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Posted By: JCLover Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/07/14 10:47 PM
Hello out there. Finder problem. Finder was acting strangely. I searched for files by name, then sorted by name header column. I found most of the files I was expecting, but not all. Noticing that one of the files wasn't correctly named, I changed the name. Finder showed the correct name after I clicked off that row. Then I went to the folder that contained the file. There, it had the same wrong name from which it had just been changed. I thought I goofed somehow, so did a repeat, changed the file name again. Finder showed the correct name after I clicked off that row, but then again had the wrong file name in the folder. So I tried closing the finder window and repeated the rename process. Same result. So I tried shutting off the computer and repeated rename. Same result. So I thought I'd be clever and trash the com.apple.finder.plist or something close to that name, and let Finder regenerate the file. There's the whoops. Well, Finder wouldn't open and the system spit back this message: The application Finder.app can't be opened. -10810. The trash won't open, so I can't recover the file. Help! What do I do now?
JCLover
Posted By: jchuzi Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/07/14 10:56 PM
Did you log out/in or restart after trashing the file? Normally, that would regenerate a new, pristine plist.

It would help if you told us which OS you are using, plus information about which Mac you have.

Welcome to FTM and let us know what happens! Good luck to you. Someone here ought to be able to help.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/07/14 11:30 PM
I'll go Jon one better and suggest shutting down and restarting your Mac, and if that doesn't resolve your issue, resetting your LaunchServices Database may be your answer. (You can find additional info, including "how to", here.)

If you're uncomfortable using Terminal, there are any number of 3rd party apps that can do the job for you; OnyX (freeware) is one.

Welcome to FTM, and good luck. smile
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/07/14 11:52 PM
Even if you can't launch Finder, your Dock should still work. You have a Trash icon in the Dock, but you're right that you can't open it, because Dock wants to use Finder to open it. So instead, look to the Spotlight field in the menubar (which is another of the things Dock provides). In the search field, start typing "terminal". After only a few letters, Terminal.app should show up as the top choice. When it does, press return to launch Terminal.

Terminal can do anything Finder can do. It may not look as pretty, and it's a whole lot less intuitive, but if Finder can do it, so can Terminal.

Once you're in Terminal, enter the command:

ls ~/.Trash

to get a list of the files in your Trash. (Usual caveats apply. Enter the command exactly as shown. Spelling and punctuation matter. Especially, spaces matter. Do not insert or delete any spaces in the command. In this particular command, there's only one space character, after the ls and before the ~. It's probably best to use copy/paste to get the command out of your browser and into Terminal without error. If your browser of choice is not already running, you can launch it either from its Dock icon or from Spotlight in the same way you launched Terminal.) If you neglected to type or copy/paste the return at the end of the command line, press the return key now.)

From the list of files in your Trash you can see exactly which file you put there. (I cannot believe it was com.apple.Finder.plist. Trashing that file should not make Finder un-runnable. You are correct to think that it should have been re-created. After all, that's how it got there in the first place.)

Once you see the file, move it back into place. If it really is com.apple.Finder.plist, you'd put it back using the command:

mv ~/.Trash/com.apple.Finder.plist ~/Library/Preferences/

Adjust the name accordingly if it was some other .plist file. To put all your trashed .plist files back, use the command:

mv ~/.Trash/*.plist ~/Library/Preferences/

Moving .plist files around behind the system's back is probably getting the defaults system very confused. You should log out and log back in again immediately.

In future, try not to move .plist files around. The user defaults system is a lot smarter (and therefore easier to confuse) than it used to be. The proper way to delete an application's defaults is from Terminal, using the defaults command. (Terminal may be able to do anything Finder can, but the converse is not true. There are things like this that Finder cannot do safely, but Terminal can.)

To trash Finder's preferences (for example), use the Terminal command

defaults delete com.apple.Finder

That is, tell the user defaults system what you want done, and let it worry about deleting any files that need to be deleted.

Not that I can see any point in deleting Finder's preferences...
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/11/14 11:48 PM
Hi ganbustein. Thank you very much. I have lot's of experience with the DOS command line, but zero experience with Terminal, which seems to be the equivalent. Your instructions were excellent. They worked as expected. Here's my situation now.

Last login: Sat Oct 11 14:37:16 on console
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ ls ~/.Trash
com.apple.Finder.plist com.apple.finder 14-06-19.plist
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$

MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ mv ~/.Trash/*.plist ~/Library/Preferences/
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$

I confirmed the move command worked using list: ls ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.find*

I’m wondering if something else more serious may be afoot?
ls ~/.Trash confirms nothing is in the trash, but the trash bin icon shows there is Something in the trash. After rebooting the MacBook Pro (OS X 10.6.8), Finder still won't launch, and my desktop files, although still on disc, do not show on the desktop.

I used:
defaults delete com.apple.Finder
hoping to delete both files, but this one wasn't deleted:
com.apple.finder 14-06-19.plist

Is this the right syntax to delete this file: com.apple.finder 14-06-19.plist
delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder 14-06-19.plist

Is it possible to embed some invisible control character into the file name. That happened in DOS once.

Any other ideas on what could be wrong and how to fix it?
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/11/14 11:49 PM
Thanks for your reply.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/14/14 12:51 AM
The file "com.apple.Finder 14-06-19.plist" appears to be detritus left over from an earlier attempt to reset Finder's preferences. Instead of moving "com.apple.Finder.plist" to the trash, you renamed it by inserting a date in its name.

It's a totally irrelevant file. You can delete it with either

defaults delete "com.apple.Finder 14-06-19"
or
rm ~/Library/Preferences/"com.apple.Finder 14-06-19.plist"

In both cases, notice that the name contains spaces, and so must be quoted.


None of this explains why Finder won't start. I suspect you've done something to the application itself.

