As a Mac user, we needn’t even state how important the Dock is. It is a place from where you access your apps, files and so many other things. What if, out of the blue, your Mac dock stops working or becomes unresponsive? The first thought that would probably strike your mind is – What went wrong? Why is the dock stuck or has frozen up?
Here Are Some Reasons As To Why Your Mac Dock Is Frozen –
- The preference file related to the Dock is corrupted
- Some error has occurred in your Dock’s settings
- Dock Magnification is enabled
- Outdated third-party apps are causing issues and more so meddling with your Dock
What To Do If Mac Dock Is Unresponsive/ Frozen or Stuck
1. Restart Your Mac
If your Mac dock is unresponsive or frozen, restarting your Mac is probably the first thing you should do. A quick restart will clear any glitches that are causing issues on your Mac, a freezing dock being one of them. What if your Mac per se isn’t botting up properly, here is how you can fix this issue.
2. Restart Dock
As we mentioned in the reasons, if the Dock of your Mac is in an error state, it will freeze or act up in some other manner. In this case, you can try re-spring your Dock and then check if you have been able to fix the issue or not. Here are the steps to restart Dock –
Launch Finder
Open Applications
In the search bar search for Terminal
When the Terminal window opens type killall Dock and then press the Return key to execute the command.
3. Reset Dock To Default
Another way to fix a dock that’s not working is to reset the dock. So, fire up the Terminal using the steps we mentioned above and type defaults delete com.apple.dock; killall Dock
Once you have entered this command, press Return and wait for the Dock to restart. Now check if you have been able to fix the issue or not.
4. Disable Dock Magnification
The “Dock Magnification” is quite a useful feature as it helps magnify apps or other items as soon as you hover your mouse over them. Although, some users have reported it to be counterproductive and it could be a reason why your Mac dock is not working or has stuck. So, here are the steps to disable Dock Magnification –
Click on the Apple icon at the top left corner of your desktop.
Select System Preferences.
Select Dock & Menu Bar
Uncheck the option named Magnification
Save the changes and restart your Mac.
5. Try Changing The Position Of Your Dock
Changing the position of the Dock and then bringing it back to the original position has worked out for many users who had to deal with an unresponsive Dock on Mac. You can try if the same works out for you as well –
Open the Dock window using the options mentioned just above.
Change the position of the dock by clicking on one of the radio buttons next to Position on screen.
Close the settings.
6. Are There Any Outdated Apps
An outdated third-party app could be the reason why your Dock is not working. More specifically, if you haven’t updated a third-party app and if it continues to run in the background and shows up on your Dock, the latter might get stuck. You can either try updating the app or force quit the app for good. Post that, check if the Dock on your Mac is working fine or not.
7. Reset PRAM or NVRAM
As a last resort, you can try resetting your NVRAM or PRAM which is a non-volatile random access memory that saves your Mac’s settings. This can be a viable solution if the issues in your PRAM or NVRAM are causing your dock to malfunction. In case, you are unaware of how to reset the PRAM or NVRAM, you can refer to these links –
Quick Writer’s Tip –
Since we are dealing with a Mac issue, many of us have to further deal with a sluggish, slow performing Mac. To add to the “slowness”, many of us even have to lock horns with unwanted junk files, mail attachments, old files, and whatnot. These items can prove to be a headache, the reason being they hamper your productivity.
To keep such issues at bay, you can use a tool like Cleanup My System. It can help you get rid of all unwanted items such as cache files, log reports, old downloads, unused disk images, broken preferences, and many others which are just taking up space for no reason. At the same time, you can easily get rid of old and large files as well.
Remember the problematic third-party apps we were discussing? Cleanup My System also has an Uninstall Manager that can help you get rid of even the most stubborn apps which you are not able to uninstall.
Want to see Cleanup My System in action? Here is our inside-out review where we have touched upon the various aspects of this tool and have even elaborated upon its working.
Wrapping Up
If you have been able to fix an unresponsive Mac Dock, do share with us the solution that worked out for you. For more such content, keep reading WeTheGeek.
