MacOS – Force quit closed application

force quitmacos

I force quit Google Chrome by right-clicking the app icon in the Dock and selecting Force Quit. That seemed to quit Chrome (absence of indicator under app icon). However, when I try opening Google Chrome, nothing happens. When I open the Force Quit window by using the keyboard shortcut,Option + Command + Escape, Google Chrome is present in the list.

At the same time, Google Chrome does not show up in ps output or in Activity Monitor app.

I think that Chrome is actually closed but that macOS thinks it's open. How do I convince macOS that Chrome is, indeed, closed?

I have just installed macOS Mojave.

Best Answer

From searching online, I think I may have run into an edge case. My best guess is that, having just installed Mojave, one of the many new permissions dialogs was generated but hidden behind another window. As I closed programs, some permissions dialogs appeared, including for Chrome. This doesn’t make much sense as a cause but it was related to a major system change so it’s my best guess.

I wound up resolving the issue by rebooting.

Edit: I had the problem again a few more times. Today, FlowVPN wouldn't force quit. I had to hard reboot because macOS was waiting for FlowVPN to close and it wouldn't.