Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

zgroten

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 6, 2013
1
0
Running 10.8.2 and I accidentally hit "remove from dock" on my trash bin icon, now I can't find "Trash" anywhere on computer!

Thanks in advance guys, I feel dumb.
 

LPZ

macrumors 65816
Jul 11, 2006
1,221
2
Running 10.8.2 and I accidentally hit "remove from dock" on my trash bin icon, now I can't find "Trash" anywhere on computer!

Thanks in advance guys, I feel dumb.

What happens if you restart the computer?
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
27
Toronto, Canada
"Accidentally" a funny way of describing something that is very difficult to do even on purpose. It's like saying I accidentally robbed a bank.

Wouldn't you have to edit a plist file, something most folks never do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hobowankenobi

ConCat

macrumors 6502a
"Accidentally" a funny way of describing something that is very difficult to do even on purpose. It's like saying I accidentally robbed a bank.

Wouldn't you have to edit a plist file, something most folks never do.

The default config is stored in a plist. The only way he could do this accidentally is if he's using some dock mod that includes the option to remove the trash. Of course he could also be trolling us, but I prefer to not assume such things.
 

kernheimer

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2013
2
0
trashbin

no he is not trolling. since a week, my Imac also seems to have the option to empty and remove from dock. i have no idea where to change that, because my blind "holding mouse a bit longer and knowing trash is empty, is no longer due!
my bin is also remotely removed and i am a bit tiered of plist re arranging :( hope somebody here finds an answer
thank you!
 

kernheimer

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2013
2
0
trash bin dock!

ok, i'm 2 day's almost further, not having had much sleep!! I figured it out... YEAH!!! PATHFINDER, prefrences!!! you can choose to let the dock open with remove from dock option!!! uncheck that and its ok again.
that is at least my sollution!!
 

ThirteenXIII

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2008
863
319
In Finder, hold Option and click GO and then Select Library

go to Preferences

and remove com.apple.dock.plist file to the desktop and restart the machine..
 

kevinbakon

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2014
10
0
Okay, I know this thread is over a year and a half old, but I think I may have made the same mistake and can't find a solution, so far... My dock is completely missing, including the com.apple.dock files every other thread advises me to delete in order to restore the dock... I believe at one point I remember accidentally removing the Trash from the dock and I think this may have snowballed into some other issue (missing dock, performance, etc.) I'm trying to prevent from having to use recovery and lose all of my installed applications, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have a backup at this time either. I have removed all of my personal files, so I'm not completely opposed to wiping the OS, but I don't know that I can locate and reinstall all of the programs I currently have installed... Does anyone have another solution for restoring my trash and dock? Or, is it possible to do a backup to preserve my installed apps, do the recovery and then restore the apps individually?
Thanks in advance!
I'm running OS X 10.6.8
 
Last edited:

kevinbakon

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2014
10
0
"KB" see post #3

RE: #3
I have restarted the computer several times now...

I did create another user account and found that the dock and trash are available for the new user account... Is it possible to copy the necessary files from the second (admin) account to my primary account?
 

Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
Hi,

are you sure the com.apple.dock.plist file is missing ??

Go to :

Macintosh HD / Users / YourUserName / Library / Preferences

(not in Macintosh / Library...)

If you find the file, trash it, then log out and log in back.
 

kevinbakon

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2014
10
0
Hi,

are you sure the com.apple.dock.plist file is missing ??

Go to :

Macintosh HD / Users / YourUserName / Library / Preferences

(not in Macintosh / Library...)

If you find the file, trash it, then log out and log in back.

I deleted first the com.apple.dock.plist file (from Macintosh HD / Users / MyUserName / Library / Preferences), then logged out and back in again... The file was not restored to the directory location...

Next, I deleted the com.apple.dock file (minus the .plist), then rebooted, and neither file has been restored, after the reboot
 

Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
Weird...

Since all is ok in another account, re-installing the system would not help : the problem would still be here.

I was to suggest what Intelligent said, you can also run in the Terminal :

Code:
killall Dock

and see what it does.
 

kevinbakon

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2014
10
0
I've tried:
copying over the files from another user account
Option+Command+D
killall Dock (from Terminal)
Quit Process (from Activity Monitor)
and maybe a couple other methods I read of and had no success so far...

