MacOS Dock – How to Reset the Dock

dockmacos

I recently updated my computer from Mavericks to El Capitan, and I'm unable to add or remove items from the dock. If I attempt to change the dock, the computer freezes and I am unable to interact with the computer through the GUI.

The machine has multiple users, and I am the only user on this system that has this problem. I suspect that it's an issue with the way my dock is configured. Is there any way to "factory-reset" the dock? Failing that, is there any way to fix a dock that can't be modified?

Best Answer

Using the terminal, you can try deleting your dock preferences, then restarting the dock:

% defaults delete com.apple.dock
% killall Dock

This won't affect the contents of your dock, but it will reset the preferences that you'd normally edit in the Dock panel of the System Preferences.

EDIT: Per comments below, apparently this does reset dock contents for some people, but not for others—not clear why.

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