Lion won't display multiple application windows at once

I apologize in advance if someone else has already posted this problem, but I've searched and searched and found nothing on it. It's a hard one to describe, so bear with me.
Basically, since installing Lion (currently 10.7.4) on my home iMac, I've been unable to have windows for more than one application appear at one time. For the most part, applications run just fine. But say I have Adobe Illustrator open and want to drag an image from a folder in Finder into my document. The second I select Finder from the Dock, Illustrator disappears. Click back on Illustrator from the dock, and it reappears, but now my Finder window has gone AWOL. Seems like it's all still there, just becomes invisible. At no time will it display more than one application. Two windows of the same application? No problem. But any time I switch between apps, it shows only the most recently selected app, regardless of what's actually running on my machine. Makes dragging and dropping from one app to another near impossible.
I've read about problems regarding apps becoming invisible, but virtually all posts say they also become unresponsive (ie. don't come back at all when reselected from the Dock), and that quitting and restarting the app generally fixes the problem. This isn't the case for me. Quitting and restarting does nothing. Even a fresh install of Lion did nothing. I find it hard to imagine this could be a hardware issue though. My iMac works perfectly otherwise, and this behaviour is just bizarre. Consequently, I haven't ruled out the possibility of demonic possesion, but I figured if anyone can help solve this riddle, it's all you lovely people.
As for my current settings, I have no desktops/spaces setup (aside from the one), and have turned off all associated features for Mission Control in the System Preferences – more out of an attempt to simplify in the hopes that it would help than out of any dislike for the features. The iMac itself is a 20-inch, early 2008 with 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo and 4 GB SDRAM.
Really don't know where else to turn. I've got my finger crossed that the problem will fade into memory once Mountain Lion is released, but that leaves me high and dry until then (which ***** the big one). Any help would result in my undying gratitude! Heck, help me solve this and I'll mail you a beer!

That sounds like somehow the Single Application Mode has been turned on.  I don't know the Terminal command to turn it off, but the free 3rd-party application TinkerTool has it. 
For some reason, it's on the Dock page:
If it's checked, remove it. 
If it's not checked, check it, Relaunch, then remove the check.
Message was edited by: Pondini

Similar Messages

  • Viewing multiple application windows simultaneously

    Is it possible to view (float) multiple application windows simultaneously on a MacBook. For example, I am viewing a tutorial on Firefox while working on an image in Photoshop at the same time to try out the suggestions in the tutorial. I have to shift from one application to the other (command + tab) to go back and forth to view one or the other window. It would be great to be able to "float" a window from Firefox over the Photoshop window so I could read the tutorial while working in Photoshop. Right now, if I click on one application, it covers over the other application completely, requiring that I switch back and forth between the two. If an application window (Firefox tutorial) could float above the other one (Photoshop image), I could read the tutorial while still working on the Photoshop image.
    Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
    [email protected]

    You could resize the windows so that both fit on the screen. Granted the screen size doesn't afford a lot of space for this so I have come up with 2 different methods for solving this problem. One is using Spaces. If application A is on one Space and B is on another, using a hot corner or keystroke can change from A to B quickly. My other solution was adding a 21.5" monitor to my work station giving me enough screen real estate for multiple window display.

  • Displaying all application windows through Hot Corners is no longer working.

    I have my MacBook Pro and my iMac setup to display APPLICATION WINDOWS through the upper right HOT CORNER.   It is no longer working on my iMac.  Instead, the system only displays the top/recent used window.  The display separates and shows the most recent window floating, but, no longer does it arrange windows of each application on the desktop.  There are no other options, it's either set in HOT CORNERS or not.   What changed?   It still works on my MacBook.  Version update = 10.10.2 (14C1514)

    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 documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; 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.
    Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.
    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 in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is 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.

