Dock icons not showing correct application icon

dockiconplistpreferences

Randomly my dock icons will show the default application icon. Sometimes they return again. I have previously reset the dock and deleted the .plist, which temporarily corrects the problem, but it returns soon enough. Removing and adding the app to the dock again also restores the icon, until the next time. It's tiresome to do this all the time, obviously.

enter image description here

The apps usually affected are the default Mac OS ones. The above screenshot shows my current situation: Mail, Safari, Reminders, iTunes and Terminal are not showing their icons.

I didn't find much on Google by way of people complaining about similar behaviour. Is anyone else suffering, and can anyone suggest a more "permanent" solution?

Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

My most recent attempt seems to have worked, or at least several weeks have passed without the issue repeating, which it previously did within hours, or days at best.

Try these steps:

  1. Reset PRAM and VRAM
  2. Reset SMC
  3. Restart in Safe Mode
  4. Restart normally
  5. Issue fixed? If not, go back to Step #3.

The restarting in Safe Mode is the key here. Resetting PRAM and VRAM is not enough; I had tried that previously multiple times, along with deleting various preference files and caches from ~/Library/ApplicationSupport etc. It didn't work. You may even need to repeat the Safe Mode boot more than once, but ultimately Safe Mode will hopefully sort you out if you are facing the same issue.

Related Question