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Dock keeps reseting to its default settings. How do I get it to stop doing that?

Following up on a Q that someone else posted a few years back, and that I've tried all the suggestions from that thread. I'm still having an issue with the dock changing to the bottom default position every time I log out and in again. I am working in version 10.15.7 OS Catalina. Any other suggestions from those previously posted would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 3, 2021 6:05 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 3, 2021 6:25 AM

Perhaps providing a link to that previous years-old thread would help us avoid repeating the same unhelpful suggestions.


It sounds like something is confusing the OS. See if the problem still happens in Safe mode (hold the shift key down at startup). It can take much longer (10 min) to safe boot so be patient.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support 


Safe mode forces the OS to clear certain caches and logs and do other miscellaneous housekeeping. It's non-destructive to user data so is safe to do. Very often certain weird software behavior is corrected by simply logging in this way as a troubleshooting method. When you're in safe boot, the machine will not be at its best performance, especially with graphics, but that's normal.


Does the problem persist while in Safe mode?

Exit safe mode by restarting your Mac normally and re-evaluate the issue again.

If the problem is still unresolved, please return here and post a reply and we’ll see what else we can come up with for help.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 3, 2021 6:25 AM in response to Just_a_Hobo

Perhaps providing a link to that previous years-old thread would help us avoid repeating the same unhelpful suggestions.


It sounds like something is confusing the OS. See if the problem still happens in Safe mode (hold the shift key down at startup). It can take much longer (10 min) to safe boot so be patient.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support 


Safe mode forces the OS to clear certain caches and logs and do other miscellaneous housekeeping. It's non-destructive to user data so is safe to do. Very often certain weird software behavior is corrected by simply logging in this way as a troubleshooting method. When you're in safe boot, the machine will not be at its best performance, especially with graphics, but that's normal.


Does the problem persist while in Safe mode?

Exit safe mode by restarting your Mac normally and re-evaluate the issue again.

If the problem is still unresolved, please return here and post a reply and we’ll see what else we can come up with for help.

Aug 3, 2021 10:09 AM in response to Just_a_Hobo

Do try in Safe Mode as advised.


If the issue persists even in Safe Mode, then there is almost certainly a corrupt plist.

At that point, you could take the file com.apple.dock.plist out of the preferences folder, or

type in Terminal (WARNING: this will delete the existing Dock preferences and you will have to manually set them)


defaults delete com.apple.Dock

killall Dock





Dock keeps reseting to its default settings. How do I get it to stop doing that?

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