The Finder application lives (or is supposed to live) at /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app. As a first step, check that it's there and has reasonable permissions with:

ls -lOde /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

What you should see on OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard is:

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel - 102 Apr 21 2011 /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app


Another thing to check is that you haven't somehow put another com.apple.Finder.plist in /Library/Preferences. In response to:

ls /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist

you should get:

ls: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist: No such file or directory


As for the trash icon still showing something in it even though ls ~/.Trash says the folder is empty, there are two possible explanations:

First, there may be some invisible files in ~/.Trash. Add a -a flag to show all files, as in:

ls -a ~/.Trash

Ignore entries for ".", "..", and ".DS_Store". The first two are unixisms; they appear to appear in every directory, but do not correspond to actual items. The last one, .DS_Store, is crated as needed by Finder, and will be explicitly ignored when checking whether something is empty.

The other possibility is that you have files in the trash that are from other volumes. Since files cannot be moved from one volume to another, but files can be trashed from any volume, there must be a trash folder for each user on each volume. ~/.Trash is the trash folder for things you've deleted from the boot volume, and is the only trash folder we're interested in, but the Trash icon will show that it's full if you have a non-empty trash folder on any volume.


You should look in Console (by launching Console.app in /Applications/Utilities) to see if there are any useful error message around the one that says Finder cannot be launched. There will surely be one specifying why Finder cannot be launched.


Unless you're curious what the actual problem is, it might be time to try re-installing the OS. Get the Combo updater for OS X 10.6.8 and re-apply it. This won't disturb your user files, and may correct whatever is wrong with Finder. (It won't hurt to back up everything first. For that matter, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup, period.)
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/14/14 08:12 AM
You don't seem to have thought much of my suggestion that you reset your LaunchServices Database, so I'll expand on it by mentioning that I based it on this (sorry, unattributed) snippet in my "k"base

Quote:
Resetting (deleting the LaunchServices cache files) can solve issues with:
Persistent crashes that occur when accessing menu items in various applications.
Problems launching applications -- particularly when accompanied by error -10810
Duplicate items in the "Open With..." contextual menu (for more, see this article)
Launcher utilities (Quicksilver, LaunchBar, etc.) cannot properly open applications
Problems opening documents with the correct application (Emphasis added)

and posted it in response to your post #31458, in which you stated that

Quote:
Finder wouldn't open and the system spit back this message: The application Finder.app can't be opened. -10810. (Emphasis added)
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/14/14 02:57 PM
Originally Posted By: ganbustein
Unless you're curious what the actual problem is, it might be time to try re-installing the OS. Get the Combo updater for OS X 10.6.8 and re-apply it. This won't disturb your user files, and may correct whatever is wrong with Finder. (It won't hurt to back up everything first. For that matter, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup, period.)

As much as I dislike the nuclear option, I think gangbustein is right on with this suggestion. You could easily spend hours or even days working on this issue and never solve it, or you can reinstall the OS so you can go on about your business. As gangbuster said it will not change any of your data or settings.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/14/14 03:20 PM
So you think that the simple step of resetting the LaunchServices Database isn't even worth a try?
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/14/14 10:41 PM
Dear Artie, so sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

Tried GanBustein's idea, first. Didn't mean to ignore you. I live in the middle of the Cleveland National Forest, and live on a tight budget, so do not have internet connectivity. Must travel many miles to library to connect.

Did try your idea later that same night after writing back to GanBustein.

I tried resetting Launch Services (rebuilding the LS database):
find /System/Library/Frameworks -type f -name “lsregister” -exec {} -kill -seed -r \;
Then reboot. Same result: Finder doesn’t load, same Err Msg and number (10810).

Please take no offense at my delays in response.

I will be composing a response to GanBustein's latest suggestions.

Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/15/14 12:18 AM
Hi ganbustein.

Correct, com.apple.Finder 14-06-19.plist was my way of making sure I had an immediately available copy of the .plist to restore and knowing when I did it. I just forgot to delete it later. Used MacKeeper to delete it, since

defaults delete com.apple.Finder

didn't.
Thank you for showing me the Terminal syntax to RM a file. I'm such a newbie, I'm having trouble comprehending the Terminal Help system.

Also, as I explained to Artie, I tried resetting Launch Services (rebuilding the LS database):
find /System/Library/Frameworks -type f -name “lsregister” -exec {} -kill -seed -r \;
Then reboot. Same result: Finder doesn’t load, same Err Msg and number (10810).

Confirmed file deleted:
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ ls ~/Library/Preferences com.apple.find*
ls: /Users/Daddy/Library/Preferences/com.apple.find*: No such file or directory
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$

Got expected result:
ls -lOde /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app returns:
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel - 102 Apr 17 2011 /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

Also correct about:
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$ ls -a ~/.Trash
. .DS_Store
.. com.apple.finder
14-06-19.plist
MacBook-Pro:~ Daddy$

Just prior to noticing Finder problem (don't use Finder every day), had Securely emptied trash. Empty Trash icon displayed on Dock. Went to full icon after putting .plists in trash. That's when I first encountered Finder error (10810). After "suffering" without Finder for a few days I wrote to FTM. So, no trash from other volumes.

BTW: Initially planned to have multiple login accts, but only have the one, Daddy. So I never Log In, just turn on the machine.

Looked at every single Console message (specifically, the ones under Console Messages) and couldn't find a "Why?" I found this under Console Messages:
10/11/14 3:27:37 PM [0x0-0xe00e].com.getdropbox.dropbox[135] LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed for the application /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app with error -10810 for the file /Users/Daddy/Dropbox.
If you're not familiar with Dropbox, it's a web app for file sharing. I know it must have hooks into Finder. Uses it's APIs?

Here are the messages I found filtered by the word Finder. I include unique messages only, no dups, or same message, different date/time stamp.

DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION
Diagnostic and Usage Messages


9/16/14 11:01:06 AM SecurityAgent[345] com.apple.desktopservices|2014-09-16 11:01:06 -0700
com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.SecurityAgent.DialogFrequency
com.apple.message.result: noop
com.apple.message.signature: Finder.app


FILES
system.log


Oct 13 20:25:56 MacBook-Pro /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock[100]: spawn_via_launchd() failed, errno=2 label=com.apple.Finder flags=2
Oct 14 15:33:26 MacBook-Pro /usr/bin/osascript[166]: spawn_via_launchd() failed, errno=2 label=com.apple.Finder flags=2

~/Library/Logs
CrashReporter


Process: info [264]
Path: /usr/bin/info
Identifier: info
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: bash [257]

Date/Time: 2014-10-11 22:17:29.633 -0700
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Report Version: 6

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: 0x000000000000000d, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Thread 0 Crashed: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 info 0x0000000100002550 0x100000000 + 9552
1 info 0x0000000100002845 0x100000000 + 10309
2 info 0x000000010001446a 0x100000000 + 83050
3 info 0x00000001000146d3 0x100000000 + 83667
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a3461ba _sigtramp + 26
5 ??? 0x00007fff5fbffa40 0 + 140734799804992
6 info 0x00000001000105c0 0x100000000 + 67008
7 info 0x0000000100010699 0x100000000 + 67225
8 info 0x0000000100008565 0x100000000 + 34149
9 info 0x0000000100001810 0x100000000 + 6160

Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
rax: 0x2073692073696854 rbx: 0x0000000000000012 rcx: 0x0000000000000001 rdx: 0x0000000000000000
rdi: 0x000000000000004b rsi: 0x00007fff712221b8 rbp: 0x00007fff5fbff440 rsp: 0x00007fff5fbff3c0
r8: 0x00007fff825ff100 r9: 0x0000000000000000 r10: 0x00000001001052e2 r11: 0x0000000100105745
r12: 0x0000000100104ea0 r13: 0x0000000000000000 r14: 0x0000000100106ba0 r15: 0x0000000000000095
rip: 0x0000000100002550 rfl: 0x0000000000010206 cr2: 0x0000000051431000

Binary Images:
0x100000000 - 0x100027fef +info ??? (???) <44DFCD89-8D30-B99F-9F1E-E6C549895B39> /usr/bin/info
0x7fff5fc00000 - 0x7fff5fc3bdef dyld 132.1 (???) <B536F2F1-9DF1-3B6C-1C2C-9075EA219A06> /usr/lib/dyld
0x7fff825d3000 - 0x7fff82612fef libncurses.5.4.dylib 5.4.0 (compatibility 5.4.0) <E1F34D53-3D62-78C0-CAD8-8AD22C110A9E> /usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib
0x7fff86d40000 - 0x7fff86d44ff7 libmathCommon.A.dylib 315.0.0 (compatibility 1.0.0) <95718673-FEEE-B6ED-B127-BCDBDB60D4E5> /usr/lib/system/libmathCommon.A.dylib
0x7fff891b2000 - 0x7fff892aaff7 libiconv.2.dylib 7.0.0 (compatibility 7.0.0) <7E4ADB5A-CC77-DCFD-3E54-2F35A2C8D95A> /usr/lib/libiconv.2.dylib
0x7fff8a2e5000 - 0x7fff8a4a6fef libSystem.B.dylib 125.2.11 (compatibility 1.0.0) <9AB4F1D1-89DC-0E8A-DC8E-A4FE4D69DB69> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib
0x7fffffe00000 - 0x7fffffe01fff libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <9AB4F1D1-89DC-0E8A-DC8E-A4FE4D69DB69> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

Ok, last thing. I am curious to know, but do not want to waste your time. If you are curious too, yes, let's try to find the problem. Or alternatively, is there a way to just reinstall Finder?

A big thank you to ganbustein et al. who have contributed to my education and the troubleshooting steps in order to find the solution and thus implement corrective measures. Thanks to the moderator also.

Implied, but not explicitly stated: Finder still doesn't load.

JCLover
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/15/14 02:03 AM

Might be worth trying a Safe Boot before throwing in the towel and reinstalling the OS, especially if the problem turns out to be a third-party login item like Dropbox.
Posted By: jaybass Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/15/14 12:14 PM
I am not really computer savvy but don't you have a back up to revert to?
jaybass
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/15/14 06:51 PM
Originally Posted By: JCLover
I found this under Console Messages:
10/11/14 3:27:37 PM [0x0-0xe00e].com.getdropbox.dropbox[135] LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed for the application /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app with error -10810 for the file /Users/Daddy/Dropbox.

This is just Dropbox trying to use Finder to locate the dropbox folder. Dropbox isn't having any better luck launching Finder than you are.

Originally Posted By: JCLover
Or alternatively, is there a way to just reinstall Finder?

It's easier to reinstall the whole system than it is to reinstall just one component. Especially when we don't know for certain what needs to be reinstalled. (Or deleted.)

dkmarsh's suggestion to try a safe boot is a good one, and it's easy. Try that, and if it doesn't work I think it's time to go nuclear.

Good luck!
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/16/14 08:24 PM
Ok. Will try Safe Boot, first.

Thank you GanBustein and DKMarsh.
Thanks JayBass. I do have a Time Machine backup of the system and system discs from when I purchased.

Alright, so Safe Boot sounds like a Windows type thing I've done in the past for troubleshooting and corrective action. Problem is I don't know how to use the Mac version, yet. I'll see if I can find something about Safe Boot on FTM or the web. Failing that I'll do a system install.

Thanks again.
Posted By: jchuzi Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/16/14 08:53 PM
OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/16/14 09:47 PM
Hello to all who are following this thread.

I've learned about and tried, in this order:
1. PRAM
2. SMC
3. Safe Mode

Confirmed nothing in trash, except child and parent directory markers:
.
..

and
.DS_Store

Confirmed no Finder .plist because still can't launch Finder.

If I understand Safe Mode, there is nothing for me to do, once the machine is booted, right? It does its magic automatically, right?

If I was supposed to do something while in Safe Mode, could you tell me what that would be?

