon, but invisible icon still exists.
Trashed iTunes 9 and re-installed it with the .mpkg downloaded from apple.com ... funnily enough while installing, Installer.app had no icon! The iTunes icon remains invisible.
All other apps appear to be fine.

Help - Disappearing dock icon

Here is a strange one. A friend of mine has a MacBook w/Leopard and his iCal icon disappears from the doc when he closes the program. The date remains. The rest on the icon is gone. What can we do to fix this?

I've tried everyones suggestions with no solution... I did copy my iCal app from my other Mac running Leopard to my MacBook Pro and the deleted the caches/plist/etc. This fixed the calendar appts not showing up without navigating and the buttoms are now drawn in iCal and preferences (They werent prior).
Just need my Dock Icon fixed - drives me nuts!!

Disappearing dock -- Can't open Downloads folder

Hi All --
I have done a bit of browsing and I think my problem is related to a large jpeg file or something similar in the downloads folder that makes it impossible to open the "downloads" folder. I have tried to access the folder (to remove any large file) through many means without any luck. When I plug in my ext. drive and try to access my old back up downloads folder the finder crashes as well. It seems like every time I try to search or access the term "downloads" it crashes.
I have tried the kill dock thing for the dock -- it doesn't work. I think the problems are related. Can anyone help?
Thanks!!!

Double-click on your boot volume HD icon, select list view, click on the triangle next to Users, then on the one next to your user account, and then double-click on the Downloads folder.

Disappearing Dock & Task Bar Icons

I just installed OSX 6.8 on my MacBook Pro. Now some of the items in the dock no longer appear with their icons. The dock has a few blank spaces in it, but if you mouse over the blank space the identifying text appears. Same thing is true for the Task Bar that you get when you hit Command-Tab. Any ideas?

Are those items Apple applications or 3rd party apps you installed and perhaps moved to a custom location?
Do the dock icons still work or not?

Simple Solution to disappearing Dock

I had trouble figuring this out even when following the posted instructions that werent working for me. SO I just figured Id do a 'find' for the Dock folder, made a new folder on the desktop and named it whaterver, dragged all the contents from the Downloads folder into it and wouldnt you know it I got my Dock back. I trashed any suspect downloads and I have no more problems....yet.

Hello David,
I cannot agree with you I am afraid. iChat works fine for me on 10.4.3. I am sure it works fine for many others too. There are some set up issues, they seem to get resolved pretty quickly in here.
Not a criticism as such David - But suggesting that the best fix is a retro grade one is perhaps not the best resolution to a problem.
I am not saying I can fix your problem - there are many here better than me at sorting out problems ( I won't name names but they know who they are! ) :-)))
Why not post back with some more information about the problem. The set up there. Any error messages you get.... I'll bet you a Pound of Apples and a large Pineapple that some one can get you chatting happily on 10.4.3.
Now theres a challenge!!!
Best regards
Ian

Disappearing Dock in Lion 10.7.1

Have been running Lion for a month. This oddity just started today. I noted the dock (set for bottom of screen, in "hiding" mode) would not open at all. When I open the dock settings under the Apple menu, no settings are available. When I open Dock under System Prefs, I can set the dock for either left or right side, but NOT the bottom. So if I click on the "left" button, surer enough the dock opens from the left. Click the "right" button, and it opens from the right. But click that "bottom" button, and two things happen: the beach ball starts spinning for about two minutes, and during that time BOTH the previously selected button AND the "bottom" button are "lit up". And the result is no dock.
Tried two restarts, plus a third along with a PRAM reset. No change.
So, I DO have access to a functioning dock, as long as it displays on either left or right side. If you want it across the bottom though, you are out of luck.
Very odd. Yesterday it worked. Today it absolutely does not. No system changes to the machine.

Don't know, but if you have Parallels installed I'd do two things:
i. take it out of your startup list and see if everything is OK.
ii. Make sure you've updated the latest build from Parallels; the one that was released for Lion OS X

Disappearing Dock in Personas

I'm looking for a way to undo something I've done in Personas. To duplicate the problem, make a copy of any transaction that utilizes a DockableContainer (IW56, for instance).
Select the TableTreeView control and hide it.
Now select the StretchableContainer that was beneath the TableTreeView and change the DockType from "Right" to "Hidden".
Notice that the container divider is now missing. Save & Exit, then Edit the Flavor again. Try to unhide the StretchableContainer or TableTreeView. Everywhere I click in that section of the screen now only gives me access to UserArea.
So, how do I get my Dock back to the way it was in the beginning, with the divider splitting the screen and my menu options to "Create Repair Order" unhidden?

Tamas is right. You can undo back through a save. Even multiple saves. Even if you have logged out and returned days later. The only thing that removes the undo history is copying a flavour - the copy operation does not copy the history.
In fact, it is recommended to copy flavors that have been in development a long time, because they perform better if the history has been removed.
Steve.

