Question mark help please (? in Finder window Toolbar)

Hi there
Since my upgrade to Snow Leopard, I have the following question mark in open windows (see pic below):
Anyone know what it is, or how to make it vanish?
Thanks, Francis

It indicates that there's an item on the toolbar that Finder can't find. Right-click the toolbar in a Finder window, and remove the offending item.

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Question mark at top of Finder window

I have just upgraded a friend's iMac to Tiger and in any Finder window there's a question mark just to the left of the search box. When I click on it, the message is 'The item cannot be found'. I've never seen this on any other machine running Tiger and wonder what its function is ...?
Thanks.

Hi, G. F-L.
Dragging the icons of files, folders, disks, or server volumes to the Finder toolbar creates an alias to the object. If that object (file or folder) is deleted, or if the associated disk or server volume is no longer mounted, then the related alias in the Finder toolbar displays a question mark.
The same holds true for icons in the Dock.
In addition to the Command-drag gesture Rod suggested, one can simply Control-click icon bearing the question mark in the Finder toolbar and select "Remove Item" from the resulting contextual menu. The icon bearing the question mark will then be removed from the Finder toolbar.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

I've got nothing(gray screen, question mark folder) Please Help!

This problem is on my girlfriend’s computer, about the same as mine, PB G4 800mhz 768mb RAM, 10.4.x
I am a competent user and this one has me worried…
Problem
Last night she goes to the computer sends an IM checks her e mail, watch some tv, goes back to the computer to look something up on line and its frozen, I do not recall if the mouse was visible but I don’t think there was a beach ball. She asks me what to do I said just give it a few minutes maybe it will process through what ever it is and be back to normal. We both forget to take a look at it before bed.
This morning computer is still frozen/non-responsive and the fans are running... Shut down by holding down the power key. I try to re-start by pressing power key, screen lights up with gray background wait wait then the folder icon comes up with the question mark in it. This gets me worried.
What I have tried
I have tried to get it into target disc mode with my powerbook(computer B), I start up computer A holding down the T key and the screen goes to that moving firewire icon but the hard drive does not show up on my computer B.
I tried unplugging it, removing the battery and re setting the pram
I tried to run the hard ware test CD, but when I hold C to boot to the CD it spins up the disc and the little hardware test folder is in the middle of the screen but then it does not load any further. I had to shut down holding the power button. Computer would not eject CD so I had to start up and use unix eject cd command, this worked.
I tried target disc mode again.
I tried just a plain start up again.
I do not have the 10.4 CD at my house so I have not tried to start from that yet, but I can borrow one from grandparents this evening after work, but I am worried since it will not start from the hardware test CD that it will not start from the system CD.
I believe I have computer A backed up from either last week or the week before( I thought about doing it this weekend but did not get to it  ), she is not backed up daily as I am. Though she said there is quite a bit of important work from this past week.
I have no idea what to do next or what the source of the problem could be(software or hardware). I fear the worst, but hope that you can share an idea that will turn out for the best!
Please help me fix this computer, I can play with it some when I go home for lunch and then I need to get it fixed if possible this evening because she needs some important class work and grad school applications from it!
Jerome

So is the next step to try and re-format the drive and then use super duper to copy the back up over to that drive and then run disc utility and disc warrior on it? Which specs should I select for the re format, do they have to be the same as what is on my back up drive?
Yes, reformatting the drive is the next step. Use your Panther installer discs, choose Mac OS Extended format, and check the box to install OS 9 drivers, just in case. The "Verified" SMART status is somewhat less reliable than a "Failing" status would have been: "Failing" definitely means trouble was detected, but "Verified" could just mean nothing seemed to be wrong right at the moment when you happened to ask. So if there's any trouble reformatting the drive, replace it: you shouldn't entrust anything important to it. If all goes smoothly with the reformat, the drive probably really is OK.
What you can do with your backup depends on how you created it. If the backup is a bootable clone made with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, you can clone it back to the reformatted drive the same way you created it in the first place, then add the extra files that were created or modified after you made the backup. If you just Finder-copied the drive to another drive, the backup isn't bootable, and copying it back onto the reformatted drive won't make that one bootable either: OS X isn't Finder-copyable. In that case, I really shouldn't advise you on reconstructing the former contents of the drive from your backup — my only experience of backing up OS X disks is by cloning, which eliminates all the hassles of making sure user accounts, passwords, permissions, etc. are transferred correctly to the backup, and then transferred correctly back to the original disk in a restore. Nearly four years after my adoption of OS X, I confess I'm still far more mystified by many aspects of it than I ever was by the old-time Mac OS.
Message was edited by: eww

