App icons disappearing and odd permissions issues on Applications folder

SionAdmin
New Contributor

Hey all,

Having an issue where random apps launch from dock breaks the icon on the dock and in Launchpad. Apps affected can't launch from the Applications folder but seem to launch fine from the Dock or Launchpad .The icons appear as the blank pencil and brush icon. Happens pretty sporadically and the app is usually random. Sometimes Chrome will break and office will be okay and vice versa after a reboot.

Wondering if anyone has seen this issue before?

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2 REPLIES 2

mschroder
Valued Contributor

I had icons disappearing for individual apps, but not the symptoms you describe. Have you checked the permissions of the apps in question, and of the /Applications folder?

Tangentism
Contributor II

How to Rebuild Launchpad Database in OS X Yosemite (10.10) and Later

  • Go to Library folder, which is hidden. To access it, click anywhere on desktop and make sure you see word 'Finder' in the top menu near Apple logo.
  • Press and hold alt/option key and in the top menu bar select Go and finally Library.
  • In the Library folder, locate and open the Application Support folder.
  • In the Application Support folder, locate and open the Dock folder.
  • You'll find a number of files in the Dock folder, including one named desktoppicture.db, and one or more files starting with a dashed set of capital letters and numbers and ending in .db. An example file name is FE0131A-54E1-2A8E-B0A0A77CFCA4.db.
  • Grab all the files in the Dock folder with the dashed set of letters and numbers that end in .db and drag them to the trash or press ⌘/command + delete keys.
  • Launch Terminal, located in the /Applications/Utilities folder.

In the Terminal window, enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock

Launchpad has now been reset.

The next time you open Launchpad, the app will rebuild the databases it needs. Launchpad may take a bit longer than usual to launch the first time, and the Launchpad display will now be in its default organization, with Apple apps shown first, and third-party apps next.

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