So on to System re-install, right?
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/16/14 10:04 PM

The idea behind booting into Safe Mode in this case was to rule out user-installed fonts, font caches, startup/login items, and non-essential kernel extensions as causes of your problem. These are not loaded when you boot into Safe Mode, so if one of them had in fact been responsible for Finder failing to launch, you'd have been able to launch it.

That wouldn't necessarily have told you which of these items was responsible, but it would have suggested that you explore the possibilities, rather than jumping right into a system reinstall which might not have solved anything.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/16/14 10:16 PM
Hi DKMarsh.

Ok, very good, then.

Will try reinstall option and write back, either way, to let you all know the result.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/17/14 06:12 AM
No offense taken, merely curiosity expressed.

Too bad my idea didn't help. (Actually, I'm not enough of a UNIX guy to have even the vaguest idea whether the command you ran is the correct one, so I'll bow to ganbustein's not having called you out.)

Despite your DOS command line background, your acclimation to Terminal is pretty impressive for a Mac newbie, many, if not most, of whom run from Terminal like the plague.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/17/14 10:26 PM
Originally Posted By: artie505
Too bad my idea didn't help. (Actually, I'm not enough of a UNIX guy to have even the vaguest idea whether the command you ran is the correct one, so I'll bow to ganbustein's not having called you out.)

Sorry, artie. I should have scrutinized the command more carefully. It's an unusual variant, in that it uses the find command to locate the lsregister executable instead of typing out its path explicitly, but it should work. Except for the smart quotes. (The command line uses only dumb quotes.) I'm currently running OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks, but I can ssh into a machine running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, and when I paste in the command with smart quotes I get beeps and a garbled command. If I press return to run the command anyway, I get an error message. I assumed the quotes got smartened when you posted the command here, and were properly dumb when pasted into Terminal. Testing again, I see that it's ssh that doesn't like the smart quotes. If I walk over to my Snow Leopard machine and type them in there, with smart quotes, the command runs with no errors but does nothing.


But it doesn't matter. I found the problem, and it isn't the Launch Services database.

It turns out that ~/Library/Preferences isn't the only folder that contains a file named com.apple.Finder.plist. There is another file with that name in /System/Library/LaunchAgents.

This file is the one that tells the system to launch Finder on each login, and to restart it every time it crashes. It tells the system that it's the job whose name is "com.apple.Finder". Other things (like Dock, for example) that want to launch Finder do it using its job name, not the path to its executable.

To test what would happen if that file were trashed (and not trash my own system in the process), I simulated its effect by entering the following command on my Snow Leopard machine:

launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist

This command uses launchctl to tell the launch daemon (launchd) to temporarily forget that it ever saw the file in question. Without the -w flag, this is temporary amnesia. The file would be seen normally on the next login. (Like I said, I didn't want to hose my own system.) launchd obligingly quits Finder for me. (The first time I tried this, I first quit Finder explicitly with:

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to quit'

but it turns out that was unnecessary.)

But now the system is (temporarily) in the same state it would be in if the file had been missing at login. Finder is not running, and launchd knows nothing about any such job as "com.apple.Finder".

Dock is running, and still shows a Finder icon. When I click on that icon, I get a dialog saying:

The application Finder.app can't be opened.
-10810

Sound familiar?

I put my system back in working order with

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist

but a simple logout/login would have sufficed, since the file itself was not touched.


To restore your system, you need to restore this file. On OS X 10.6.8, it should look like:
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<false/>
	<key>KeepAlive</key>
	<dict>
		<key>SuccessfulExit</key>
		<false/>
		<key>AfterInitialDemand</key>
		<true/>
	</dict>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>com.apple.Finder</string>
	<key>Program</key>
	<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder</string>
	<key>ThrottleInterval</key>
	<integer>0</integer>
</dict>
</plist>



At this point, you may have the correct file in ~/Library/Preferences. You can look by entering the command:

cat ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist

If it looks like the above, you can put it back in place with:

sudo mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist /System/Library/LaunchAgents

If you haven't used the sudo command before, you'll get a scary warning message. You have been warned! sudo is a powerful command. But we need its power now, so proceed by entering your login password. (Only an admin user can use sudo, but you've already told us you only have one user, so it must be an admin.) Nothing will echo back to your screen while you type, so you need to enter the password blind.

The file probably has the wrong owner by now. The following commands will make sure permissions and ownership are correct:

cd /System/Library/LaunchAgents
sudo chmod 644 com.apple.Finder.plist
sudo chown root:wheel com.apple.Finder.plist


Restart your computer, and all should be well.


That's assuming we can still find the proper plist in your preferences folder. Trouble is, you probably have deleted it by now. You say you have a Time Machine backup, and we can probably get the file from there. We're hampered by the fact that TM's normal restore process uses Finder to browse your backup, and we don't have Finder. I could give you Terminal commands to search your backup for the file, but I don't know if it's on a local disk or on a Time Capsule or somewhere else, and the commands are different.

Instead, the simplest option is probably to just paste it in. I've shown you above what the contents of the file should be. Copy that, then execute the command:

pbpaste > ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist

and now you have it in your preferences folder. Follow the previous instructions to put it where it belongs in LaunchAgents.

(As you may have guessed from that, I'm a mathematician at heart. We like to turn new problems into old already-solved problems.
  • Q: You have a pan of water on the floor, a match, and an unlit stove. How do you boil the water?
  • A: You put the pan on the stove and use the match to light the stove.
  • Q: You have a pan of water on an unlit stove, and a match. How do you boil the water?
  • A: Put the pan on the floor. You now have a previously solved problem.
  • Q: How do you kill a purple elephant?
  • A: Shoot it with a purple elephant gun.
  • Q: How do you kill a pink elephant?
  • A: Squeeze it by the trunk until it turns purple, then shoot it with a purple elephant gun.
By these questions do you recognize a mathematician.)