Blinking question mark folder - Please help to restore from USB

Hello,
I haven't been able to my Mac about 5 days now and I hope someone can help me.
I initially had Yosemite then using disk utility I erased the hard drive, after that I was going to install Yosemite again as a fresh copy and mac froze so I had to restart now its showing a blinking question mark folder. I was able to do an internet recovery but it was trying to install Lion.
I currently have a copy of Maverick and would like to install that. I am at this screen as show in the picture: I have selected the source as the Maverick file on
the USB and the destination as the HD; should I click restore and would that install the Maverick OS or is there another way?
Thanks
the

nazfaz wrote:
Is there a way to install Yosemite since I had downloaded it via my ID?
You have to reinstall OS X Lion, setup your account, log into the App Store with the Apple ID you used to download Yosemite and you should see it in your Purchases tab. Then you can download it and install it. What I would do is download it, quit the install and save the Install OS X Yosemite.app file out of your /Applications folder to another location so you can create a USB thumb drive installer. Then go back into /Applications and run the install app to upgrade from Lion.
Unless you have an OS X Yosemite USB thumb drive installer, you can't install Yosemite again until you do the above paragraph and upgrade.
If you have the Install OS X Yosemite.app on another Mac to create a USB thumb drive, create it and boot from it to install Yosemite.

Question mark ? on my Finder

Hello!
Since many days a "?" appears on the top of the Finder window. My girlfriend, who also uses the computer, says she deleted some files and then the question mark appeared. But now, there is another one.
How can I know why it happened? and how can I solved take them away?
Thank you very much for your help.

Hi tetrazono;
I think you have posted your question in the wrong forum. You posted your question in the OS 9 forum but your Mac Book is not capable of running OS 9. You really should find out what operating system you are running and post there.
Allan

Question Mark Help

I am getting a big question mark in the center of all of my file folder window bars...between the quick look/action buttons and the search bar .
When clicked, the finder says the item can't be found but doesn't say what the item is...anybody know what this q mark is?? AND how to get rid of it...Thanx!!

It is an orphaned alias. At one time you had an alias in the toolbar to either a toolbar function or a file but the original item was deleted or moved. Right-click and > remove.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Question mark top right of all windows

There has suddenly appeared a large grey question mark at the top left of all windows, for example,the main HD window and all the folder windows.
The finder text font is also different to how it was before.
Any ideas?
Thanks everyone.

Hi The Buckminster,
There has suddenly appeared a large grey question mark at the top left of all windows, for example,the main HD window and all the folder windows.
This is what's termed as an orphaned alias. At some point an alias was created by either yourself or someone else using your computer and the alias was placed on top of the Finder window. This can be achieved in a similar way to placing an application in the Dock. Simply click and drag the file/application to the top of the Finder window, wait a second or so and a plus symbol will appear. At this point an alias is created of the original file which can be opened by simply clicking on it; same as you would from the Dock.
The question mark is appearing because the link to the original file has been lost; either the original was deleted or has been moved to a different location. You can remove the question mark by simply Command(Apple)+clicking on the question mark and dragging it away from the Finder window. It will then disappear in a "poof".
The finder text font is also different to how it was before.
Do you have any third party utilities installed which allow you to change the original font used by Finder?
Kryten

A weird question on opening a new finder window

this is not a big deal, but it really bugs me. when you have a finder window open and do apple-N to get a new one, it puts the new one right on top of the one already open. this is totally stupid. 99% of the time when i open a new window it's because i want to drag a file from one location to another, in which case i have to first move the new window. is there some way you can have it put new windows someplace else other than right on top of the current one?
and please, please, please dear apple, give us tabs in finder windows like in safari. i keep expecting it to happen in each new system upgrade, and it keeps never happening.