  • [SOLVED] Xmobar won't display over app windows on Xmonad

    Xmobar will not start automatically or display over top of application windows in Xmonad.  It does launch if I explicitly launch it from an xterm.  However, it only shows up on empty workspaces.  It doesn't matter if an application window was opened before or after the launching of xmobar.  It will always cover it up.
    My relevent installed packages are xmobar, xmonad, xmonad-contrib, hsetroot, some gtk user applications, X, and the free ATI video drivers.  I've pastebin'd my bash_profile, .xinitrc, .xmonad.hs, and .xmobarrc.  I also included the output of pacman -S xmonad-contrib as it complained about some doc files missing.
    .bash_profile:  http://pastebin.com/zAVt2jCa
    .xinitrc: http://pastebin.com/HzCmvTgD
    .xmonad.hs: http://pastebin.com/6vt7qK3m
    .xmobarrc: http://pastebin.com/GqpXeuSc
    pacman -S xmonad-contrib: http://pastebin.com/wtN2S533
    I don't know any Haskell, and I'm an Arch n00b, so I've mostly gone off templates and some irc help.  So if there's anything utterly silly about my setup, let me have it. =P  Thanks for the help guys.
    edit:  Just a thought:  When I was running Debian, I actually had the same exact problem.  However, I was using a completely different users xmonad.hs and xmobarrc.  At the time I chalked it up to gdm or nautilus or something from GNOME running in the background.  But since I'm having the same problem on an entirely different machine with an entirely differnet users config files and probably different versions of everything..  could it be video card related?
    Last edited by drvladimirtzu (2012-09-29 07:57:16)

    So it turns out, I had xmonad.hs as ~/.xmonad.hs not ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs...  Pretty embarassing.  But I'll resist the temptation to delete the thread in hopes someone gets a chuckle out of it.  In my defence, I did figure it out all on my own.

  • SCCM 2012 R2: easy way to disable/enable MULTIPLE maintenance windows at once?

    I have been racking my brain on this one for a while.
    Scenario: you have an ADR set up that is deploying updates once a month. You have multiple collections set up that each have their own special maintenance window (example: 1st weekend - sat - 8-9pm)
    Then, one week you are asked to not deploy updates for the upcoming weekend. Well, the ADR already ran and the machines for "1st weekend" are just waiting for the maintenance window to open. Now, at this point you can obviously go into EACH collection
    associated with "1st weekend" and disable the maintenance window. But if you are asked to do this often and/or you have multiple collections with maintenance windows this could be a hassle.
    Is there a way to easily enable and disable multiple maintenance windows at a time?
    GUI: I have not found a way to select multiple collections and disable all MWs
    PowerShell-module: set-CMMaintenanceWindow doesn't appear to have ability to modify "IsEnabled" property of MWs
    PowerShell-WMI: Can't find in WMI where to modify "Isenabled" Property
    Please see my other thread
    regarding PowerShell
    What other creative options are there? Disable a service via PowerShell on members of "1st Weekend" collections? Which service? Should I be looking in SQL? Where? Other options in GUI?
    I may end up getting stuck doing this manually but I want to make sure I am not overlooking something first... it's such a simple task - just seems like there should be an easy way to accomplish this.
    (And please, for the sake of my question, lets not get into the semantics of whether or not the ADR technically DEPLOYS the updates or not.)

    I didn't even think about that.... so having one MW that is disabled or having no MW at all would allow the client to install at will? I guess I was thinking that if it had a MW but it was disabled it just wouldn't update.
    The MWs on the collections are all different.
    Perhaps I need to re-assess my approach...
    The original plan was to have one ADR (patch tuesday) update 1 SUG (which is deployed to all machines) each month. Machines would then install based off MWs.
    Now I'm thinking it might be best to have 2 ADRS:
    ADR1- updates existing SUG which is already deployed to Dev/Test machines.
    ADR2- creates new SUG - which I then manually deploy to Prod collections. 
    This would automate the deployment to Non-Prod machines but it would give me the power to withhold updates to Prod machines for the month if needed.

  • Desktop won't display after login window

    Hi,
    I'm trying to help my sister in-law with her computer (PowerBook G4). She claimed it was having a lot of problems and thought a clean install would fix things. However she had lost her install discs, and now I've seemed to make things worse.
    I started by trying to back up her computer - copying the hard drive to an external HD. However I kept getting a -36 Error. I then connected her PowerBook G4 to my MacBook Pro (10.5.8 2.33 Intel) via Firewire and in Target mode used Disk Utility to make a disk image. Unfortunately I got the -36 Error again. I Repaired the hard drive with disk utility, but it said everything was fine. Then I read on the forum that the -36 Error meant that it was a corrupt file that was causing the issue. Since it always errored out in the same area, I simply deleted the folder in that area. After that, the disk image worked.
    (This part is bad - I know now, but didn't when I did it:) I then put in the gray install CD from my MacBook Pro (Intel) into her PowerBook G4. I opened the system preferences and changed the startup disk from "Macintosh HD" to my install disk. I restarted the computer... it did not boot up. I connected the two laptops again and force restart in target mode. I was able to eject the CD so that when it restarted again, it reverted back to the "Macintosh HD" This is when I discovered that the gray discs are specific to computer and my plan would not work.
    However, now her computer boots up to the Login window as normal... but when you login... the "blue desktop image with design" displays, but no icons appear. The computer hard drive spins, the monitor will go to sleep and wake up, the trackpad will move the arrow, but no icons and now menus?? I've left it overnight to see if it eventually will change, but nothing changes. If I press keys, the first few won't do anything, but it quickly gets to a point where it just beeps at me each time I press a key.
    I can sign in using single user and already ran the fsck that is mentioned throughout the forums. It (like the disk utility) finds no errors. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
    Thanks!

