Symptom
Applications cannot be opened from the Dock. Folders may appear in the Dock where application icons are expected.
This may occur if the Users folder (/Users) has been moved or deleted.
Note: When the Users folder is moved or deleted, the Setup Assistant is bypassed and the user automatically logs in.
Important: You should not relocate the Users folder.
Solution
Follow these steps:
Warning: These steps recursively eliminate all contents of the affected Home directory. However, it is very likely that the affected Home directory is not your original Home directory, which may have already been relocated or deleted (causing this issue).
1. Choose Log Out from the Apple menu. The Login panel appears.
2. In the user name field, type: >console
3. Do not type a password and click Log In. The command-line console appears, and you are prompted to log in.
4. Log in with your normal name and password. If you do not know the password, see technical document 106156: "Mac OS X 10.0: How to Change a User's Password"
5. Type: cd /Users
6. Press Return.
7. Type: ls
8. Press Return, and verify the exact name of your Home directory from the list that appears. This is normally the same as your short user name, but it can be different if you have undertaken a series of deliberate steps to change it.
9. Type: sudo rm -R home
Note: Replace "home" with the actual name of your Home directory.
10. Press Return. Type your password when prompted and Press Return.
You have eliminated the Home directory with incorrect permissions. To create a new Home directory with the correct permissions, follow these steps:
1. Type: sudo mkdir /Users/home
Note: Replace "home" with the actual name of your Home directory, the same as the one you just removed. Changing this name would require other steps that are beyond the scope of this document.
2. Press Return.
3. Type: sudo chown shortname:staff home
Note: Replace "shortname" with the same short user name you have been using. Replace "home" with the name of the Home directory you have been using. These are normally the same. Example: A user named Zoe Brown with a short name of "zbrown" would type:
sudo chown zbrown:staff zbrown
4. Press Return. If prompted, type your password and press Return again.
5. Type exit and Press Return.
You should now be able to log in normally, and you will have a new Home directory.