Missing Dock icons after Lion installation

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Missing Dock icons after Lion installation

I just installed Lion on four machines and I have a problem with the DOck. The space on the Dock to the right of the divider used to hold my numerous icons that took me directly to Safari based web sites. (spring @ icons). These have disappeared. In their place is a blank space. If i hove over that space, the labels for these icons still appear and if I click on them, the website still launches but the big blank space is annoying. The icons have dissappeared.

Apple suggested trashing the docks .plist from preferences but that didn't work. They suggested reinstalling ... same problem.

Any suggestions?

Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on May 17, 2012 12:52 AM

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Answer 1

X423424X

Level 6

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May 17, 2012 12:54 AM in response to Edinboro

Why no just drag the blank icons out of the dock and drag the actual apps back into the dock to recreate those items?

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Answer 2

Edinboro Author

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May 17, 2012 1:05 AM in response to X423424X

It's not the "app" side of the dock, that works fine. It's the side to which you usually drag web addresses from safari and it creates an icon that when you click on, it launches safari and takes you there. I've tried dragging new web addresses to this area and the same thing happens. The label is there when I hover over it, clicking works but no new icon???

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Answer 3

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

May 17, 2012 1:15 AM in response to Edinboro

You could try removing the dock plist (com.apple.dock.plist) in your Preferences directory. You will of course loose any addtions if you do this.

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Answer 4

Edinboro Author

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May 17, 2012 1:22 AM in response to X423424X

That was apple's suggestion. Dragged plist to trash & restarted. Current ghost icons disappeared but dragging new ones to the dock resulted in the same problem. No icon appears for ghost label.

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Answer 5

Edinboro Author

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May 17, 2012 1:23 AM in response to Edinboro

Apple's next suggetion was to reinstall Lion. Tried that, no joy.

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Answer 6

X423424X

Level 6

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May 17, 2012 2:15 AM in response to Edinboro

Try removing com.apple.finder.plist. But when you do that force quit the finder. Don't log out and don't just quit the finder.

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Answer 7

May 17, 2012 2:30 AM in response to Edinboro

What happen is your missing the URL.png image in the /System/Library/CoreServies/Dock.app (package):

Here is a tread that will explain everything:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3942402?start=0&tstart=0

Read the whole thread... Deleting .plists or installing Lion isn't going to fix it.

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Answer 8

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

May 17, 2012 2:55 AM in response to David M Brewer

I just reread the original post and only just noticed he was only having problems with url in the dock as opposted to other things in the dock.

Assuming you are correct about this (OP needs to verify) I would ask myself, if that file is missing down in Dock.app's Resources then why is it missing and what else might be missing elsewhere?

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Answer 9

Edinboro Author

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May 17, 2012 3:04 AM in response to David M Brewer

This sounds like a fix but I am not an advanced user.

I can get to system/library/core services but then i can only find "Dock" not Dock.app.

If I can get to the place to which you allude (Dock.app/Contents/Resources) do i then just drag the image into that folder?

Can you talk me through "Terminal?"

Sorry, i am not worthy.

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Answer 10

Edinboro Author

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May 17, 2012 3:05 AM in response to X423424X

This sounds like a fix but I am not an advanced user.

I can get to system/library/core services but then i can only find "Dock" not Dock.app.

If I can get to the place to which you allude (Dock.app/Contents/Resources) do i then just drag the image into that folder?

Can you talk me through "Terminal?"

Sorry, i am not worthy.

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Answer 11

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

May 17, 2012 3:38 AM in response to Edinboro

Dock in corse services is Dock.app. You just don't have the Finder preferences set to show file extensions (Finder preferences, Advanced).

If you navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices and see Dock then control (right) click on the Dock icon to bring up the Finder''s contextual menu. In the contextual menu you will see Show Package Contents. Select that and that will open the Dock application bundle (folder) in the finder and you will see a folder named Contents in there. Inside Contents are other folders, one if which is called Resources. In there is where you will find (or not find if the theory is right) url.png.

If the url.png is not there then you would have to dig one up from some backup or installer and stick it in there. Of course why bother doing that if you can just drag a backup of the entire Dock.app into CoreServices?

So no terminal is really needed. You can do all this with finder manipulations.

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Answer 12

Edinboro Author

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May 18, 2012 7:21 AM in response to X423424X

You are a Mac God!

I found a copy on my wifes Macbook, copied to a memory stick, navigated to the Resources folder using your guide, copied it into the folder, authenticated, restarted and VOILA!!!!

Thank you so much!

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Answer 13

Edinboro Author

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May 18, 2012 7:23 AM in response to David M Brewer

You are a Mac God!

I found a copy on my wifes Macbook, copied to a memory stick, navigated to the Resources folder using your guide, copied it into the folder, authenticated, restarted and VOILA!!!!

Thank you so much!

#

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Answer 14

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

May 18, 2012 9:52 AM in response to Edinboro

You're welcome.

You're welcome again! 😉

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Answer 15

Brownejb

Level 1

4 points

Jun 3, 2012 3:10 PM in response to Edinboro

I had the same EXACT problem with a URL entry that I placed in the dock between the dotted line and trash. No icon at all showed. I was lucky to happen onto this discussion through a Google search.

The result? Success! I got an old url.png file from a Time Machine backup of my old Mac Mini and copied it into my new iMac as per your guidance. I am so grateful.

Thanks to X423424X for the answer and to Edinboro for posting the problem publicly!

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