App Store application does not launch

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Level 1

10 points

App Store application does not launch

Greetings,

I am curious if others have experienced this: my wife's MacBook Air recently finished with an update to Catalina. Ran first aid/permissions repair in Recovery mode and made sure all was complete, which it appears to be. It has one obvious problem - the App Store application refuses to launch - all it shows is a big blank screen (black - she is in dark mode) and the spinning beach ball - I have to force quit every time. Trashing temps and preferences does not provide a fix. Booting into safe mode (does Catalina still do that?) also does nothing.

Any advice gratefully received. Thank you for reading.

DLC

Posted on Mar 29, 2020 6:38 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

146,504 points

Mar 29, 2020 8:24 PM in response to dncollins

First please review If you can't connect to the App Store, iTunes Store, or other Apple services. Don't overlook anything. For example, correct date and time is important.

If none of that helps all I can suggest is reinstalling macOS, which is harmless in itself, but before you do that try just applying this standalone "Combo" update: MacOS Catalina 10.15.4 Combo Update.

Back up her Mac as a matter of course. To learn how to use Time Machine please read Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac.

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Answer 2

TheLittles

Level 10

195,711 points

Mar 30, 2020 3:06 PM in response to dncollins

dncollins Said:

"App Store application does not launch[...]: It has one obvious problem - the App Store application refuses to launch - all it shows is a big blank screen (black - she is in dark mode) and the spinning beach ball - I have to force quit every time. [...]"

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Try This:

It seems lots is going on in the background, and that seems what is likely causing this. So some thoughts to try...

Go Here: View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac: See what is using lots of memory and processor usage. Close whatever it is.

Reset your SMC and your NVRAM: Sometimes changes are made to the system and then settings (i.e. for power) become manipulated, in the technically. So, reset both on your Mac.

Also, in Safari, Clear Your Temporary Internet Files (History and Cache)

View Login Items: Go To: System Preferences > Users & Groups > Click your Username > Login Items> Rid of Items that are Not Needed

Close Non-Responding Programs: Go To: Finder Menu > Force Quit... > Select An Item Open that is "Not Responding"

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Answer 3

dncollins Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 5, 2020 10:40 AM in response to dncollins

Greetings all,

I finally got the Mrs,. to relinquish her MacBook Air long enough to try out all of the suggestions tottery in the hopes of resurrecting her App Store application. After all of them, even trying the Combo Update and the actual Command-Restore -> Reinstall MacOS option, the App Store still refuses to mount, revealing nothing more than a blank screen and a spinning beach ball.

So it is off to Apple Support to see what they say (was hoping to find a solution w/o using that source, but oh well).

Thanks all for your insight,

Regards,

DLC

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Answer 4

dncollins Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 30, 2020 2:01 PM in response to John Galt

Hi John,

Thank you for the response. I was half way through the list provided when I received your response - the confirmation was encouraging.

Thank you again.

DLC

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Answer 5

dncollins Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 30, 2020 8:41 PM in response to TheLittles

Thank you, Littles, for the response. That is a good toolkit list to use on any app. I'll give them a try and let the community know how it went.

dncollins

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Answer 6

TheLittles

Level 10

195,711 points

Mar 30, 2020 8:44 PM in response to dncollins

dncollins Said:

"Thank you, Littles, for the response. That is a good toolkit list to use on any app. I'll give them a try and let the community know how it went. dncollins"

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You are welcome!

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App Store application does not launch

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