Muench13

Q: Why are my dock applications turning into question marks after restarting my macbook pro?

So i have had my new MBP with retina display for a few weeks now, and everytime I shutdown or restart the computer, I have a bunch of question marks in my dock instead of my application icons. The question marks still show the name of the application under them, and after I click them they turn back into the proper icon. I noticed that they are only applications I have installed myself off the internet. It never happens to the applcations that came with my macbook, or apps from the mac app store. I have not moved the location of the applications i installed, so i dont know why the computer is having trouble displaying the icons. I am new to the mac operating system and am wondering if I may not have installed these applications properly. The apps that are constatly turning into question marks include Bittorent, VLC Player, PS3 Media Server, Air VIdeo Server, and the Dolphin gamecube emulator. I have looked all over the internet but i cannot find a solution. Please Help!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Sep 6, 2012 8:00 PM

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Q: Why are my dock applications turning into question marks after restarting my macbook pro?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Imp68,

    Imp68 Imp68 Sep 6, 2012 8:09 PM in response to Muench13
    Level 4 (2,633 points)
    Sep 6, 2012 8:09 PM in response to Muench13

    You could try removing the dock's plist and replacing the icons.

     

    The file is com.apple.dock.plist.  Find it by opening finder, click Go on the top bar.  Hold option on the keyboard and click library in the menu.  Then navigate to preferences.

     

    Reboot.

  • by Boby51,

    Boby51 Boby51 Sep 6, 2012 8:39 PM in response to Imp68
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Sep 6, 2012 8:39 PM in response to Imp68

    Have same problem... not sure it happened every boot but at least twice in one week. Eventually left my shortcuts on desktop.

  • by RBOBBY79,

    RBOBBY79 RBOBBY79 Apr 15, 2014 8:33 AM in response to Muench13
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 15, 2014 8:33 AM in response to Muench13

    When they go grey, it means that they have lost the location of the application that they represent.


    If you put your mouse over each one, it will tell you what application it is that it has lost.


    Go to wherever you have that application stored, usually the applications folder, and drag the icon of the application down into the dock. A new icon is created for you.

    Repeat with the other two grey icons in the dock.


    To remove the grey icons, left click and hold while you drag the icon out of the dock and onto the desktop. Release the mouse button and the icon will disappear in a puff of smoke.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Apr 15, 2014 9:38 AM in response to Muench13
    Level 7 (31,893 points)
    iPad
    Apr 15, 2014 9:38 AM in response to Muench13

    they are only applications I have installed myself off the internet. It never happens to the applcations that came with my macbook, or apps from the mac app store. I have not moved the location of the applications i installed

     

    So where do you install the apps you downloaded?

     

    If you just drag them to the dock, they aren't really "installed". The dock just contains aliases to the application. You need to either use the app's installer and/or drag the actual app into your applications folder (double click the downloaded .dmg image and then click on the "install" icon or drag the app into the applications folder). That is where apps should be installed. You can then drag the icon into your dock for easy access.

  • by Imp68,

    Imp68 Imp68 Apr 16, 2014 2:46 AM in response to babowa
    Level 4 (2,633 points)
    Apr 16, 2014 2:46 AM in response to babowa

    You two may want to check the date of the post you're responding to.

  • by WhiskeyWhiskers,

    WhiskeyWhiskers WhiskeyWhiskers Oct 23, 2014 1:45 PM in response to RBOBBY79
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 1:45 PM in response to RBOBBY79

    Thank you.  That worked for me.

  • by WhiskeyWhiskers,

    WhiskeyWhiskers WhiskeyWhiskers Oct 23, 2014 1:46 PM in response to RBOBBY79
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 1:46 PM in response to RBOBBY79

    Thank you.  That worked for me.

  • by ranndino,

    ranndino ranndino Apr 19, 2016 1:17 PM in response to RBOBBY79
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 19, 2016 1:17 PM in response to RBOBBY79

    Thanks so much. This helped me restore all my Chrome App doc icons to working order. They all stopped working after I had to re-sign into all my Chrome instances.