    Hi BD & RC,
    The new user reset worked great to allow me to login again. Instead of doing a clean install, I just went through her applications and deleted ones that I thought could be suspect for some of the issues she was having. It seems to be running fine.... with one exception... the Airport won't work.
    When I went into the Network settings, it was stuck in a continuous loop with the error "Another application has changed your network settings." I saw BD's help on another post to go into security and check "Require Password to unlock each secure system preference" to break the loop ( huge THANKS!!). After trying to set up multiple new locations, it finally dawned on me that the Airport was not an option. When went into System Profiler and chose Airport Card, it says "No information found."
    So long story short... it appears that with all the little issues going on on this computer, the monster issue wouldn't have been solved by a clean install anyway (you were right RC)... the Airport Express card must have died.
    I guess she'll either need to start connecting with an ethernet cable or buy a new airport extreme card.
    Thanks for all your help guys!

  • Firefox 6 Won't display add ins window

    I upgraded from 5 to 6. Now when I click on Tools/add-ons, a blank window opens and it stays clocking without ever displaying the add-ons. I have reinstalled V5. All the add-on work fine in V5. I am not going to uninstall add-ons to see if it causes this issue. The Firefox philosophy of breaking add-ons with each release and having authors re-write them is crazy. There have been 3 releases in 3 months - 2 in less than a month.

    I can't tell how far the player gets in loading. All I see is a blank white block of space where the player would normally be loaded. I used the term 'embedded' as that seemed the correct term to use. If incorrect, that's only due to my unfamiliarity with the correct terminology of having a flash video within a web page. BTW, I neglected to mention that the same page that Firefox has problems with is displayed fine in Safari. Screen grab attached showing blank space where Safari displays a functional plug-in.

  • Expose won't display all applications

    Hello,
    Expose on my 2.3 GHz i5 Macbook Pro (Snow Leopard 10.6.8) will not open all windows.  When I hit F3 or perform the Expose gesture on my trackpad, only minimized applications appear.  I can cycle through active applications by clicking on the icons in the Dock or command+tab-ing while Expose is open, but I can't show them all at once.  Spaces is disabled. Any help is appreciated!
    Best,
    -Nathan

    Okay so I've checked that.  I can start expose, but my active applications are somehow hidden.
    Above is a screen capture with expose on.  I'm sure that I'm just missing some setting that hides the active windows.  Curiously enough, it does show applications that have been minimized, as shown below:
    Notice I have many active applications, yet it only shows ones that are minimized.  As stated in the original post, I can cycle though the applications as well; I just can't show them all on this macbook, like I can on any other copy of OS x.

  • Mountain Lion won't display wacom cintiq screen

    Since mountain lion is installed, I experienced the problem a lot of people had : the express key lags on cintiq 21UX 2010.
    But I didn't have the time to fix it. Now the cintiq as second screen can't be displayed.
    After running all dignosis recommanded by the very reactive wacom support team, my imac still doesn't recognize my cintiq screen.
    The tablet itself can be displayed as USB material (after a very long moment of confusion for the lion of the mountain and some message saying there is a problem with my tablet's driver), and can be used as a mouse. -a little expensive for a mouse?-
    If there is no way for apple and wacom to be sync about that, how can I go back on wonderful snow leopard?

    STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO RECOGNIZE AND IMPORT MTS FILES. (No help from Apple.)
    After 4 frustrating hours and about 40 useless minutes wasted on Apple Support chat, I figured this out.
    Okay, here are the steps to allow Mountain Lion to see your MTS files on a Panasonic camera SD card and import them:
    Click on your camera SD card.
    RIGHT Click on PRIVATE icon. (This used to be a folder, now it is a Quicktime logo.)
    Pull down command for “Show Package Contents”
    Click on AVCHD
    Pull down command for “Show Package Contents”
    Click on BDMV
    Pull down command for “Show Package Contents”
    Open the folder called STREAM
    There are your MTS files. Select them and copy them to a folder on your hard drive.
    Purchase some type of video converter (I paid 30 bucks for Bigasoft Converter and it works.)
    Import the MTS files into the video converter and set the commands (This is several more steps, which you will have to figure out.) This will take quite a while for large, High Def files.
    Save converted files to your hard drive.
    NOW, finally FCP X will let you import and edit your files.
    Thanks Apple for adding 12 steps where it should take one. “Log and Transfer” or IMPORT.  You should fix this.
    It took me about 4 hours of frustration to figure this out. Apple support chat service was no help at all. The girl in chat had no understanding of video files.
    Thank you Apple, for hiding these files behind your Quicktime logo, thanks for adding extra steps and decreasing productivity. I've been using Macintosh computers since 1987. I would not own a PC, but Apple is not what it used to be. Why would you not just let the .MTS files show without hiding them?

  • Mail won't display the viewer window, and it will not close (force quit does not show in menu bar).  Can't shut down to reboot because the open mail program prevents it.   Any advice?

    Mail does not show the viewer window even when new viewer window is cliced.  I tried to close mail and reopen, but it will not close, and force quit option does not appear in window bar.   I tried to shut down the computer and reboot, but it cannot close because of open mail program it says.    Help!

    Many thanks.  Once I was able to close mail, it reopened and behaved quite normally.  Thank you.  I'll remember the option quit for force quite!

  • Mountain Lion won't display .MTS files from camera SD card in the finder

    OS Mountain Lion will not show .MTS files from my camera SD card in the finder.
    I don't want to play them. I just need to see a list of the files so that I can copy them off the card onto a hard drive. I know how to convert them.
    I have a Panasonic High Def video camera that records .MTS files.
    I understand how to convert MTS files for editing in Final Cut Pro. It is not a problem. I have  been doing this with no problems using OS 10.7.5
    I plug in my camera, and the SD card shows up as a hard drive in my finder. I click on the hard drive icon and it opens several folders. DCIM, MISC, PRIVATE.
    I click on the PRIVATE folder and subfolders open. I click on the AVCHD folder, and then go down to STREAMING, and there are the MTS files.  I select them and import them into BIGASOFT video converter and convert them to .MOV files, which I can edit in FCP.
    So that works great in OS 10.7.5
    Here is my problem:
    On my new MacBook Pro with OS10.8.3 I plug in the camera. It reads the SD card.
    I see the folder DCIM and I see the folder MISC. But the PRIVATE folder (where the .MTS files reside) shows up as a QuickTime icon.  I click on that, but the MTS files do not show up.
    I don’t need to play the MTS files. I don’t need to know how to convert them. I can do that.
    I right clicked on the PRIVATE (not folder but QT icon) and selected "show package contents." That gave me another list, with an icon for AVCHD, but when I right clicked again and selected "show package contents" the MTS files would not appear.
    I just need to be able to see as a list and copy them on to a hard drive.  Why does Apple make this so hard? 

    STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO RECOGNIZE AND IMPORT MTS FILES. (No help from Apple.)
    After 4 frustrating hours and about 40 useless minutes wasted on Apple Support chat, I figured this out.
    Okay, here are the steps to allow Mountain Lion to see your MTS files on a Panasonic camera SD card and import them:
    Click on your camera SD card.
    RIGHT Click on PRIVATE icon. (This used to be a folder, now it is a Quicktime logo.)
    Pull down command for “Show Package Contents”
    Click on AVCHD
    Pull down command for “Show Package Contents”
    Click on BDMV
    Pull down command for “Show Package Contents”
    Open the folder called STREAM
    There are your MTS files. Select them and copy them to a folder on your hard drive.
    Purchase some type of video converter (I paid 30 bucks for Bigasoft Converter and it works.)
    Import the MTS files into the video converter and set the commands (This is several more steps, which you will have to figure out.) This will take quite a while for large, High Def files.
    Save converted files to your hard drive.
    NOW, finally FCP X will let you import and edit your files.
    Thanks Apple for adding 12 steps where it should take one. “Log and Transfer” or IMPORT.  You should fix this.
    It took me about 4 hours of frustration to figure this out. Apple support chat service was no help at all. The girl in chat had no understanding of video files.
    Thank you Apple, for hiding these files behind your Quicktime logo, thanks for adding extra steps and decreasing productivity. I've been using Macintosh computers since 1987. I would not own a PC, but Apple is not what it used to be. Why would you not just let the .MTS files show without hiding them?