Originally Posted By: artie505
Despite your DOS command line background, your acclimation to Terminal is pretty impressive for a Mac newbie, many, if not most, of whom run from Terminal like the plague.

Agreed. Your quick uptake certainly made my job easier.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/18/14 05:47 AM
Originally Posted By: ganbustein
Instead, the simplest option is probably to just paste it in. I've shown you above what the contents of the file should be. Copy that, then execute the command:

pbpaste > ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist

and now you have it in your preferences folder. Follow the previous instructions to put it where it belongs in LaunchAgents.


I belatedly realized there's a bit of a Catch-22 in that. If you've been following standard operating procedure, which is to copy/paste commands from your browser into Terminal to avoid transcription errors, then what you have on the clipboard, and what the pbpaste command is going to produce, is the pbpaste command itself and not the desired contents of the .plist file.

What you need to do is copy/paste the pbpaste command but leave off the trailing newline character so it doesn't execute yet, then go back to your browser and copy the data that's to go into the file, and finally return to Terminal and press the return key.

If you've accidentally executed the pbpaste command already, it's easy to recover. Go back and copy the data again, then in Terminal press the up-arrow key to get the previous command back, and press return to execute it.

Or just type the pbpaste command very carefully.

Or, use cat instead of pbpaste. Execute the command:

cat > ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist

(note the > character which is not in command you use to view the file). At this point, whatever you type will go directly into the file, replacing whatever is already there, if anything. Use copy/paste from your browser to Terminal to copy the data, then press control-D in Terminal to indicate you're done typing.

However you do it, check the contents of the file to make sure it's correct before moving it into /System/Library/LaunchAgents. As before, the command to see what's in the file is:

cat ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Finder.plist

(without the > character).
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/19/14 09:46 PM
While out walking, it occurred to me that we've been distracted by the interesting problem of figuring out why Finder wouldn't run anymore, and what to do about that, and have lost sight of your original problem, which will still be there once Finder is running.

Being unable to make a name change stick sounds like a catalog problem. Nowhere in this thread is there any indication that you've examined the integrity of your disk catalog.

Whether you now have Finder running or not, you should launch Disk Utility, select your boot volume, and click on "Verify Disk". (Not "Verify Disk Permissions"! That's a waste of time. "Repair Disk" will be grayed out, because you can't repair a disk you can't unmount, and the boot volume cannot be unmounted.)

Let us know if "Verify Disk" reports any errors. If it does, you can try repairing it from Single User Mode (Google will tell you how) or while booted from another disk (such as your install disc). If the volume is unrepairable, you will need to wipe it and restore from backup.

(You could try repairing it with advanced utilities, such as Disk Warrior, but my attitude is that non-trivial repairs are akin to fixing a broken window by gluing all the shards of glass back together. You're better off replacing the whole windowpane. There are regulars on this forum who work for Disk Warrior, and will naturally have a different attitude. It's your call. How recent your backup is will definitely be a factor in that decision.)

If the volume needs repair, that problem pre-empts everything else. Do not do anything that creates/renames/deletes files until that's taken care of.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/20/14 05:55 AM
I poked around a bit and found that the command JCLover ran is the same as the one suggested by The X Lab.

(I also found Error -10810 Openng Applictions or Relaunching Finder.)

Edit: From the second linked doc:

Quote:
Some advocate resetting Launch Services as a solution, but -10810 issues are generally not a problem with the Launch Services database: the problem is usually due to a filled processs table.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/20/14 10:08 AM
Hmmm... JCLover never told us how the "incorrectly named" file was named, i.e. what led to the conclusion that it was incorrectly named.

Also, why/how on Earth would/could such a file be incorrectly named?

And finally, I wonder if the name change's not sticking was a consequence of trying to rename /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist and OS X simply not allowing the change to be made?
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/20/14 07:43 PM
Error -10810 is defined (in LSInfo.h) as:
Code:
  kLSUnknownErr                 = -10810, /* Unexpected internal error*/

The "LS" stands for Launch Services. Basically, error -10810 is Launch Services' way of saying: "I was unable to launch the app, and I have no idea why not."

In short, it's an extremely uninformative error message that gives us no clue as to the underlying problem. It's almost as useless as error -50 (paramErr: Error in user parameter lists) which means "some part of the system asked some other part of the system to do something that it either couldn't understand or couldn't do".


Tip: Not directly relevant, but when Googling error numbers, remember to leave off the leading minus sign. Googling for "error -10810" finds pages that contain the word "error" but do not contain the word "10810". The results may be a tad less relevant than you might have hoped.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/20/14 08:20 PM
Originally Posted By: artie505
Hmmm... JCLover never told us how the "incorrectly named" file was named, i.e. what led to the conclusion that it was incorrectly named.

Also, why/how on Earth would/could such a file be incorrectly named?

And finally, I wonder if the name change's not sticking was a consequence of trying to rename /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist and OS X simply not allowing the change to be made?

Actually, he did tell us that he encountered the unable-to-rename problem first, suspected Finder was to blame, and only then started looking for ways to "reset" Finder.

I'm guessing he used Spotlight (in a Finder Search window) to find files named "com.apple.Finder.plist", and trashed all of them it found. The search would have had to include "system files", or it wouldn't have found any, since anything in any Library folder is considered a system file. Finder would have asked him to authenticate as admin, but would then have obligingly ripped out its own guts. (I think it was in OS X 10.7 Lion that Finder stopped being so obliging. It now refuses to move root-owned files from root-owned folders. It doesn't even ask you to authenticate; it just says "No". Users mostly notice that trying to trash things from /Applications.)

I ran into the unable-to-rename problem myself, once, on a friend's "table lamp" iMac running OS X 10.3. The symptoms were just as the OP described. I established that the problem was a corrupted catalog. He had no backup, and I refuse to waste my time trying to rescue files whose owner did not think they were important enough to back up. Not for the first time, I read him the riot act about backups (he's in IT and should have known better), his wife read him the riot act (she also thought he should have known better), wiped his disk (after letting him rescue as many files as he could), and upgraded him to OS X 10.4.
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/20/14 09:09 PM

Quote:
Googling for "error -10810" finds pages that contain the word "error" but do not contain the word "10810".