Disappearing Dock, App Switcher then CRASH!

Dock stops responding and can't apple-tab between apps. Finder responds but is VERY slow. Open applications work just fine... if you can get to them!!
Logout, restart or shut down from the Finder menu causes a complete CRASH.
Experienced user. Have run all the normal diagnostics - cleared caches, plist files, etc etc...
There seems to be similar postings here... any experts got better ideas on what might be the problem here?
Looking forward to some technical replies...
Cheers.

I'm confronting a similar problem.
The cursor won't activate the dock and the function keys stop functioning. You can still navigate around the desktop, but it gets sluggish. If you try to log out or restart it crashes.
I trashed the dock preference as one reader suggested. Stop working again in less than 2 hours.
Only thing I've done is do a security update before this started happening. Could it be the latest security update.
This whole thing reminds me of a virus attack.

More about the mystery of the disappearing dock

addendum: the dock is below the screen. when I click at the bottom of the screen it pops up, but does not stay. ???????????????????

Go to Dock in System Preferences. Uncheck auto hide.

Disappearing Dock + Spinning Ball with 10.6.8

Only recently and now all the time, I'm losing my dock on my Macbook Pro, and getting the spinning ball while doing practically anything. At the same time as the ball appears, the harddrive runs like it's trying to do something. I have to reboot to get it back to half normal, and that doesn't always bring the dock back.
And, during the dock malfunction, has anyone else noticed a tiny white light in the bottom left corner flickering like a harddrive status LED?
Has Apple gone off it's rocker? Or is there a virus I'm not aware of?

If you have Parallels or VM Fusion installed you should upgrade to the newest version to fix the Dock problem.
If the above doesn't apply to you then try removing the /Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist file. Then open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and paste the following at the command prompt:
killall Dock
Press RETURN.

Dock icons disappear after 10.5.7 upgrade & .mac sync

Hi -
I have recently upgraded to 10.5.7, but now I am "loosing" dock icons after a .Mac (mobileme) sync. If I place an icon in the dock, it will remain in-place for about ~5 seconds then disappear completely.
I tried renaming my ~/Library, logging out then logging in, and although it was a "fresh" user the dock was working correctly (I could drag apps into it just fine with disappearing).
When I replaced my real ~/Library, the disappearing dock icon issue returned.
Has anyone else experienced this, or does anyone know what is going on with the 10.5.7 upgrade to cause this issue? I have quite a lot of necessary things in my Library (about 21gb worth) so can't really do without it.
TIA,
C.

Thanks for your reply.
I couldn't reset the mobile me sync data; the settings would not save and also my various machines which are sync'ed via mobile me were not displayed.
So I used TimeMachine to restore a copy of my Library (from a version which was about a week old) and all seems back to normal now. I then reset the sync database as you suggested, which worked fine. Thank goodness for backups!

Why does my Firefox Persona keep disappearing!?

I'm on Windows 7, using Firefox version 3.6.15 - Everytime I re-boot my PC and start up Firefox the persona I've had applied is gone. I checked my Add-ons / Themes, which do show the theme when I apply it to Firefox, but it's gone after re-booting my PC.
Any way to fix this?
Also one side question. Why do certain parts of this website appear in Russian? I'm not Russian, and never used a Russian language setting before...=S

I've been having this problem and posted a solution that seems to work on my blog:
[http://formattc.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-disappearing-dock-icons/ Fix Disappearing Dock Icons in Snow Leopard]

How can I stop from second window opening small in Safari and browser bar floating in and out like the dock?

Every so often I will click on a link in safari and it opens a second window. It opens it small. I can click the two diagonal arrow in the upper right hand corner and go to full view but then the browser bar at th top and all the Safari stuff like file, edit, view, history etc float up out of site. Much like the disappearing dock I can get it come back by going up by it. This is very frustrating. I have fixed it in the past but each time it is very difficult to find out how to do it. First why does this start happening? and if it does how can I get it to go back to the normal way? I will then bookmark the answer so I will be able to fix it quickly if it happens again.

I may not have called things the proper name. I am re-wording this now. Hopefully this makes it clearer.
Every so often,(3 times in 4 months), I will click on a web site and a new window will open much smaller than the standard window. I can enlarge the window by click the two arrows in the upper right hand corner but the menu bar disappears and reappears if you hover over it. I tried what some said above and when the window was small dragged it to the same size as the window under it, menu bars all visible. I closed that window and reopened it and it opened small again. I can go for several weeks and all additional windows open the correct size and with menus visible, then it goes into this mode. Everything running Lion 10.7.2 and Sarafi 5.1.1
I straightened it out one time or got it to stop doing that but don't remember how I did it. My husband fixed it the second time and he isn't around today. Anyone able to help?

Disappearing Dock

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for