  • Firefox won't open multiple secondary windows in OS X. It does in Windows.

    For my work as a psychologist I rely on a website called TherapyAppointment.com for practice management. The website works best in Firefox because of the secondary windows feature. For example, I can have files open for several patients at once, have a tab for my calendar, etc. This worked fine on my Windows PC but I have just changed to a Mac and Firefox for OS doesn't behave as it did in Windows. Nor does it do so in Safari, but I sort of expected this. I hope there is a fix because my work is much easier when secondary windows are working right.

    What method do you use for launching additional windows? For example, if you are accessing the windows using links, usually one of these will work:
    * hold down the Shift key when clicking
    * right-click the link > Open Link in New Window
    I know that Shift+click can be defeated by a script in the page that overrides your selection, but hopefully you do not have to fight the site...

  • Robohelp 8 won't display PDFs in Windows 7

    Hi,
    I am having trouble with a .chm project that was created for Windows XP use that now needs to work with Windows7. I have tested the functionality of the project and everything but the PDFs works properly. It gives me a blank screen with an x in the corner. When the URL is copied into a new window, it works fine. Is there anything I can do to resolve this?

    The only solution I have seen is to set the links in Rh to open the PDF in a new window.
    See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
    @petergrainge

  • Check SITSPMON at multiple application servers at once

    Dear Sirs,
    we are in a setting with close to 10 application servers. To the memory consumption and current status on my system, I need to check SITSMON on every application server.
    Is there an easy way to get a STISPMON like (e.g watch memory) on all the application servers in one go?
    best regards,
    Jørgen

    Dear Jørgen,
    at the moment we do not have an easy way to monitor more than one application server  within SITSPMON. I am the developer of SITSPMON and happy to read your question. I do agree in your wish to have a feature like this.
    How to implement? I would suggest to provide an additional check box in the dialog panes for
    *the memory staistics,
    *the HTML templates cache directory, and
    *the Mutex lock statistics.
    This checkbox allows to switch between 'system' and 'application server mode' checking it will result in an enhaced table, containing an additional column for the appl server...
    Do you agree? Better ideas? If this fits to your  requirement, I will implement this. And ideas are welcome always.
    BTW: Did you already check the CCMS? There a technical experts monitor for the internal ITS. This might be helpful four you.
    best regards
    Tobias

  • Cannot display x11 applications on server back to my mac running x11

    Something has happened recently and I can no longer display x11 application windows running on a large SGI Server back to my mac. I am connecting via a x11 xterm window with ssh. Prior to logging onto the sgi, I add it to my xhost list with a xhost + command and get the return that the machine was being addd to the access control list. I then log onto the server with ssh or ssh -Y, set the env variable DISPLAY to my mac. I then try a simple xclock to display the clock, and get a "cannot open display display" error. IP's are correct, env variables are set right. 3 weeks ago I had no problems, but now I do. Unfortunately, I remember two security updates and 10.4.6 have been installed since I last used X11. Can anyone help?
    Quad 1GHz G4   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

    Hi pbuck,
       Ah, data; that helps! You don't have to delete all of those options. The one that disrupts connections made by setting the display on the remote machine is the nolisten_tcp option. If you set that to 0 or "no", your apps can connect directly to the window server on your machine via tcp.
       However, that doesn't apply to a secure shell tunnel. I don't know what happens between-the-sheets but maybe secure shell negotiates with XWindows directly because the above setting doesn't affect the ability to do window forward through a secure shell tunnel. Of course for that you have to have "X11Forwarding yes" in the sshd_config file on the server and you're supposed to have the "ForwardX11 yes" set in the ssh_config file on the client, although I've gotten by without the latter. After that, all you have to deal with is X11 itself, or more specifically, the X11 Security Extension.
       Newer versions of X11, such as the one that ships with Tiger, have an operative Security Extension. Thus, they have more stringent requirements of dangerous applications. I don't really know how to deal with it outside of SSH but again OpenSSH will handle the negotiation for you if you use the "-Y" option instead of the -X option.
    Gary
    ~~~~
       I never thought that I'd see the day where Netscape is free
       software and X11 is proprietary. We live in interesting times.
             -- Matt Kimball <[email protected]>

Maybe you are looking for