Apps in dock all question marks

[moot4mac]

User1 was setup as admin user. Every thing was normal until a few days ago...
User1 cannot run any apps, utilities, etc... even System Preferences will not start/display.
User1 can see files and folder, run/get About This Mac... High Sierra v10.13.4, MacBook Air (11", Early 2015), User1's MacBook Pro, etc.
User1 WiFi Network connects to Internaet (but because there is no browser, Safari, 'no app available to run...' i.e., You can't open application "Safari" becasue it may be damaged or incomplete. Same error message when trying to open any apps, utilities, .dmg, etc.)
Due to the above issues User1 can't even load/install Firefox, or re-install any apps...

User2 set up (using Guest) as an Admin Account on same machine... EVERYTHING WORKS!
User2 set r/w permissions to all User1 files.

Does any one have any ideas on what is wrong/happened to the User1 account? Is there a fix or will I just have to delete/recreate User1?

 

[pigoo3]

Not sure if this computer is a personally owned computer or company/work based computer (since so many other Apple computer models were mentioned). If a company owned computer...then maybe it's managed by an IT professional. But if no routine maintenance or updating was done that possibily could have precipitated this issue...then my best guess based the info given...is that a preference file or user info file was accidentially or purposely deleted...got damaged...or was moved from where it's supposed to be located.

And the assumption is (if this computer has more than one account on it)...that the proper account is being booted into.

- Nick

 

[MacInWin]

It sounds like User1 lost all the privileges for the account. What you might try is to log in as User2, then go to System Preferences, Users & Groups and set User1 to a standard (not admin) user, then reboot and see if User1 can at least open the apps and the Dock works. If so, then you can go back to User2 and back into Sys Prefs and set User1 to an admin again, then reboot to User1 and see if everything is restored. You aren't creating or deleting User1, so all the file stay there, but changing the access level should write out the permissions again for User1. When you set all of User1 files for User2 to R/W, that shouldn't have any affect on User1, btw.

And I hope you have a backup, right?

 

[moot4mac]

Thanks MacInWin. It didn't work... the only app icon in the dock was Calendar but when clicked got the same error msg.
The user did not have backups/Time Machine... but I can see the files so I can copy the users home folder and, hopefully, get the data files.

 

[moot4mac]

Thanks pigoo3... it is a personally owned computer. Any info (or how to find) what preference file(s) got messed with?

 

[MacInWin]

The problem with simply copying the files is that they will have the permission of the original account and your new user won't be able to open them unless you fix each of them to allow the new user to read and write.

 

[Rod]

This really is very odd. If you only had one admin user (being yourself) and the default Guest account which theoretically cannot make any system changes or even store files a don't understand how you could have given that account admin privileges.
See below shot of my Guest User account.

 

[ferrarr]

The problem with simply copying the files is that they will have the permission of the original account and your new user won't be able to open them unless you fix each of them to allow the new user to read and write.

What about if the files were copied to a drive formatted as FAT, or exFAT? I'm just asking, as I don't know if those "Mac" attributes, will move with the file to the formatted drive?

 

[ferrarr]

What Mac do you have? In post #1, you mention MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, in the same sentence. Have you tried to boot into Recovery, and run Disk Utility > First Aid? Another option would be to run the Combo update, for whatever version of macOS you are currently running on your Mac.

 

[moot4mac]

This really is very odd. If you only had one admin user (being yourself) and the default Guest account which theoretically cannot make any system changes or even store files a don't understand how you could have given that account admin privileges...

I did read that there was a vulnerability in first releases of High Sierra that would allow Guest to create an Administrative Account. I was supposed to be fixed by update. Could that have something to do with it?

I just logged on to that computer as Guest. When to System Preferences, Users and Groups, Unlocked with User2 name and password. Clicked + and created an account: Administrator, Administrator, (password). Shut down. Powered back on, logged in as Administrator, went back to Users and Groups and was able to Unlock and manage all accounts.

Not going to get any updates on that machine for a while

 

[moot4mac]

What Mac do you have? In post #1, you mention MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, in the same sentence. Have you tried to boot into Recovery, and run Disk Utility > First Aid? Another option would be to run the Combo update, for whatever version of macOS you are currently running on your Mac.

I found that odd myself. I am guessing that the MacBook Air my have been clones from a MacBook Pro the owner used to own(?).
I did do all the Disk Utility stuff in Recover mode. I could not run the Combo update from the User1 id... because of "...damaged or incomplete..." error.
Don't want to run from another admin account just now... want to see if there was a reason User1 went south... Fact that all subsequent accounts work normally...

 

[moot4mac]

What about if the files were copied to a drive formatted as FAT, or exFAT? I'm just asking, as I don't know if those "Mac" attributes, will move with the file to the formatted drive?

I planned to copy User1 home to a FAT formated thumb drive. In theory there should be no permissions carried with the files/folders.

 

[jjacques]

Hi,
The very same issue happened to my wife today. This is a Mac Book running High Sierra.
Were you able to solve this since 2018 ?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Rod]

jjacques, despite you having the "same" problem as this old thread you might like to create a new thread under a similar heading.
Just go to the Forums tab on the Home Page, scroll down to Mac OS - Operating System then click Post Thread (almost top right).