In this case, including the quotation marks in the search string—"error -10810" as opposed to error -10810 —will produce a reasonably relevant set of results.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/21/14 04:02 AM
Originally Posted By: dkmarsh
In this case, including the quotation marks in the search string—"error -10810" as opposed to error -10810 —will produce a reasonably relevant set of results.

But better is to put the quotes around just the number, as in error "-10810". This way, the number doesn't have to immediately follow the word "error". (For example, it will find a page that talks about "Error code -10810", and even pages that don't use the word "error" at all.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/24/14 10:10 PM
Greetings GanBustein and Artie. Thank you (and everyone else) for all your help and great suggestions. This is the first chance I've had to get back to town and to an internet hot spot.

Reasoned that a restore from Time Machine may not fix the Finder problem, because it might restore a corrupt .plist or other file. So I decided to re-install the OS from the system disc, as suggested.

That worked beautifully for fixing Finder, but as you can imagine, due to software update incompatibilities, the iLife programs stopped working (Pages, Numbers, Keynote). I understand the problem and am working the solution, as I write: the OS is now 10.6 (Snow Leopard, as you know), but the iLife apps, drivers, etc. are all 10.6.8. That is not too painful. Compared with my experience with Windows boxes, Mac has been a snap and a joy.

Your further efforts are not wasted. Because of them I've gleaned so much and understand so much better the Mac's internals and Terminal's importance and advantages. Thank you again.

Thank you, too, for you kind compliments. I appreciate them.

Regarding the catalog problem: I verified the disc just prior to contacting FTM the first time - no problems. Will Verify again after Software Update. I use MacKeeper for antivirus and system maintenance, but I've noticed my machine still runs a little slower than it did a year or two years ago. Can you suggest anything which may speed up the boot process? Also, usually shut-down is fast, but occasionally, especially after installing a program or any update requiring me to enter the admin password, shut-down is slow.

Now I know where to turn for the best Mac help available on line. I am grateful for FTM as a whole.

Artie, I did not understand this line: "...so I'll bow to ganbustein's not having called you out." Called out for what? I'm probably misinterpreting this. Perhaps, I missed a post. I looked, but did not find anything to help me understand.

All the best to you all,
JCLover
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/24/14 11:36 PM
Originally Posted By: artie505
Hmmm... JCLover never told us how the "incorrectly named" file was named, i.e. what led to the conclusion that it was incorrectly named.

Also, why/how on Earth would/could such a file be incorrectly named?

And finally, I wonder if the name change's not sticking was a consequence of trying to rename /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist and OS X simply not allowing the change to be made?


Hi Artie.
Sorry folks, I didn't notice, until after my post of 10/24, that there is a Page 2 in this tread. I just thought I'd be looking at one long page, forever. Well, you know what the ubiquitous they say about AssUMeing. Therefore, I did not see any posts in this tread, after the 10/19 post (by Artie, I believe). Discovering Page 2, however, did not help me understand that line I asked you about.

Regarding renamed file: just to eliminate any lingering doubts, it was a user file that I had improperly named, so unrelated to a system file permissions issues. I was using Finder to rename the file, which is why I thought Finder/cataloger was the problem. In my system, using Finder (coverflow list), if you click on a file in the list, and then press enter/return key, it puts the file.ext in edit mode, whereby you can change the file name and extension. Press enter again to exit edit mode, then click off that row/file to save the changes. All that worked, as previously mentioned, but subsequent opening of the source folder showed the file had not be renamed after all. But no need to continue reiterating since the problem seems to be fixed.

I'm writing again, because as I began downloading the Software Updates to bring my system up to 10.6.8 again, I noticed the HP printer update listed, and remembered that after installing the last update (don't remember if it's the same version number), the scanner part of my HP Deskjet 2050 J510 (Multi-function center [print, copy, scan -- no fax]) stopped working, just the scan function. It had worked the day before, so I in my mind I concluded the Update had wiped out my scanner. I suppose it's possible some component in the HP unit itself is the real problem.

Anyway, I mention it now, just to ask if there could be any relation between the HP update and the catalog problem?

I'll write back to notify all whether the HP update fixed the scanner.

Thanks again to you Artie, and everyone who contributed to this thread.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 12:25 AM
Update: I'm sitting out side the library, it's closed, but the hotspot remains functional for a while after closing. It's dusk and 59% battery power left after download and install of updates, but wanted to tell you of my progress and results today rather than later.

All appears fine, with one exception. Pages lost the CorsivaHebrew and CorsivaHebrew Bold fonts. Is there an easy way to get back just those fonts or do I need to reinstall Font Book?

These fonts are very important to me. The check writing system I built, depends on them and the replacement fonts used by the system/Pages has really made a mess of the check documents.

Will not know the result of HP update until I go back home. Will advise, ASAP.

Wow, the transition from dusk to dark is a rather short interval of time.

Have a great weekend.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 12:29 AM
Quote:
Artie, I did not understand this line: "...so I'll bow to ganbustein's not having called you out." Called out for what? I'm probably misinterpreting this. Perhaps, I missed a post. I looked, but did not find anything to help me understand.

Oh, that was just vernacular for "He didn't question the Terminal command you ran to reset your LaunchServices database." Sorry for the confusion.

By the way, I've learned from experience to keep the larger updates required for a clean install of OS X 10.6.8, the 10.6.8 Combo and Safari 5.1.0 updaters and Security Update 2013-004, stored on my deuced Mac(hina) so I don't have to d/l them every time I need them.

Additionally, if you ever rerun only the Combo, you'll need to run the Snow Leopard Migration Assistant updater and the Safari (The Combo reverts Safari to v 5.0.5.) and Security updaters along with it. Unfortunately, running the Combo doesn't clear previously deposited receipts, so Software Update doesn't think any updates are required.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 12:38 AM
Although your fonts don't appear in Font Book in my OS X 10.6.8 installation, they do live in /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ATS.framework/Versions/A/Resources/FontInfo.