----------

Try running this terminal command


Code:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock

"No such file or directory"

----------

Weird...

Since all is ok in another account, re-installing the system would not help : the problem would still be here.

I was to suggest what Intelligent said, you can also run in the Terminal :

Code:
killall Dock

and see what it does.

Absolutely nothing

----------

Go to Finder and press command+shift+g and type ~/.trash and hit enter

This takes me to the .Trash folder
My issue isn't that I cannot access the trash folder, its that I deleted it from my dock and now my dock won't reappear
 
Last edited:

Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
No such file or directory
Code:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock
returning "no such file or directory" is hard to believe, since you have a Dock in another account.

Stupid questions, I know :

Did you copy and paste the command into the Terminal window, instead of typing it in ?

Are you sure you didn't hide the Dock accidentally ?

Did you by any chance use some "cleaner" software ?

How did you manage to remove the trash icon from the Dock ?
 

kevinbakon

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2014
10
0
Code:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock
returning "no such file or directory" is hard to believe, since you have a Dock in another account.

Stupid questions, I know :

Did you copy and paste the command into the Terminal window, instead of typing it in ?

Are you sure you didn't hide the Dock accidentally ?

Did you by any chance use some "cleaner" software ?

How did you manage to remove the trash icon from the Dock ?

My apologies... I forgot the "k" at the end and therefore it didn't return any results. I copy/pasted the text this time, but all it did was pause for a couple of seconds, then it simply resulted in a carriage return (doesn't seem to have done anything)

I do have a "cleaner" app called AppCleaner, but I only use it to completely uninstall 3rd party applications

I am pretty sure I haven't hidden the dock accidentally. I have adjusted all of the Dock Preference settings, to all three sides and tried each, as well as adjusted all of the other settings (auto hiding, etc.), during my troubleshooting.

I was attempting to empty the trash and accidentally removed it from the dock. To be honest, I don't recall how exactly I did it.

By the way, the performance of my Mac (under this account) is dreadfully slow... It takes minutes sometimes, just for a new finder window or application to open
 
Last edited:

Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
I see no way in 10.6.8 to remove the Trash icon from the Dock, but I could be missing something. Or are you using some customizing app ?

"I copy/pasted the text this time, but all it did was pause for a couple of seconds, then it simply resulted in a carriage return (doesn't seem to have done anything)"

This is normal, the command is an attempt to force launch the Dock.app.
The only expected result is... a actual Dock.

I have no more idea at the moment.

I would suggest, just in case :

- use Disk Utility to check/repair the disk + repair the permissions

- try booting in safe mode (Shift key depressed on chime)

- download an "install" the 10.6.8 combo update.

- install and run "Maintenance" (same developer as Onyx) : http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadmaintenance.php

However I must say that since you do have a Dock in another account, I don't believe this will help.
 
Last edited:

kevinbakon

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2014
10
0
I see no way in 10.6.8 to remove the Trash icon from the Dock, but I could be missing something. Or are you using some customizing app ?

"I copy/pasted the text this time, but all it did was pause for a couple of seconds, then it simply resulted in a carriage return (doesn't seem to have done anything)"

This is normal, the command is an attempt to force launch the Dock.app.
The only expected result is... a actual Dock.

I have no more idea at the moment.

I would suggest, just in case :

- use Disk Utility to check/repair the disk + repair the permissions

- try booting in safe mode (Shift key depressed on chime)

- download an "install" the 10.6.8 combo update.

- install and run "Maintenance" (same developer as Onyx) : http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadmaintenance.php

However I must say that since you do have a Dock in another account, I don't believe this will help.

I tried finding an option under the second account I created and I could not find a way to remove the Trash either, so I really don't remember what I originally did. No, I am not using a customizing app.

After the command you provided and the carriage return, there still is no dock.

I have tried checking and repairing the disk, but will try the 2 installations you have mentioned (do I also install and run the "Maintenance" app in safe mode?)

Worse case scenario, I guess I'll just have to do a system restore.

Is it possible to do this through recovery or do I need the install disks? If I'm reading the following correctly, all I need is an internet connection to do it without discs: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Also, if I copy the 3rd party applications from my Applications folder onto a thumb drive, is reinstalling them (in most cases) as simple as copying them back into the Applications folder?

Thanks again for all of your help!!!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.