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Mr_MG

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 6, 2019
7
1
Dear Everyone,

I have an “unusual” problem with some icons in the Dock being somehow unremovable.

I received a new MacBook Pro (Mojave 10.14.6) which was setup by the IT department where I work. I have 3 simple extra apps (Cisco and support chats/forum) preinstalled. Those, together with the apple “App Store” icon, are present in the Dock as well from the start. However, there is no way to remove those icons from the Dock: either dragging them out or into the trash does not work. Actually, if I right-click on them the pop-up “Options” menu does not show “Remove” option. It is a woefully simple to remove icons, but somehow those 4 are "protected" from such action.

The IT "support" was to "just live with it". But I am a picky bastard and it just bugs me that they are there clogging my dock (I will rarely if ever use them).
Since I am the administrator of the machine, I should have all privileges and being able to remove them. But I don't know how.

Can anyone knowing the inner working of macOS help to me to find a solution to this issue?

Best,
MG
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,279
13,377
Is your account a "regular" account?
Or... is it an "administrative" account?

I sense that if it's a regular account... well... you're just going to have to "live with it"...
 

Mr_MG

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 6, 2019
7
1
Is your account a "regular" account?
Or... is it an "administrative" account?

I sense that if it's a regular account... well... you're just going to have to "live with it"...
To Fishrrman:
Looking at Users & Groups, my user is admin and the box "Allow user to administer this computer" is checked


Try
Code:
defaults delete com.apple.dock static-apps; killall Dock
To bogdanw:
I tried the terminal command and got back two line:
Domain (com.apple.dock) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.


Dock restarted but nothing was changed
 

LuisN

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2013
738
688
Torres Vedras, Portugal
Try onyx
maybe it helps

...or check if you have the right permissions for that apps
 
Last edited:

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,144
3,042
Domain (com.apple.dock) not found.
Try to read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist with
Code:
defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
If static-apps show up, the only way to delete the values is to disable SIP and run
Code:
sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist static-apps
Make a backup of the file.
Edit: It might not be necessary to disable SIP after all.
 
Last edited:

Mr_MG

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 6, 2019
7
1
Try to read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist with
Code:
defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
If I try this command: Domain /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist does not exist
Indeed if I search for the file in finder, I cannot find it

Trying the sudo commands says the default was not changed because the file was not found.
 
Last edited:

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,144
3,042
If I try this command: Domain /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist does not exist
That is strange, I have two systems with Mojave 10.14.5 and 10.14.6 and both return the same value.
Anyway, if that file is missing, I assume that the setting must be in the user file ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
Use this command to read it and save the output into a dock.txt file on your Desktop
Code:
defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist >> ~/Desktop/dock.txt
Search into that file for the apps you want to remove and see how their settings differ from the other apps.
 

Mr_MG

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 6, 2019
7
1
Use this command to read it and save the output into a dock.txt file on your Desktop
Code:
defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist >> ~/Desktop/dock.txt
Search into that file for the apps you want to remove and see how their settings differ from the other apps.
I got the dock.txt file. Interestingly, they are missing, as well as Finder. So it really looks like they are treated like Finder in the dock, which cannot be remove from the dock.
 

bogdanw

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2009
6,144
3,042
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