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The Finder Does Not Launch

While logged in to my account (vs. my wife's), the Finder does not launch. I get no dock, files, folders, or drive icons. The only thing that launches is Safari because it is configured to launch in Preferences.


I've re-booted the Parameter Ram. Didn't help.

I've removed all non-Apple startups and add-ons. Didn't help.

I ran Disk Repair > Repair Disk Permissions. Didn't help.

I removed the …finder.plist. Didn't help.


When restarted in Safe Mode, everything is there and things seem to run smoothly.


It doesn't appear to be hardware related because when my wife logs in, everything works just fine.


Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Posted on May 21, 2015 9:22 AM

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15 replies

May 21, 2015 10:07 AM in response to Klaus1

Klaus1,


Sorry, but these weren't helpful.


Relaunching with Dock — The problem is there is no dock. Hence, no Finder icon to Relaunch from.

Relaunching with Terminal — No way to get to Terminal. No drive icon. No Finder menu to get to Utilities.

Relaunching with Force Quite Pane — While command-option-escape opens the Force Quit Pane, Finder isn't listed.

Relaunching with Quicksilver — Same as with Terminal. There is no way to get to it.

Jun 18, 2015 8:29 AM in response to gjrnosnoid

Have you tried booting into the Safe Mode and adding a new admin account to test? What troubleshooting steps have you tried?


Try a restart.


Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.


Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.


Isolating an issue by using another user account


If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.


Safe Mode

The Finder Does Not Launch

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