It looks like you'll either have to reinstall, use Pacifist to extract them from your install disc, or get them from a friend.
Posted By: jchuzi Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 10:00 AM
Beware of Mackeeper! For more info, read the comments at this thread.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 10:22 AM
Good catch!!!
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 08:47 PM
The Corsiva fonts (Corsiva.ttf and CorsivaBold.ttf) normally live in /Library/Fonts.

If they're truly missing from your system now, you should be able to restore them from your Time Machine backup. No need to futz around with installers or Pacifist.

If the files are there, but applications don't offer them, run Font Book and tell it to re-open the fonts.

Font Book is just a font manager. Its purpose is to tell the system which fonts to use and which to ignore. (Oh, and it can also detect duplicate and/or damaged fonts.) It doesn't actually contain any fonts within it, so reinstalling Font Book won't bring any missing fonts back.


I've heard nothing good about MacKeeper. I don't know that it's related to your problem, but it's not helping you and may be doing you harm.


The HP printer update is almost certainly unrelated to your problems.


The iWork updates (Pages/Numbers/Keynote) generally save prior versions. Look in /Applications for folders with names like "iWork (06)", "iWork (08)", "iWork (09)". These older versions still work, except:
  • Double-clicking a document always opens it in the most recent version of the app. If you want to open it in an older version, you need to either launch the app and then open the document using File→Open, or drag the document onto the icon for the app. (The icon can be in the Dock.)
  • Documents you save from one version of the app cannot be opened by earlier versions of the app. (Some versions of the app may let you save in earlier versions, either as part of File→Save As or as a submenu of File→Export.)
It's safe to restore these older versions from your Time Machine backup. Best to put them in their own folders, leaving the new versions untouched. Otherwise, Software Update will keep trying to bring them back up to date.

But there's generally no incentive for using older versions of Pages, until you get to version 5. Pages 4.3 (the latest version in iWorks (09)) has the most features and only one flaw: it doesn't play as well as it should with Pages for iOS. Pages 5.x is much more compatible with Pages for iOS, but dropped a slew of features. Apple recognizes this is a problem, and is adding back the missing features as fast as they can, but in the meantime it's good to still have iWorks (09) available.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/25/14 10:45 PM
> The Corsiva fonts (Corsiva.ttf and CorsivaBold.ttf) normally live in /Library/Fonts.

Here's what EasyFind finds in my brand, spanking new Snowy (same as JCLover's running) installation.

I don't find Corsiva in /Library/Fonts, /System/Library/Fonts or Font Book.
Posted By: dkmarsh Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/26/14 12:12 AM

Quote:
In my brand, spanking new 10.6.8 installation (same as JCLover's running), I don't see any Corsiva fonts anywhere obvious...

And yet, according to Mac OS X v10.6: Fonts list, Corsiva Hebrew and Corsiva Hebrew Bold are in /Library/Fonts as per ganbustein.

Seems that they're actually part of the Snow Leopard installer disk's "Additional Fonts" option (see this Macworld screenshot); perhaps you (and JCLover) didn't include that particular optional install when reinstalling Snow Leopard.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/26/14 12:20 AM
You've on the mark (in my case, anyhow); I did not install the Additional Fonts. (So what is EasyFind finding?)

(I'm pretty sure that I looked at your linked Apple doc; I guess I skimmed right past the Corsivas.)
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/26/14 08:43 AM
I don't recall installing Additional Fonts, but they're present on my (to my knowledge) plain vanilla Snow Leopard machine (and on my Yosemite machine).

Still, if they're really part of Additional Fonts, that's one way to get them back. Or restore them from Time Machine.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/26/14 09:07 AM
Additional Fonts isn't an option; it's part of a standard install and must be "customized" out (as I did).

So, JCLover's best options are Time Machine, Pacifist, or a friend.

Edit: I just examined my Snowy install disc with Pacifist, and Additional Fonts includes two Corsivas , neither of which is identified as Hebrew, though.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/26/14 07:57 PM
Originally Posted By: artie505
Additional Fonts isn't an option; it's part of a standard install and must be "customized" out (as I did).

So, JCLover's best options are Time Machine, Pacifist, or a friend.
Edit: I just examined my Snowy install disc with Pacifist, and Additional Fonts includes two Corsivas , neither of which is identified as Hebrew, though.

You still don't need Pacifist. Just double-click on the Additional Fonts package to install whatever it installs.

The word "Hebrew" is part of the font name, not the filename. Any resemblance between font names and filenames is purely for human convenience. The two files are for the Regular and Bold variants.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/26/14 08:12 PM
There's no package on which to double-click; Additional Fonts is an element of the basic installation that's included by default and excluded by unchecking its box in the "Customize" pane while you're booted into the installer. (Edit: Same location as X11.)

Unless there's a secret that I don't know, JCLover would have to reinstall to get the Corsivas without Pacifist.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/28/14 08:44 PM
Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD (for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard).
Double-click on Optional Installs to open the folder.
Double-click on Optional Installs.mpkg to launch the installer.
Agree to whatever you're asked to agree to.

At this point, you now have a window listing things that can be optionally installed. They're all initially unchecked. Select "Additional Fonts". Click "Continue".

Alternatively, run the standard installer, but under "Customize" uncheck everything except Additional Fonts. (Couldn't test this, because the optical drive on my Snow Leopard machine no longer works, and I can't get CD/DVD sharing from my Yosemite machine to work.)
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/29/14 12:42 AM
Hello all.

HP update did not fix HP Scan 3 problem, but I did discover an inferior scanning software that works. [Correction: Found within Preferences-> Print & Fax-> select printer from list-> click Scan tab.] So that confirms not a hardware problem. What a relief. Got some docs scanned for important meeting.

