Q: My Quicktime disappeared! MAC OS 10.6.8

I don't know when, or how, but Quicktime is no where to be seen on my iMac!

QT is a structure embedded in the operating system. It cannot be seen. On the other gand, QT Player X and QT Player 7 are apps that act as a graphic user interface to access the actual QT structure. These apps can easily be moved or deleted. The normal thing to do here is to perform a search to see if the app in question was accidentally moved to a different location. (The QT X Player is supposed to be in the "Applications" folder and the QT 7 Player is supposed to be in your "Applications/Utilities" folder if installed on your system. If either app has been deleted, you will have to re-install it. (QT X app is on the optical disc that came with your system and QT 7 app is avalable HERE.)

If I try and open a .wmv something trys to load but then it quickly closes the app it's trying to use.

Check the default "Open with" setting for your WMV files. It should be set for the WMV Player which in turn displays the content in the QT X Player since the WMV component cannot be used directly by the QT X Player app. Since this workflow still requires access to the QT player app, fix the QT main player problem first. (See the Flip4Mac web site to see what what features are available with the different QT Player apps.)

Anyway, I tried looking under preferences and nothing appears to be there. It appears in the search, but nothing happens when I click on it, ***?

Have no idea what you are looking for or where. QT X has no preferences, QT 7 preferences are accessed from within the QT 7 app, and the WMV preference panel in in the System Preferences window.

I bought the full version a while back, it's very unlike Apple to produce such crap.

I assume you are referring to QT v7.6.6 Pro here. Is/has this special Snow Leopard/Lion version ever been installed on your system? (I e., only QT 7 can be upgraded for "Pro" use.) Are you saying you just upgraded to Snow Leopard or have been using it before the QT app disappeared? If new to Snow Leopard, have you read the QT 7 installation/Pro ugrade instructions HERE?

Anyone have this problem?

I don't.

I've tried all that, seems to be in the right location in applications and anotehr in utilities. I can't reinstall it because it says It's already installed!

Please explain what "My Quicktime disappeared!" means.

If applications open and display graphics (e.g., internal icons, graphics, and such), then the embedded QT structure is still present and working.

What are you trying to install? QT 7 for Leopard on a Snow Leopard system? The QT v7.6.6 or QT v10.0 Player app? If the former, then it cannot be installed since it is incompatible with the Snow Leopard OS. If the latter, why bother with the installer and instead simply extract the desired Player app from the installer and replace the current player in the appropriate folder since installers usually skip installation of files already present/for which there is already a receipt by a previous installation.

The exact same thing happened to me. OP is referring to "QuickTime Player 7," the GUI for accessing the QT framework. It appeared after installation briefly in my Applications folder yet, when I reach to launch, I'm taken to an empty QT folder within my iCloud Drive. The application just installed from Apple's own installer has disappeared in front of me. Btw, I'm a 20-year Mac IT Specialist so this is not user error or misplacement, as the first responder suggests.

OP is referring to "QuickTime Player 7," the GUI for accessing the QT framework. It appeared after installation briefly in my Applications folder yet, when I reach to launch, I'm taken to an empty QT folder within my iCloud Drive.

1. If we assume you are referring to a Mac system operating under OS X v10.6.3 thru 10.11.5, then the QT 7 Player (v7.6.6) should not have been installed in the "Applications" folder even "briefly." If you installed the correct GUI it should have been automatically installed in the "Utilities" folder as depicted below:
   
   Mac OS X 10.6.8
   
   Mac OS X v10.11.5
   
   
   
2. If launching the QT Player GUI found in the "Applications" folder automatically opens a Navigation window like the one below, then it would seem you are launching the QT X Player which may, by default, point to your iCloud Drive window used for storing and recalling QT X video documents. (The QuickTime 7 Player does not automatically open  a file navigation window during app launch.)
   
   

The application just installed from Apple's own installer has disappeared in front of me.

Which version of the Quicktime Player 7 did you install? Only v7.6.6 will correctly install in the proper location. In most cases, incorrect versions should refuse to install but if manually installed in the "Applications" folder could possibly replace the QuickTime Player (QT X) GUI and/or create other problems.

I'm a 20-year Mac IT Specialist so this is not user error or misplacement, as the first responder suggests.

Have you tried installing the QuickTime Player 7 GUI on a pristine operating system—say on a newly configured external boot drive? If the problem is not a user error or an app misplacement, then the first thing I would check is corruption of the operating system itself. I am currently running platforms under both Mac OS X v10.6.8 and v10.11.5 without such problems. In fact, my main iMac died about 3 weeks ago which required re-installation and re-registration of the QT 7 Pro GUI on a new system at that time. While I suspect the QuickTime 7 structure embed will be dropped in the near future, the software continues to function for me on current platforms.