...when you have a finder window open and do apple-N to get a new one, it puts the new one right on top of the one already open... is there some way you can have it put new windows someplace else other than right on top of the current one?
In addition to the excellent suggestions regarding the Sidebar offered earlier, you might consider creating an AppleScript and adding it to your Finder window's toolbar. Once added to the toolbar, the script would serve as a button, which, when clicked on, would open a fully viewable new Finder window positioned above and slightly to the left of the existing Finder window. The existing Finder window would be repositioned if necessary and set to a size matching the dimensions of the new window.
The example scripts below were created with the assumption that your Home folder's Finder window opens when you press ⌘N. These scripts can be modified so that another window is opened instead by replacing the word "home" where it appears in the script with "desktop" or "documents" or "applications" etc. To open the "Computer" window use the command *make new Finder window* exclusively. Paths to non system-level folders, or user-created folders, can be specified by using an *open "Macintosh HD:path:to:folder"* command.
Copy and then paste either block of code below into your AppleScript Script Editor (Applications > AppleScript > Script Editor). From the Script Editor's File menu choose Save As > File Format: application, and leave the Options unchecked.
To add the button to your Finder window's toolbar, simply open any Finder window and drag the saved AppleScript icon to a convenient location on the toolbar. Let go of your mouse when you see the round green "+" indicator.
+This script might work best with a monitor set to a minimum 1024 x 768 screen resolution:+
*tell application "Finder"*
activate
*make new Finder window to (path to home folder)*
*set the bounds of window 1 to {70, 59, 955, 399}*
*set the bounds of window 2 to {100, 403, 985, 743}*
*activate window 2*
*end tell*
+This version would be more suitable for a monitor set to 800 x 600 screen resolution:+
*tell application "Finder"*
activate
*make new Finder window to (path to home folder)*
*set the bounds of window 1 to {85, 47, 715, 317}*
*set the bounds of window 2 to {115, 320, 745, 595}*
*activate window 2*
*end tell*
Good luck.

Flashing question mark, utilities won't find hard drive

On an iMAC DV 400, 640MB ram running OS10.4.5, I tried to install an OS9 folder, so I could run some classic software. Started install, but a pop-up message gave the impression that the install would write over my OSX, so I aborted the install to re-check the instructions and reassure myself that all would be fine. From that point on, I got the flashing question mark. The computer will boot to OS9 or OSX install disks, but disk first-aid (on 9) does not find the disk and disk utilities (on X) finds it but will not let me repair the disk. Tried resetting PRAM, but it did not help. I am still on the original 10GB harddrive, so am considering an upgrade anyway, but would prefer to save this one if possible.
Grateful for any suggestions.
Lemmer
iMac DV 400 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Lemmer,
re: "will eventually boot to X" and "just keeps flashing that questions mark"
A question mark at boot up I believe usually means that the computer is looking for the system folder and cannot find it.
Look here and the last resort.
What happened when you tried holding the "x" key during startup without the cd in? Did it just go to the question mark?
littleshoulders [:-)

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How do I change my keyboard so that I can type the question mark key please?

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Hello;
I'm on MacOS 10.3.9. I accidentally placed a folder (alias) on the Toolbar of a Finder Window. How do I remove it?
(It's one of those minor irritation that you live with for months then finally say enough!)
Chris

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Post a screenshot.
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Question mark help please (? in Finder window Toolbar)

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