Apps will not open, post OS X Mavericks update

Question

I recently upgraded my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro to OS X 10.9 Mavericks and shortly afterwards I updated the iWork apps to their latest version.

After they were all downloaded and installed, I noticed that in my /Applications folder there were, in addition to the newly updated iWork apps, the old iWork '09 apps in a separate folder. I had just assumed that this was just in case you still wanted access to the old iWork apps and so I deleted them.

For the first few hours, the new iWork apps were still working as expected. But, after deleting the old iWork '09 apps, I noticed that I could no longer open the Mac App Store. The icon in my dock just bounces once and then settles, unlike other apps which will bounce a couple of times and start.

• I did some digging online but none of the results were recent enough for OS X Mavericks.
• Many forum posts say to delete com.apple.appstore.plist as well as many other files but I can't seem to find any of these files anywhere on my hard drive.
• I have contacted Apple but they want £35/$57 just to handle my support request.
• The next morning, I noticed that the error that had caused the MAS to not open had extended to the iWork apps, as well as many other Apple apps including Calendar, Terminal and Photo Booth.

What I would like to know is how easily could this be fixed? To me, it feels like it would need to a complete fresh re-install of OS X.

Answer 1

This seems to be a strange issue. So I do not have any solutions to fix them as it exists on the system. Before you proceed, ensure that you create a backup (using Time Machine or a disk cloning tool like Clonezilla, Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!). In case things get worse, you can at least revert to the last known (better) state.

You can do one or both of the following:

• You can reinstall OS X yourself. Hold Cmd+R on startup to get into Recovery Mode and select the reinstall OS X Mavericks option.
• If you have a backup with Time Machine from before the upgrade, you can also choose Restore From a Time Machine Backup from the recovery options, select the date/time of that backup and go back to OS X Mountain Lion.

Also see OS X: About OS X Recovery to use Recovery Mode (this is applicable from OS X Lion onwards).

Answer 2

I'm having the same issue on two of my machines. None of the core apps will launch (Mac App Store, Maps, Message, Photobooth, etc.).

One solution that worked for me for a short period of time:

• If you hold Command+R on restart, it activates the recovery partition from which you can reinstall OS X Mavericks.
• Unfortunately the "fix" doesn't last for long and you're either forced to rinse and repeat, or give up entirely.

There doesn't seem to be a genuine fix anywhere online that works for me.

Answer 3

Some suggestions (I am using iTunes as an example)…

Try the command file /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes (for architecture i386): Mach-O executable i386 /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes (for architecture x86_64): Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

Try the command ls -l /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 52680144 Nov 2 03:11 /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes

Check for any Unix links (using command ls -ld)

Disk Utility allows Repair Disk Permissions as an option.

Answer 4

This is a new security propriety on OS X 10.9, to remove it:

1. Go to System Preferences → Security and Privacy.
2. Unlock the preference pane by clicking on the lock icon and entering your password.
3. Make sure that Anywhere is selected.

Do note, that this is a bit like leaving your front door unlocked. White listing apps you wish to open rather than turning off all code checks might be a better plan for most people, but you can disable this feature entirely if you wish.