Ok, restored the two True Type fonts from Time Machine backup. All .pages back to normal. Did not find any files with .ttf extension in this path:

/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ATS.framework/Versions/A/Resources/FontInfo

All files there came in pairs with these two endings:

ATSD and fontinfo. For example:

Georgia Bold Italic.ttf.28E34_0.ATSD
Georgia Bold Italic.ttf.28E34_0.fontinfo

Can I safely dump these files?

All fonts on my system, except some user installed fonts, are located at /Library/Fonts, including, of course, the two Corsiva fonts just restored.

Yes, I meant iWork, not iLife. I noticed after I'd sent. Thanks for pointing it out, though. Thanks for your help.

Software wise, I think I'm back to where I started, save HP Scan 3. However, Finder is still behaving badly. Couldn't find any .ttf files, even when searching for system and hidden files. I found other system/hidden files, but not .ttf. Also, couldn't find "Corsiva" on Time Machine. Had to drill down into /Library/Fonts and then select them from the list.

Did perform Verify again. Interesting result: "Invalid volume file count" and "Invalid volume directory count" both off by two. Here's the log entry.

2014-10-25 23:17:08 -0700: Verifying volume “MacBook Pro HD”
2014-10-25 23:17:08 -0700: Starting verification tool:
2014-10-25 23:17:10 -0700: Performing live verification.
2014-10-25 23:17:10 -0700: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking extents overflow file.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking catalog file.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking multi-linked files.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking extended attributes file.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking volume bitmap.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking volume information.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Invalid volume file count
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: (It should be 383195 instead of 383197)
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Invalid volume directory count
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: (It should be 113054 instead of 113052)
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: The volume MacBook Pro HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.

Assume the two missing fonts? I repaired the disc and all seems fine.

I have a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right with the cataloging system. How can I find out?

Thank again to all. Bye for now.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/30/14 08:49 AM
Originally Posted By: ganbustein
Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD (for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard).
Double-click on Optional Installs to open the folder.
...
Alternatively, run the standard installer, but under "Customize" uncheck everything except Additional Fonts. (Couldn't test this, because the optical drive on my Snow Leopard machine no longer works, and I can't get CD/DVD sharing from my Yosemite machine to work.)

Someday, I'll learn. crazy

I'm pretty sure that I must have looked in that folder (or...maybe only its previous incarnation in a pre-Snowy installer) at least once, and I had long since forgotten that it exists; it's one of those things that I don't even se when it's on the screen in front of me.

You can't turn the trick with the standard installer, because "Essential System Software" can't be unchecked.

Edit: Pacifist is beneficial to those who closely manage their fonts, because it's the only way to specify which of the additional fonts you want installed.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/30/14 02:32 PM
Originally Posted By: JCLover
Did perform Verify again. Interesting result: "Invalid volume file count" and "Invalid volume directory count" both off by two. Here's the log entry.

2014-10-25 23:17:08 -0700: Verifying volume “MacBook Pro HD”
2014-10-25 23:17:08 -0700: Starting verification tool:
2014-10-25 23:17:10 -0700: Performing live verification.
2014-10-25 23:17:10 -0700: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking extents overflow file.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking catalog file.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking multi-linked files.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking extended attributes file.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking volume bitmap.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Checking volume information.
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Invalid volume file count
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: (It should be 383195 instead of 383197)
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: Invalid volume directory count
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: (It should be 113054 instead of 113052)
2014-10-25 23:18:15 -0700: The volume MacBook Pro HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.

Assume the two missing fonts? I repaired the disc and all seems fine.

I have a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right with the cataloging system. How can I find out?

Your nagging feeling is confirmed by Disk Utility when it says, "The volume MacBook Pro HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired." You need to boot from your 10.6 install DVD and run Disk Utility > Repair Disk which should fix the problem.
Posted By: ganbustein Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/30/14 07:16 PM
Originally Posted By: JCLover
All files there [in /System/Library/.../FontInfo] came in pairs
<snip>
Can I safely dump these files?

You cannot safely dump anything from inside /System. Don't add anything, either.

I know they're on your computer, but you should think of them as Apple's files. The price you pay to be able to run Apple's OS is that you have to give Apple a little corner of your boot volume that they can call their own. /System is that corner. Look, but don't touch.

Don't forget what happened when you deleted /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Finder.plist. There's a lesson in there.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 10:09 PM
Very good. Thanks.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 10:17 PM
Hi Joe. Assuming you noticed I'd said I did perform Repair, then am I to understand that one cannot Repair the disc one boots from?
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 10:29 PM
You can't repair the disk into which you're booted. (When your boot disk is selected in Disk Utility, "Repair Disk" should be greyed out; only "Verify Disk" should be available.)

To repair a disk using Disk Utility you've either got to boot into a different volume or boot from your install disc.

Edit: Alternatively, you can use DiskWarrior or another of its ilk.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 10:59 PM
Joe, me again. I suppose I've answered my own question. Ran Repair from Install disc. Now, Finder seems to be well again. I am able to locate "Corsiva" files. I can also locate ".ttf" files, now. So that appears to end the Finder saga, at least for now.
Thanks again to everyone who contributed, especially Ganbustein.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 11:01 PM
Very good, thank you.
Posted By: JCLover Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 11:35 PM
Originally Posted By: JCLover

I've noticed my machine still runs a little slower than it did a year or two years ago. Can you suggest anything which may speed up the boot process? Also, usually shut-down is fast, but occasionally, especially after installing a program or any update requiring me to enter the admin password, shut-down is slow.


Anything on this, yet? Should I start a new thread for this and the other questions posed?
Posted By: artie505 Re: Whoops - Disabled Finder - 10/31/14 11:40 PM
You probably ought to start a new thread for this, but since we're still here, when did you install MacKeeper?

That may be a good place to start looking.

Edit: Oops! Did you reinstall MacKeeper after you reinstalled OS X?

So your Mac is running slower even after the reinstall?
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